The Ultimate Family Guide To PortAventura Theme Park (2025)
Save 5% on PortAventura Tickets Plus Tips on Where to Stay!
I’m going to start this with a disclaimer – we love PortAventura! The closest thing you’re going to get to Universal Studios in Europe, if you’re planning a family trip to Spain (either the coast of Salou or even inland in Barcelona) and love the ideas of sun, rollercoasters and an epic day out then PortAventura is the place to be.
We’ve now visited PortAventura 3 times as a family, starting when I had a toddler in a buggy and on our last trip with boys who were 7 and 10. It’s such a great place to have a family adventure and perfect for kids of all ages!
In this guide, I’ll share:
- Our real experience with kids (what worked and what didn’t)
- The best way to book discounted tickets
- Where to stay (we’ve stayed at two of the official hotels)
- Practical tips for families with younger children
And yes — I’ve got a discount code just for you too!
Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
What Is PortAventura?
It always amazes me that the most popular theme park in Europe is Disneyland Paris and most people have heard of it, but much fewer people have heard of PortAventura World, even though its much bigger and packed full of more thrilling rides.
Located near Salou on the Costa Dorada, PortAventura is one of Europe’s largest theme parks. It’s packed with thrilling rollercoasters, immersive themed zones (like Polynesia, Mexico, and the Far West), and incredible shows. This mix means that there’s something for everyone and even toddlers can go on plenty of rides: not to mention shows and character meets everywhere that keep little ones entertained between rides.
We tend to fly into Reus airport (which is the closest to the park) but you can also fly into Barcelona and transfer to PortAventura in around an hour.
The PortAventura Complex is made up of:
- PortAventura Park (the main park and the focus of this review)
- Ferrari Land ( a much smaller separate park next door – you’ll need a different ticket for this)
- Caribe Aquatic Park (massive water park for summer visits and my boys favourite water park in the world!)
We’ve visited all three — but this post focuses on PortAventura Park. I’ll be sharing full guides to Ferrari Land and the water park in upcoming posts.
Why PortAventura Is Great For Families
I’ve already mentioned that we first visited when our boys were little, and we’ve returned as they’ve grown — they absolutely love it. I actually can’t wait to go again when our youngest hits that magic 140cm mark and we can ride all the epic roller coasters as a family.
But don’t worry. There’s SO MUCH for families with kids of all ages to enjoy. Some of the family-friendly highlights of the park include:
- The SesamoAventura zone is ideal for toddlers and preschoolers (but actually some of the rides here, especially the Detective Grover ride) are great for older kids too.
- Incredible stage shows, parades, and character interactions. In the Sesame Street land in particular you’ll find characters everywhere. And in the Wild West Area we saw either Woody the Woodpecker or his girlfriend Winnie every day too.
- The theming of the park is Disney-level immersive: you walk from area to area and you could truly believe you were in the wild west, Mexico, or polonesia, etc.
- Lots of water rides to cool off in summer. We all loved the river rapids ride so much that we rode it every day when we were feeling too hot!
Heads-up on height restrictions:
The park is strict with minimum height rules — which is great for safety but did lead to some disappointment. My youngest was turned away from a few rides, even by half a centimetre. And their measuring stick seemed a few centimetres off the height i’d measured him as home too! So double-check heights before you promise smaller kids they can ride any of the bigger rides.
How to Book PortAventura Tickets + Save 5% Instantly
If you’re staying in a PortAventura hotel then your ticket package will often include tickets to the main park for the duration of your stay.
If you’re just planning to visit PortAventura for a day trip, or if you’re staying in another hotel in Salou then you’ll need to book tickets to enter the park, and I strongly recommend doing that before you arrive.
PortAventura gate prices can really add up, especially with multiple children and unlike other theme parks, the children’s ticket prices aren’t that much cheaper than the adult ticket prices either.
We always book through Klook, which offers cheaper prices than the official site — and with my promo code, you’ll save even more.
Standard Entry Tickets
Perfect if you’re staying near the park in Salou, or are getting to the park via public transport.
