Camping El Garrofer

“Great pool and location”

We stayed in a eurocamp bungalow and I'd definitely recommend this in the summer because it had effective air conditioning. The bungalow and the pool were both better than I expected and we had a great time with our 7 year old who just wanted to swim all the time! Great waterslides. The campsite… more

We stayed in a eurocamp bungalow and I'd definitely recommend this in the summer because it had effective air conditioning. The bungalow and the pool were both better than I expected and we had a great time with our 7 year old who just wanted to swim all the time! Great waterslides. The campsite feels very Mediterranean full of pine trees with cicadas chirping, tiny lizards, bats in the evening etc. Lovely. We didn't have a car and that's no problem because there's a bus stop literally outside the campsite entrance with buses going to Sitges, Barcelona and the airport. The site put on a minibus to the beach and Sitges as well for one euro return. You can walk to the beach but it's a bit much for kids in the heat. Cafe, shop, ice-cream, but the restaurant is very busy and quite expensive so don't expect to eat there all the time. Only downsides, the kids club was a bit lackluster and all in Spanish. They put on a few fun events but it was mostly colouring or sports and off for siesta 12-4. The other thing was it's quite a noisy location, with a local club blasting bass until 4am a few nights a week. You may or may not be able to sleep through this, we were on the edge of the park so might have been nearer the outside noise. If you are camped near the pool or bars on site, there will be loud music most of the day until midnight, bear that in mind. Had a brilliant time in general and didn't want to leave!

less

“Mixed reviews could be better”

Travelling as a family of 5 with two 5 Yr olds and a 7 year old. This was our first time trialing a holiday of this style eurocamp, I wouldn't say I would be overally inclined to book another on the experiances from this trip. There were definite Pros, the staff in reception were accomadating, fr… more

Travelling as a family of 5 with two 5 Yr olds and a 7 year old. This was our first time trialing a holiday of this style eurocamp, I wouldn't say I would be overally inclined to book another on the experiances from this trip. There were definite Pros, the staff in reception were accomadating, friendly and welcoming. The caravan although lacked personal touch had most of the things we needed for a pleasant stay, the beds were a highlight as they were very comfortable. I'm not sure if it's the end of season here but there were no activity's going on, or if there was no information to advice on this. The caravan would of benefitted from a welcome pack with information about public transport and the local area, places of interest etc. And definitely a map to the beach as once you leave the site there is no signage. We only noticed the map at the exit on the last day so had tried various routes before getting the most safest and easiest one. Public transport was a bit of a nightmare, although buses run from right outside the resort, they certainly don't follow the timetable and run late and often don't go where stated, not a reliable way to get around. And we resorted to taxis at times. I feel your own transport is required when staying here. Our children really enjoyed the sports facilities however it would be great if you could hire or purchase equipment, footballs, tennis rackets etc on site, another attention to detail requirement I feel. Would recommend if you want a nice quiet relaxing stay and are not intersted on visiting anything outside the camp , however if you want to explore and have an easy accessible beach then it's not the best place for a family holiday.

less

“A case of insta v reality = disappointing”

Overall we had a good holiday in Sitges at Camping El Garrofer. But a few words of warning to manage expectations. Some of which you will have got from viewing the Instagram account and the website. We are 2 adults and 2 young children as we stayed in a Safari tent for 9 nights. The tent is on th… more

Overall we had a good holiday in Sitges at Camping El Garrofer. But a few words of warning to manage expectations. Some of which you will have got from viewing the Instagram account and the website. We are 2 adults and 2 young children as we stayed in a Safari tent for 9 nights. The tent is on the whole fun. It’s a bit dark and you can really open any flaps as it’s so hot. Beds were comfy, rain shower and loo great and kitchen well equipped. However downsides are they face a road, and ours was next to the main touring part of the site so was noisy with people and cars driving on gravel. By far the biggest disappointment and the main reason for our fairly bad review as the AC doesn’t cool the tent. Most days by 11am the temperature inside the tent in the day got up to over 30 degrees with it on. Not very eco either!? It was cool enough to sleep at night but then so was outside. AC units could not cope with the heat. So for me the fact that these are so expensive and advertised as air conditioned is a total lie. As we don’t live in a hot climate and have small children this was really important for us and the fact we were constantly hot really impacted our so called ‘luxury’ experience. We did ask if they were broken and a man came round to ‘fix’ but by the following day it was just the same. Really not much more luxury than using our own tent. And definitely not worth the price tag. Also disappointing is the hospitality offer. The offer is confused and although there are 3 areas to eat and chairs outside the supermarket it all feels confused and not easy to just turn up and eat or get a beer. The main restaurant was just about fine of an evening. Limited choices but good was nice. At the back the posh ‘ chill and grill’ as per insta is just a pizza place. Very limited numbers and usually always booked up. One guy was super helpful and happy the other on the ‘bar’ was incredibly rude and made you feel like you were putting him out asking for a drink. There is no other place to grow a casual drink bag a can from shop. Breakfast again in restaurant was very limited, dishes pictured on insta on 19 July were not available (pancakes) and nothing for kids. So we ended up with pastries from shop every day which got a bit tiresome. Kids didn’t use club but mini disco was at 5pm by pool and looked pretty unpopular and lacklustre. Although the little kids club hut did seem to have some good stuff on in day. Pool looks exactly as insta only always photographed before the hoards of summer holiday makers arrive. By 1030 all sunbeds are full. By 12pm it’s totally rammed not a towel space on the grass area and the in the pool itself you can barely swim. Way too many people in there for it to be relaxing. Got slightly less busy between 2-4pm but by then the pool was murky with hairs floating round in it. The pool bar is the main bar with staging for entertainment. Away from main restaurant. There are 12 tables only so this always gets full. Here they did offer snacks pizza and hotdogs and drinks for lunch but it really isn’t sufficient and would be better having this more casual style in the main restaurant so there is somewhere to relax. The final straw was when we used our allocated 2 toilet roles and bin bags from welcome pack and had to buy more. Really for the price you charge £200 a night this isn’t on. The quiet end of Sitges is walkable but with 2 small children not really an option. There is bus that drops you a 20 min walk to beaches on front but taxi back was the only option later and even at the main rank by train station we waited 30 mins every time. We hired a car in the end and had initially tried to do this from Reus but beware as it’s not open after 5pm. You just got in to El prat for this site as there is a direct bus to site or easy access to car hire. Lots of learning but for £5k in total next year I think we’ll got for a package holiday! It wasn’t worth it (which is sad as we love an independent holiday). Don’t believe everything to see on Instagram. I should’ve known better!

less