Matt N
TS Member
- Favourite Ride
- Mako (SeaWorld Orlando)
Hi guys. I may have posted recently asking about solo day trips to Europe, but as it turns out, I may have a preliminary European trip plan in the works with my parents in 2024. My parents and I have discussed the idea of the three of us going to PortAventura World in Spain for our first ever visit at some point in 2024! At this stage, our plans haven't really advanced beyond preliminary discussions and browsing, but it does sound like something my parents are up for and something we will most probably end up doing next year! As such, I decided that I’d ask the good people of the enthusiast community for some tips and advice about PortAventura before anything gets booked or confirmed, as I’m aware that quite a few on here have been over the years. So my question to you today is; does anyone have any tips for a first time visitor to PortAventura? Is there anything that I would desperately need to know about the resort before going?
In terms of a few specific questions; I have a couple of questions. These are:
Any tips are greatly appreciated. I’m so excited; I’ve said for a couple of years that I wanted PortAventura to be the next European theme park I went to after Europa Park, the resort as a whole looks brilliant, and being a huge fan of B&M Hypers, Shambhala in particular has been a huge bucket list coaster of mine for absolutely years now!
In terms of a few specific questions; I have a couple of questions. These are:
- Is there an ideal time to go between May and September/October? Due to my university commitments and probable dissertation viva dates, I would probably rule out anything before late May/early June, and due to my current plans to study a Master’s degree, I would probably rule out anything after late September/early October, but is there any particularly good time to go within that sort of timeframe?
- Are there any particular on-site hotels you guys would recommend? We probably wouldn’t want to go for anything too expensive, but I’m open to any recommendations.
- We were thinking we’d probably do something similar to what we did with our trip to Europa Park in 2022 and go for 4 nights/5 days, with 3 full days across PortAventura Park and Ferrari Land. Does this sound like a sufficient amount of time to cover everything PA has to offer?
- How good does my Spanish need to be to get by at PA? I was surprised at how little German I needed to know at Europa, and unlike German, I do have a basic grounding in Spanish having studied the language to GCSE level. However, I’m far from being a fluent Spanish speaker, and I am quite rusty on the Spanish knowledge I do have seeing as my GCSEs were now nearly 5 years ago (which very much scares me, but that’s besides the point!). Will the basics (e.g. greetings and numbers) suffice, or do I need to know a more advanced level of conversational Spanish?
- Is Barcelona or Reus the better airport to fly into, from your experience? I know that Reus is closer, but I wasn’t sure what transport links and such were like between the two, and I also notice that flights to Reus are much less frequent than flights to Barcelona, particularly outside of what would typically be considered peak season. Compared to Europa, it does seem like our options in terms of UK airports that fly direct to PortAventura are a lot more open, so we’ll probably fly from a closer airport like Bristol, Cardiff or Birmingham as opposed to traipsing all the way to London Stansted like we did to go to Europa.
Any tips are greatly appreciated. I’m so excited; I’ve said for a couple of years that I wanted PortAventura to be the next European theme park I went to after Europa Park, the resort as a whole looks brilliant, and being a huge fan of B&M Hypers, Shambhala in particular has been a huge bucket list coaster of mine for absolutely years now!