Hotel Best Cap Salou
Hotel Best Cap Salou is a three-star hotel on the Cap Salou headland, a quiet corner of the Costa Dorada in Catalonia, northeast Spain, about 5 km from the centre of Salou. It sits a few metres from Cala Font, a small sheltered cove of golden sand, and pairs a sea-facing pool with a pirate-themed splash pool for children. PortAventura World is around 9.5 km away, with Reus airport a short drive.
On this page
Is it worth it?
The quick read before the detail: who it suits, what the all-inclusive covers and the facts to skim first.
Hotel Best Cap Salou suits families who want a straightforward, good-value beach holiday in a quiet setting rather than a big resort with a packed activity programme. Its two draws for children are the sheltered Cala Font cove right in front, calm and shallow enough for babies at the water's edge, and a pirate-themed splash pool with slides for those tall enough to ride them. It's a three-star hotel, the most affordable of the family options around Salou, and the trade for that price is a simpler offering: the hotel's own site calls its entertainment limited, there's no crèche or childcare for children under five and it isn't a full-service resort. You'll get the most from it if you want the beach, the splash pool and all-inclusive value in a calm spot, and less if you're after an intensive kids' club or you're travelling only with children under five.
Best for
You want a sheltered cove, a splash pool and all-inclusive value in a quiet spot, and you don't need a big activity programme.
Maybe not for
You want an intensive kids' club, lots of organised entertainment or you're travelling only with children under five.
Best ages
Babies and toddlers for the cove and the water-features area. The Mini Club takes children from five, and the splash-pool slides have height limits from 110 cm.
What stands out
The sheltered Cala Font cove a few metres away and the pirate-themed splash pool, at a three-star price.
What to check
The slide height limits if your children are small, and that all-inclusive doesn't cover the splash-pool snack bar.
Where is it?
On the Cap Salou headland, about 5 km from Salou on Spain's Costa Dorada, roughly 15 to 20 minutes from Reus airport.
Quick facts for families
What the hotel is like
Where it sits on Cap Salou, how the site is laid out and the practical basics for a family.
Cap Salou is a headland about 5 km south-west of the centre of Salou, on Catalonia's Costa Dorada in northeast Spain. It's a quieter, more residential stretch than the busy heart of Salou, and the hotel is pitched at families who want to relax on the beach or try some water sports rather than stay in the thick of the resort. Hotel Best Cap Salou is part of Best Hotels, a Spanish chain with around 40 hotels across Spain and the Dominican Republic. For the wider region, see our Costa Dorada guide.
The hotel sits directly on Cala Font, the cove of fine golden sand it's named for. The main building holds the rooms, and the grounds run to a sea-facing main pool with a terrace of loungers and umbrellas, a separate splash-pool area with its own snack bar and sun deck, a spa with an indoor pool, the buffet restaurant and bars, a playground and a gym. All of the hotel's facilities were renovated in 2019.
Check-in is from 15:00 and check-out is before 12:00. Pets aren't allowed. The hotel is registered as a heart-safe hotel, which means it keeps a defibrillator on site, and it holds a Biosphere sustainability certificate from the Responsible Tourism Institute, awarded for meeting the scheme's environmental and social standards. If a pram or wheelchair is part of your trip, ask about lifts, ground-floor rooms and step-free access before you book, since the site doesn't set these out.
Every restaurant and bar
The buffet restaurant, the bars and what the all-inclusive does and doesn't cover.
The hotel has one restaurant, a buffet with show cooking, where chefs cook some dishes to order at live stations. It serves breakfast from 08:00 to 10:15, lunch from 13:00 to 14:30 and dinner from 20:00 to 21:30. Gluten-free products are available. There isn't a separate children's menu listed, but the buffet format gives young children plenty of choice and lets you eat as soon as an appetite arrives.
For drinks there's a Pool Bar by the main pool, a Main Bar and a separate cafeteria. The splash-pool area has its own snack bar, and this is the one to know about, because it isn't part of the all-inclusive: anything bought there is paid for separately even if you're on all-inclusive board.
All-inclusive is offered as a board option. It covers breakfast, lunch and dinner in the buffet along with unlimited drinks and snacks through the day: cocktails, soft drinks, spirits, ice creams, sandwiches and snacks. What it doesn't cover is the splash-pool snack bar, spa treatments and the hairdresser, bike hire and paid parking, so budget a little for those if you'll use them.
