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25-507: Founded by the Greeks in the 6th century B.C., the coastal town was a notable commercial port during medieval and modern ages. Throughout the 20th century, Salou became an important European tourist attraction. Aside from its string of beaches interrupted by rocky coves, and its landscaped promenade, one of its main attractions is the PortAventura World resort. The Dutch movie Costa! and

50-486: A convention center, and an RV park. Reus Airport lies within 15-minute drive, and Barcelona Airport is within an hour. The train station Salou-Port Aventura is 750m from the resort entrance and features line R17 trains to Barcelona and Tarragona. When Port Aventura opened in 1995 in Salou, The Tussauds Group owned 40.0% of the park, while La Caixa had 33.2%, Anheuser-Busch had 19.9%, and FECSA had 6.7%. In 1998,

75-518: A convention centre and a RV park . The PortAventura Park's main attractions are the Dragon Khan , a massive B&M mega-looper ; Furius Baco , which is one of the fastest roller coasters in Europe; and Hurakan Condor , a tall falling-tower ride which is 100 metres tall. In 2012 a new roller coaster called Shambhala opened adjacent to the Dragon Khan . The park also has a grand multi-media show, called

100-544: A deal to build a new area themed to the Italian sports car brand in the PortAventura resort covering 60,000 m2, including new rides, restaurants, shops and car racing simulators. Ferrari Land is the resort's second theme park, separate from PortAventura Park. The park was opened on 7 April 2017, after an investment of more than € 100 million. Its entrance is adjacent to PortAventura Park's main entrance. The Mediterranean theme

125-551: A railway station served by the Spanish state rail-network, RENFE . The destinations from Salou included major cities in Catalonia such as Tarragona and Barcelona , as well as a train south to the city of Valencia . The station was closed in January 2020 after a new line between Tarragona and Amposta was built. Some regional trains now terminate at the station Salou - Port Aventura to

150-552: A triathlon and many other competitive sports. Saloufest is the University sports festival which takes place on two separate occasions in April on an annual basis. The festival includes DJs and parties at the neighbouring resort's nightclub called Pacha . In the future, the local government is expected to position Salou as a sport tourism destination and therefore will promote different projects that include first class facilities to provide

175-459: Is Reus (which it is connected to by a regular bus service) followed by Barcelona . Reus Airport is mainly served by the low cost airline Ryanair . The major charter airlines from Britain use Reus throughout the summer as a gateway to the Costa Daurada . The airport mainly serves British and Irish destinations, but domestic and other European destinations are also served. Salou used to have

200-686: Is an entertainment resort in Salou and Vila-seca , Tarragona , on the Costa Daurada in Catalonia , Spain . It was built around the PortAventura Park theme park , which attracts around 5.3 million visitors per year, making it the most visited theme park in Spain and the sixth most visited theme park in Europe . In 2017, with the opening of a third park, Ferrari Land, the resort rebranded to PortAventura World, which manages all three theme parks, six hotels,

225-399: Is common to both entrances, as Ferrari Land is inspired by Italy, including recreations of Venice 's Piazza San Marco and Rome 's Colosseum . The main ride of Ferrari Land is Red Force , a 112 m tall vertical accelerator coaster that surpassed Shambhala as the tallest coaster in Europe and is also the fastest coaster in Europe. Ferrari Land opened a kids area in 2018. Ferrari Land

250-521: Is owned and operated by La Caixa Banking Group's investment vehicle Criteria ,but as of 2005, the Universal name has been dropped from the branding, and the resort was once again named 'PortAventura' (the space in the name is deliberately left out for trademark reasons). In 2009, the resort hosted 3,310,000 visitors. In December 2013, private equity firm KKR picked up a 49.9% stake in PortAventura from Investindustrial, which still owned 50.1%. In 2016,

275-726: Is the second amusement centre themed to Ferrari in the world, after Ferrari World Abu Dhabi . PortAventura Caribe Aquatic Park is a water park which is adjacent to PortAventura Park. It has an area of 50,000 m2, which includes 16 attractions and slides, as well as over 8,500 m2 of water-covered surface area. It is themed to the Caribbean , with beaches, palm trees, and Latin and reggae music, and it also includes shops and restaurants. The resort features six themed hotels: During seasonal events like summer nights, Halloween (September to November) and Christmas (November to January), PortAventura Park opens seasonal walk around rides or shows, including

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300-597: The FiestaAventura , every night between the end of June and the end of August which features fireworks, fountains and parade floats. Ferrari Land , with the highest and fastest vertical accelerator in Europe, opened in 2017, and will also include the world's first Ferrari hotel. Salou is also home to the Lumine Golf Club (formerly known as PortAventura golf). There are three courses, labeled as north, south, and central. North and central were designed by Greg Norman and

325-523: The Lumine community. The Auditorium Theatre of Salou (Teatre Auditori de Salou or TAS to shorten) is an important part of the local community in terms of cultural and leisure in the municipality. The theatre plays local events such as political, school and cultural events and has also welcomed famous musicians to the area such as Sergio Dalma . Salou's main promenade is the Passeig Jaume I, which runs along

