fishing boats
- Posted on Saturday, May 17, 2008
Catalonia's Costa Daurada: The Family Friendly Destination by Elisha Burberry
The Costa Daurada coastline, situated on the Mediterranean coastline in the south of Catalonia, is one of the most popular destinations in Spain for family holidays. The spectacular coastline stretches for 216km, with 786 hectares of extensive, clean, sandy beaches that sweep down to meet a clean, clear, shallow sea, safe for young children and elderly swimmers alike.
Visitors to the area can also enjoy the expanse of flat plains that sit in between the coastline and mountains inland; these play home to tranquil villages, vineyards, olive groves, and other locally grown crops such as hazelnut, almonds and carob.
However, it is Costa Daurada's beaches which provide the main draw. Torredembarra, a beach of almost 3000m in length, blessed with fine, golden sand and a calm sea is admired for its unspoiled setting and lush vegetation with small dunes that reach right up to the beach.
Salou, a blue flag beach, is one of the best known on the Costa Daurada. Visitors are well catered for, with plenty of facilities such as showers, sun loungers, large car parks, shops, cafes, restaurants, all dotted with palm tree plantations.
The smaller and slightly more secluded beach of L'Ampolla is just 300 meters long and offers a more peaceful retreat, whilst still offering visitors all the services and facilities needed such as a life guard service, hire of pedal boats, and open air bars and cafes.
Families who wish to explore the local history and culture will find a visit to the town of Tarragona a very worthwhile trip. Here can be found, the 12th century monastery of Poblet, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as the Circo Romano (Roman Circus) which was built during the end of 1AD and was used for events such as chariot races until its demise in the 5th century.
Families will find plenty of fun in the waterpark Aquopolis - which offers a full range of aquatic attractions such as flumes, slides, river rapids, a wave pool, a hydrotherapy pool and an area for small children. There is also a family fun games area with mini-golf, bumper boats and a sea park zone with dolphins and sea lions.
For the more adventurous family outing, outdoor activities are in abundance with gorge scrambling, mountain biking, caving, hiking, canoeing excursions, bungee jumping, archery, fishing, hang gliding, paintballing, quad-biking and boating all on offer in the area.
There is plenty of family friendly accommodation in Costa Daurada ranging from campsites, to self-catering apartments, to fully catered five star hotels, so visitors will have no trouble arranging a place to stay which is within their budget.
With plenty to keep the kids happy, yet something for mum and dad too, it's little wonder that the Costa Daurada remains such a popular family destination with holidaying Brits.
Source:
Elisha Burberry is an online, freelance journalist and keen traveller and watersports enthusiast. Originally from Scotland, she now resides in London.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=768081