The snack bar and the dress code
Two things catch all-inclusive families out. The splash-pool snack bar isn't included, so drinks and snacks there are charged separately even though the pool itself is free to use. The buffet's dinner service also asks for long trousers, so pack a pair even for a beach week.
Rooms
The three room categories and who they suit, the pools and splash pool, plus the cove out front.
There are just three room categories, and they differ mainly in outlook. The table shows each one and how many it sleeps; the guidance after it is which suit a family with a baby or toddler.
| Room | Sleeps | Beds | View |
|---|---|---|---|
| Double Room Without View | 4 | Two queen beds (fixed, no extra beds) | Terrace, no sea view |
| Double Room | 4 | Two queen beds (fixed, no extra beds) | Terrace, no sea view |
| Double Room Sea View | 4 | Two queen beds (fixed, no extra beds) | Terrace with frontal or lateral sea view |
Every room takes up to four people in two fixed queen-size beds, and each has a private terrace or balcony. The Double Room Without View is the entry room and looks over the grounds rather than the sea. The Double Room is the mid option. The Double Room Sea View has a terrace with a frontal or lateral view of the cove. The hotel doesn't list room sizes.
Because the beds are fixed at two queens and no extra beds are allowed, four people, two sharing each bed, is the built-in maximum for any room. Families of five or more will need two rooms. There's no published cot or baby-equipment policy either, so if a cot is part of your count, check directly how it fits alongside the beds.
Each room has a private terrace or balcony, a full bathroom with a hairdryer, air conditioning, a safe, a telephone, satellite TV, an electronic door lock and free Wi-Fi. Rooms are described as modern and comfortable following the 2019 renovation.
Pools and water features
There are two swimming pools plus the splash pool. The main outdoor pool faces the sea and is shared by adults and children, with a terrace of loungers and umbrellas alongside; its depth and size aren't given. Inside the spa there's an indoor heated pool, run by timed sessions for different ages rather than open all day, which makes it useful in the cooler months but not a pool you can drop into whenever you like.
The splash pool is the feature younger families come for. It's themed as a pirate ship, with water slides and a separate children's area of water features and games, and it's free for hotel guests to use. The three slides have minimum heights: 110 cm for the multi-lane Aquaracer, 120 cm for the Stuca and 130 cm for the open looping slide. A typical three-year-old is around 95 to 100 cm, so most toddlers won't reach the slides yet; they use the water-features area instead, which is the part of the splash pool that suits the youngest children.
The beach
Cala Font is a small, sheltered cove of fine golden sand, about 60 metres long, right in front of the hotel. The Costa Daurada tourism authority describes its water as calm and clear with a flat, easy entry into the sea, which is what you want for babies and young children paddling at the edge. It's a public cove: the hotel is beachfront but doesn't run a private beach.
The hotel describes the beach as a few metres away, at the foot of the hotel. What it doesn't spell out is the exact route down to the sand, whether there are steps or a slope, so if you're carrying a pram it's worth asking the hotel how the walk to the cove works. On the water there's pedalo hire and stand-up paddleboarding, the paddle-surf boards you kneel or stand on to move around the cove.
Babies and toddlers
What's here for babies and toddlers, everything that fills a resort day, plus the days out beyond the gate.
The one organised children's programme is the Mini Club, for ages 5 to 12. Its hours and any charge aren't listed, so check when you book. There's no crèche, nursery or childcare of any kind for children under five, and no babysitting is listed, so babies and toddlers stay with you throughout. For the youngest children the draws are the sheltered cove and the splash pool's water-features area rather than a structured programme.
No baby kit such as cots, high chairs, travel cots or sterilisers is listed either, so check what's available with the hotel or plan to bring your own. Gluten-free food is available in the buffet, which can help if you're weaning a baby onto solids or managing an intolerance.
On resortThings to do
Beyond the pools and the beach, the hotel keeps things fairly simple. On the beach there's pedalo hire and stand-up paddleboarding. There's a gym, and bikes for hire, though bike hire is paid and sits outside the all-inclusive. Indoors there's a games room and TV lounge, and outside a playground.
