Fun and game HUNTING
Spanish safari on Costa Dorada
SPLASHING around a pool in sweltering heat alongside elephants and hippos, with big cats gazing down from trees, you would think we were on safari. there was so much on site. It was the right call because the abundance of restaurants, bars and minimarkets offered excellent food and drink at reasonable prices.
There were tons of activities on site to keep our energetic lads busy too, including kids’ clubs, football, tennis, volleyball, basketball, mini golf and trampolining.
But the highlight of Sanguli for our seven-year-old twins, Charlie and Harry, and Teddy, five, was the pools, all with different themes – relax, happy, fiesta and Africa.
Mind you, there wasn’t much relaxation. The boys must have shot down the water slides thousands of times and it was hard to tear them away from the Africa-themed pool, where life-size model animals prowl alongside games and slides. Teddy has only just started swimming so it was reassuring that most of the pools were shallow enough for him to move around safely – and there were lifeguards everywhere.
Sealife
EASYJET is to launch a new route from Birmingham to Glasgow next March, with 13 flights a week between the two cities all year round. It is expecting to carry 180,000 passengers on the hour-long, 260 mile route in the first year alone.
There’s an electric mini train to transport you around the site for free, handy as it would take you half an hour to walk from one end to the other. But we also hired bicycles to get around, which meant we could explore the local area too.
Coastal cycle paths take you in both directions to either Salou or Cambrils in less than 30 minutes.
The beaches at both are great with plenty of rock pools. Salou is very busy and good fun but perhaps more suited to families with teenagers and adults looking for a night out.
We preferred Cambrils, which was quieter and better for young families with a range of water sports and boat trips on offer and had a marina with amazing restaurants.
Evenings on the campsite were lively, with a mini disco for the kids and shows put on by the on-site team in the outdoor theatre as well as football and volleyball matches.
Everyone on site, staff and other residents, was very friendly and the boys played football most evenings with kids from all over Europe. It was lovely to see the pitch scattered with replica shirts of Europe’s elite clubs – Juventus, Ajax, Barcelona and Queens Park Rangers.
The accommodation, restaurant and facilities were all extremely clean and we were impressed by attempts to be eco- friendly by using salt in the pools instead of chlorine, solar energy and electric vehicles by staff to get around.
And there’s plenty of real wildlife on site too, including exotic birds, bats, lizards and a colony of cats. Plus the ornamental flowers and 30 species of trees.
No better place for a Spanish safari with your family.
FACTFILE: Fly to Reus from London Gatwick with Thomas Cook Airlines from £28.99 each way. Seven nights i n a Masai Lodge arriving September 14 costs £665 per party. See eurocamp.co.uk.