Salou

Population: 22,096

If you’re not put off by the fact that Salou’s winter population of 22,000 reaches a peak of 180,000 during the holiday season, I’m sure you’ll enjoy ten-minute train ride south from Tarragona through a gash of petrochemical pipes and tanks. Admittedly, once there, you’ll be able to enjoy miles of golden sandy beaches, ringed around a sweeping bay and backed by a promenade studded with palms. From the seafront, it’s quite an attractive prospect, but the town is resolutely downmarket with streets teeming with English pubs serving over-priced beer. Curries, Chinese and Fish and Chips are the culinary delights that can be sampled in Salou with its attempt to be a kind of Mediterranean Skegness.

Indicative of the cultural activities available in the town, the Ajuntament’s website cites the Public Library as Salou’s main area of interest. This is a shame because before it was overdeveloped for tourists in the 60s and 70s, Salou actually did have some history. During the 13th century, it was a major port, and it was from Salou that Jaume I the Conqueror’s fleet set off on the conquest of Mallorca.

Culture and history, however, comes pre-packaged and prefabricated these days. Should you ever have the misfortune to experience a less than sunny day in Salou, you can always visit nearby Port Aventura . Run by Universal Studios, Port Aventura is a theme park on a Disneyland Paris scale, which unlike its French counterpart doesn’t suffer from bad weather and with more than half a million hotel beds in the vicinity is never short of visitors. People tell me that the rides, particularly Dragon Kahn are spectacular, and the themed areas cover things like the Wild West, Ancient China and other distinctly uninteresting topics. I wouldn’t be seen dead there, myself, but once again, I’m sure it’s better than Skegness.

Ajuntament de Salou, Passeig de la Segregació, 4 Tel. 977309200