Entertainment is light. The hotel's own site describes both its daytime programme and its evening shows as limited, so this is a smaller, simpler offering than the bigger family hotels around Salou, not a full resort-scale animation programme. In high season Hugo, the hotel mascot, appears for younger children.
The spa is a paid extra. It has a sauna, a jacuzzi, a Turkish bath, a relaxation area, a Scottish shower, a footbath and a nebuliser, along with the indoor heated pool, and there are massages and a hairdresser for an additional charge. Reception is staffed 24 hours and there's free Wi-Fi throughout. There's no watersports academy, tennis, football or sailing on site, so the activity list beyond the splash pool and the beach is narrower than at the larger resorts nearby.
Off resortThe area and days out
PortAventura World is about 9.5 km away, roughly 15 minutes by taxi. It combines PortAventura Park and Ferrari Land, and has a dedicated children's area, SésamoAventura, themed on the Sesame Street characters, which suits young families. Tickets are separate from the hotel, though the hotel can arrange them. Aquopolis La Pineda, a waterpark about 3 to 4 km away, opens over the summer; admission isn't included by this hotel, so it's a separate paid day out.
Salou town is 5 km away, with a beach promenade, restaurants and bars, the family beaches of Llevant and Ponent, which have playgrounds on the sand, plus a coastal tourist train along the promenade. Tarragona, about 10 km away, is a Roman city with a UNESCO-listed amphitheatre and old city walls, an easy culture day out. Cambrils, around 12 to 13 km south-west, is a quieter town known for its seafood restaurants and calmer beaches. Barcelona is about an hour away by car or by train via Tarragona, a day trip that suits older children.
Loves and gripes
What families rate and what they flag, how it compares nearby, the journey in and the weather by month.
The read below leans on the family-travel guide Kiddie Holidays, which ranks the hotel first in its Costa Dorada baby and toddler list, alongside the hotel's own information, so treat it as a steer rather than a broad consensus.
What families love
- The sheltered Cala Font cove right in front, calm and shallow for small children.
- The pirate-themed splash pool for children tall enough for the slides.
- The all-inclusive value at a three-star price.
- The quiet Cap Salou setting away from the busier heart of Salou.
Common gripes
- The entertainment is limited, by the hotel's own description.
- No crèche or childcare for children under five.
- The slide height limits shut out most toddlers.
- The splash-pool snack bar isn't part of the all-inclusive.
- The buffet's long-trousers dinner dress code.
- No extra beds and no published room sizes, so larger families plan around two rooms.
On the big booking sites it scores well, in the good range, roughly 7 to 8 out of 10.
Against the Salou family hotelsHow it compares
Among the family hotels around Salou, Hotel Best Cap Salou is the budget, three-star option, and its pull is the mix of a sheltered cove for the youngest children and a splash pool for older ones, in a quieter spot and at the lowest price of the shortlist. The four-star hotels nearby offer more. H10 Mediterranean Village, a large four-star in the Cap de Salou area, has indoor soft play, a stronger animation programme, a bigger pirate splash park and a TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice award, given to properties with consistently strong guest ratings. Golden Avenida Family Suites, also four-star, is suite-only with a dedicated baby pool, a baby lounge and soft play, so it has more family infrastructure for babies and toddlers. Hotel Caribe at PortAventura trades on direct park access and large lagoon pools, and Ohtels La Hacienda includes free Aquopolis entry and sits closer to PortAventura, though it's over in La Pineda rather than on the Cap Salou coast.
So this is a solid mid-range choice for a beachfront-with-splash-pool week in a calm cove, rather than a full-service family resort. It's less of a fit if you want an intensive kids' club or you're travelling only with children under five.
Getting inGetting there and when to go
Most families fly into Reus airport, the nearest, about 12 to 15 km away and roughly 15 to 20 minutes by road. Barcelona El Prat is the alternative, around 100 km and an hour to an hour and a half's drive. Best Hotels runs its own transfer booking service, with a meet-and-greet and 24-hour support, which you book separately from the room; there's no transfer laid on automatically. Salou has no mainline train station, but Cambrils is about 15 minutes away and Tarragona's mainline station, around 20 minutes away, connects to the national rail network if you're arranging your own way in. Parking at the hotel is limited, on request and charged, with prices that vary by season, and it can't be booked ahead. The hotel is sold by UK operators such as easyJet Holidays and TUI, so it's worth comparing where to book the same stay.