- Adults: £44.55
- Children (4–10): £39.39
- Infants (0–3): FREE
Book here on Klook
Use code THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOKfor 5% off at checkout
Day Trip from Barcelona
Barcelona is around an hour away from PortAventura (we actually took a day trip from the park to Barcelona so the boys could tour the football stadium on our last trip!)
So it’s easy to add a day at PortAventura into your Barcelona trip. This pakage includes return coach travel + park entry — ideal if you’re staying in the city and don’t want to stress about trains or taxis. And the price isn’t that much more than standard park entry either:
- Adults: £65.49
- Children (4–10): £57.79 Book here on Klook Don’t forget code
THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOKto save 5%
Tip: Tickets often sell out in peak season — I always recommend booking in advance.
Where to Stay in PortAventura – Our Experience
PortAventura is located on the outskirts of Salou, which is an incredibly popular tourist destination in its own right. So it’s easy to stay in literally any hotel here and then either walk (it’s a 20 minute walk from the beach front to the theme park) or take a taxi to spend a day in PortAventura. This means you can choose a hotel that best suits your budget and still visit the theme park.
Alternatively, PortAventura has its own stable of onsite hotels. Some of these are eyewateringly expensive, others border on being reasonable. We’ve stayed onsite twice (but in the two cheapest hotels!)
We’ve stayed at both:
- Hotel El Paso. This hotel fun and colourful with a Mexican theme. Its a very short walk to the theme park, and is the only all inclusive hotel on site. The food was good, making this very good value. But the rooms are basic, and the swimming pool is cold.
- Hotel Caribe — This is our favourite of the two we’ve tried! The pool area is brilliant and has real tropical vibes – the kids happily stayed here all day. The draw back is that this hotel is furthest away from the park entrance.
Staying at an official hotel often includes free park tickets and early access — so it’s great value for families. We got free tickets for Portaventura for the duration of our stay and 1 day free access to Ferrari land.
You also get access to discounted tickets to the Portaventura Caribe water park. You just need to book these with the reception team at your hotel. And you can even make purchases in the park with your room key, charging these to your room, so there’s no need to carry cash in the parks as a hotel guest. That’s why we chose to book package holidays for both of these trips.
In the El Paso hotel we were all inclusive and in the Hotel Caribe we were half board, and it was nice to know that food was taken care of too.
Read our full reviews:
How Many Days Do You Need At Portaventura?
You can’t see everything that PortAventura has to offer in a single day! The park is just too big! But if you’re taking a day trip from Barcelona one day will give you a nice overview of the park and then you can choose to ride the rides that interest you most during your visit.
We have always stayed on site and had tickets to visit for a week, but we spend 2 days in the water park and one day in Ferrari Land. This works perfectly for us because it means we don’t have to stay in the park from open to close (the park opens at 10am and stays open until 10pm during the summer months) we can just hop in and out whenever we fancy and explore at our own pace.
If you’re not staying in a Portaventura Hotel and want to make the most of your Portaventura day tickets (and why wouldn’t you, those things are expensive!) then I would suggest that you can see everything the park has to offer in 3 full days.
You could also consider visiting for 2 days and making use of the Portaventura World Express pass system. Express passes allow you to bypass the line system, but you do pay for the privelage.
The Express One allows 1 access to your favourite ride, choosing from: Street Mission, Shambhala, Dragon Khan, Furius Baco, El Diablo/Tren de la Mina, Stampida, Grand Canyon Rapids, Hurakan Condor, Uncharted, Tutuki Splash, Silver River Flume, Templo del Fuego and Angkor. This costs from 10 euros per person, per day.
The Express 10 allows 10 fast accesses (but you can only ride each of those 10 rides once) and costs 40 euros per person per day.
The most expensive option is the Express Unlimited. As the name suggests, this gives you unlimited ride access, riding each ride unlimited times. But you’ll pay 65 euros per person per day for this pass.