350-502: The city with the necessary resources to become a tourist destination that attracts visitors of reference , especially in low season. They have announced a project that will feature swimming pools, football fields and tennis courts. In April 2012 the Mayor of Salou inaugurated the facilities that have been built, which are six football fields (four artificial and 2 natural) including changing rooms, bar, waiting rooms and rooms for training sessions

375-574: The coast adjacent to the Llevant Beach, the longest beach in the town. Other beaches include Platja de Ponent, Platja dels Capellans, Platja Llarga and Platja Cala Crancs. Salou has 34 Blue Flag beaches . Water-sports, rentals and trips can be arranged on the Llevant Beach. Salou has been used since 2005 as the base for Rally Catalunya , part of the World Rally Championship . Salou has also held volleyball championships, football tournaments,

400-465: The last Moorish territory of the Balearic Islands . Later, Salou became a nest of pirates . After that it was considered an unsafe place, so in 1530 Archbishop of Tarragona decided to erect a new defence tower, now called Torre Vella . In 1865 the railway station began to operate, opening a new development time, that led one hundred years later to a tourist boom that has brought prosperity to

425-478: The majority of Tussauds Group's shares in the park were sold to Universal and the park was rebranded as 'Universal's Port Aventura', which made it the first Universal Studios theme park in Europe. In 2002, a water park ( Costa Caribe ) and two hotels ( Hotel PortAventura and Hotel El Paso ) were constructed, and the resort was further rebranded as 'Universal Mediterranea'. In 2004, NBCUniversal (Universal Studios' parent) sold all interest in PortAventura. It

450-460: The mazes: [REC], Horror in Penitence, La Selva del Miedo and the nighttime Halloween show Horror en el Lago. Rally Catalunya The Rally Catalunya (formerly: Rallye Catalunya ) is a rally competition held in Catalonia region of Spain , on the World Rally Championship schedule. Now held on the wide, smooth and sweeping asphalt roads around the town of Salou , Costa Daurada , it

475-640: The north east of the city centre, which opened in 1996 soon after the inauguration of PortAventura. The station is connected to Tarragona and Barcelona by line R17 . There are plenty of taxi services throughout the area including taxi ranks in locations such as opposite the Font lluminosa, Cap Salou and Reus Airport. The bus company that serves the area is called Plana Bus, the destinations include Cambrils , La Pineda, PortAventura , Reus and Tarragona . [REDACTED] Media related to Salou at Wikimedia Commons PortAventura World PortAventura World

500-433: The resort was renamed 'PortAventura World Parks & Resort'. The second theme park, Ferrari Land, was inaugurated on April 7, 2017. PortAventura Dream Village, opened in 2017. The park features five theme areas based on civilizations (Mediterrània, Far West, México, China and Polynesia), and one theme area based on Sesame Street . Mediterrània is the main entrance area of the park. InvestIndustrial and Ferrari signed

525-464: The second phase includes a further 6 more open fields, billiards room and shop selling merchandise. Salou is the sub-site for the 2018 Mediterranean Games for sports such as sailing . Salou has a Mediterranean climate ( Köppen climate classification : Csa ) characterized by mild winters and hot summers. The rainiest season is autumn, and the driest season is the summer. Salou receives above 2,500 hours of sunshine annually. Salou's closest airport

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550-518: The south course was designed by "Green Project". The facilities consist of two clubhouses, a beach club, Lumine restaurant, Hoyo 19 restaurant, a pro shop, rental services and a golf school. In the future the area surrounding the golf course will be developed into a community with six residential areas and services that include two five-star hotels, a sports area and the International School of Salou that will cater for up to 1200 students as part of

575-505: The television series with the same title were both filmed in Salou. Used as a port by Greeks (who named it Salanrio ) and Romans (who named it after Salauris ), it appeared again in an important historic event, when in 1229 the fleet of James I of Aragon departed from the port of Salou to conquer the Balearic Islands , thus creating the Kingdom of Majorca . In 1286 Alfons III of Aragon also departed from this port to conquer Menorca ,

600-576: The town. Salou was separated from the adjacent municipality of Vila-seca on 30 October 1989 by a decision of the Supreme Court of Spain . In the summer of 2001, Salou suffered a terrorist attack by ETA , through a car bomb near a hotel. 13 people were injured, including two civil guards . PortAventura World is a growing theme park resort on the Costa Daurada . The resort includes luxury four-star accommodation, two theme parks ( PortAventura Park and Ferrari Land ), PortAventura Caribe Aquatic Park ,

625-520: Was previously held around the region of Costa Brava . In the 2012 season , the rally was held 8–11 November. Rally de Catalunya was first held in 1957; in 1988 it was merged with the Rally Costa Brava and renamed as Rally Catalunya – Costa Brava . † — The 1994 rally only counted for the 2-Litre World Cup . This article related to Catalonia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This rallying -related article

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