For UK visitors, Spain is in the Schengen area, so you can travel visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Your passport needs to have been issued less than ten years before you arrive and to be valid for at least three months after you leave the Schengen area. The EU's Entry/Exit System is being rolled out, so on arrival you may need to give fingerprints and a photo, with that record then valid for three years. ETIAS, the coming travel authorisation, isn't required yet. It's still worth a look at gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/spain before you book in case the rules change.
For the youngest children, June and September are the best weeks: a warm sea, lighter crowds and lower prices than the July and August peak. May and October are cooler, better for heat-sensitive children than for swimming.
When to goWeather
Salou has a Mediterranean climate, with warm, dry summers and mild, wetter shoulder months. The figures below are long-term monthly averages across the hotel's summer season. The sea is comfortable for toddlers to splash in from mid-June, at about 22°C, and warmest in July and August at 26 to 27°C; in May and October, at around 18°C and 21°C, it's on the cold side for babies. Sunshine peaks at around ten hours a day in July and eases to about six by October as the season winds down. October brings the most rain of the season, usually as short downpours rather than days of it.
| Month | Daytime high | Overnight low | Rain | Wet days | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April | 20° | 10.5° | 53 mm | 6 | 15° |
| May | 23.5° | 13.5° | 27 mm | 3 | 18° |
| June | 27° | 18° | 29 mm | 3 | 22° |
| July | 30° | 21.5° | 14 mm | 2 | 26° |
| August | 30° | 21.5° | 29 mm | 3 | 27° |
| September | 27.5° | 18.5° | 56 mm | 4 | 25° |
| October | 24° | 14.5° | 81 mm | 4 | 22° |
Typical monthly averages from weather-station records. Sea temperature is the open-water figure, so a sheltered bay can feel a degree or two warmer. The hotel opens for the summer season, typically from around April or May to October.
Questions
The things families ask most before they book.
How tall do children need to be for the splash-pool slides?
The three slides start at 110 cm for the Aquaracer, 120 cm for the Stuca and 130 cm for the open looping slide. As a rough guide that rules out most children under about four or five, so if yours are small, picture them in the water-features area rather than on the slides when you weigh up whether the splash pool is a real draw for you.
Is anything at the splash pool included if we are all-inclusive?
The splash pool itself is free to use, but its snack bar isn't part of the all-inclusive, so food and drinks there are charged on top. If you'll spend pool days over that side, keep a little cash or a card handy, or carry snacks across from the buffet.
Is there anything for children under five?
No. The Mini Club takes children from five, and there's no crèche or babysitting below that age, so one of you is always on duty with a baby or toddler. If you were hoping for childcare hours to yourselves, this isn't the hotel for it.
Is the walk down to the beach easy with a pram?
Ask the hotel before you count on it. The cove is right below the property, but the path down, whether it's steps or a ramp, isn't set out anywhere, so a pram day is the one thing worth confirming directly first.
How easy is a day at PortAventura?
Straightforward. It's about 9.5 km away, roughly 15 minutes by taxi, and its SésamoAventura area is aimed at younger children. Tickets aren't part of your stay, so buy them separately or ask the hotel to arrange them.
Is there a dress code we need to pack for?
Yes, at dinner. The buffet asks for long trousers at the evening service, so pack a pair even though it's a beach holiday; shorts are fine everywhere else.
Can we drive and park at the hotel?
Not reliably. Parking is limited, charged and can't be reserved, so a space comes down to what's free when you arrive. If you're hiring a car, plan for the chance there's none.
We're a family of five. Will one room work?
No. Four is the ceiling in every room, in two fixed queen beds with no extra bed allowed, so a family of five needs two rooms. If one of the four is a baby who'll need a cot, confirm with the hotel that a cot fits alongside the beds before you book.
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Useful links
- Hotel Best Cap Salou: the resort's own site for rooms, board options and the splash pool.
- GOV.UK Spain travel advice: entry rules and safety updates before you travel.
- Costa Dorada with little ones: our guide to the wider region, its beaches and when to go.
Last updated 16 July 2026.