Dining at PortAventura anad What to Pack
One of the most important aspect of any good family day trip? Food! We found that the food in Portaventura was tasty and of good quality, but this was reflected in the price. This was a spendy place to dine! There were plenty of quick service restaurants (and queues for food was minimal) but we also enjoyed some of the a la carte restaurants.
We loved the Old Steakhouse in the Wild West part of the park (they were great with kids too, and the kids had steaks as part of their kids menus). I really loved La Cantina in Mexico, where we ate burritos and other mexican foods, and where there is a show on the stage as you eat.
I will say that the portions were large everywhere, including the quick service restaurants. Most meals came with starter and/or dessert as standard, for example, and if we hadn’t had our inclusive meal vouchers we would have been happy to share meals.
If you’re on a budget and this sounds like wasted money then you need to know that you’re not allowed to bring a full picnic into the park BUT you can bring snacks. My boys (like most kids) are simple creatures and love a chip butty. So you could consider bringing bread as your snack and just buying some chips to turn it into sandwiches. Or throw in packets of crisps, cereal bars, or whatever your kids are happy to snack on.
I also recommend you pack your own water bottles (whether you want to save money or not!) there aren’t that many water fountains in the park for filling up your own. And we found that buying water in the park was pricey (if they had it – some stations only sold fizzy drinks).
Other things I recommend you pack include:
- Swimsuits if you’re visiting in summer: the Tutuki Splash and Grand Canyon Rapids will soak you
- Sun cream, sun hats, and lightweight cover-ups are a must because parts of the park don’t have much shade and the sun is hot.
- Your buggy for little legs. The park is easy to navigate with a buggy and its HUGE! On our first visit H was 4 and not using a buggy at home but he definitely wanted it here.
- Comfortable shoes. This should go without saying, but this is a place for comfort over style.
- Consider rainwear. High temperatures mean regular thunderstorms and downpours of rain. We just stuck in a storm so bad it flooded the restaurant we were sheltering in and stopped the rides. I wish we’d had our coats!
Is PortAventura Worth It?
In our opinion — absolutely yes, especially with thrill-seeking kids. It’s so incredibly well-designed and well thought out, imaginative, and has something for all ages. I will admit that if you visit in the summer holidays you’re going to expect to queue. But that’s true of all theme parks in the summer! We managed this by visiting in the evenings when crowd levels and queue times were lower, and spending our days in the epic hotel pool.
That said, height restrictions are important to manage expectations, especially with younger children. Our youngest is small for his age, and it’s so hard for him (he’s the thrill seeker of the family) when everyone else is allowed on things he wants to go on but can’t.
Overall though? Yes! We love Portaventura. We loved it so much I even went back for a girls’ trip, staying in nearby Salou and visiting as adults — it’s that fun. And its one place my kids will always recommend to their friends, and I know they’d love to go back again.
Final Tips & Discount Code Recap
- Carry a backpack with plenty of water! This is the one thing I begrudged spending money on – water in the park was so pricey. Carry your own and save that cash!
- Bring sunhats, sunglasses and sunscreen. Remember to top up after the water rides- I made that mistake and burnt my arms because the water had removed all the sunscreen.
- If you’re staying on site you don’t have to spend the whole day in the park. We spend time in the park early in the day and late into the evenings. But we spent the heat of the day cooling off in the hotel pool.
- Book your Portaventura tickets early to avoid queues & high prices. it doesn’t matter if you use my code or the official site, just don’t show up at the gate without tickets!
- Consider the Barcelona day trip if you’re not staying nearby. It will save the hassle of using public transport and should save you some money too.
- Use code
THATMUMTRAVEL5KLOOKfor 5% off all tickets via Klook
Let me know in the comments if you’ve been to Portaventura in Spain— or if you’re planning a trip! What rides did you love or not love? Do you have any tips for visiting as a family that I haven’t thought to include? I’d love to hear what you’re most excited for.
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Heads up! This post may contain affiliate links, which means if you click and make a purchase, I might earn a very small commission – at no extra cost to you. This helps to keep the blog going. Thanks for the support!
Well written and engaging. A pleasure to read from start to finish.