In August 2018, we went to the Hotel Europa Splash on the Costa Brava for a week in the sun. Here is what we thought of the hotel!
Location
Hotel Europa Splash is located on the Costa Brava coast, just over an hour north of Barcelona and 45 minutes south east of Girona airport. The hotel itself is on the south side of the seaside town of Malgrat and just north of Santa Susanna.
The hotel is just the other side of the main road from the beach and so getting onto the beach is easy and only a 5 minute walk. There is an underground subway so you don’t have to worry about crossing main roads. As the hotel is located in the town of Malgrat, there are plenty of gift shops, restaurants and mini supermarkets right outside the hotel.
Food
Here is where Hotel Europa Splash could do better. As part of the all inclusive package, you get breakfast, lunch and evening meal, as well as poolside snacks and unlimited drinks.
If I’m being honest, the meals from the restaurant were not great and after a while, they became very bland and same-y. Obviously they have to cater for people from different nationalities and so they have to try and please a lot of people.
We had better success with the poolside kiosk which served chicken nuggets, toasties, chips and hot dogs during the day. These were Heidi’s favourites and we probably ate these more than the normal. Also, the bars served the most amazing milkshakes, but make sure you as an adult taste them before the children, sometimes they go a big wrong!!
If you go to the bar inside, they have a wide array of drinks available, but if you ask for a children’s cocktail, they can make something especially for the children to make them feel all grown up (iti s just lemonade with colouring in!)
If you’re going out for the day, you can ask for a picnic to be made for you. We did this a couple of times and it was always a ham & cheese sandwich with fruit and a drink. If you’re struggling with the restaurant, this might be a good alternative.
Accommodation
The accommodation is quite basic, but you don’t really spend much time in the hotel room anyway! The room consists of a double bed, TV, fridge, a balcony and a walk-in shower/wet room.
The maid service seemed pretty good and we had fresh bottle of water every day in the room. They also arranged Heidi’s teddies on the bed each day which was a nice touch.
Perhaps the most important part is that the TV is in Spanish. However, for some programmes, they have English in the background. Therefore, you need to press the speech bubble button on the remote control and select English. We did this with Disney Channel and it worked every time. Also, the TV carries BBC World News.
Facilities
The Hotel Europa Splash itself has a main swimming pool, a kids splash pool and slides going into a smaller pool. There are lifeguards on throughout and music playing out to the main pool.
The hotel has a wonderful rooftop terrace which is ideal of sunbathing, but also good for taking wonderful photos, as you can see!
There is also a gym, but no-one goes on holiday for a gym!
You also have access to the sister hotel just along the road. Here, the hotel is bigger with more pools/slides, and better food, but the hotel is bigger and you can feel a little lost in there, especially when trying to look after little ones!!
Entertainment
The entertainment team were the best part of the Hotel Europa Splash and worked so hard to entertain the little ones. Check out the notice board for the running order, we found that the evening entertainment was the best part. The mini disco is a bit repetitive but because there is a little bit of time after evening meal, a lot of the children played together and that was nice. Heidi loved this part so much, she wanted to play rather than eat!
One word of warning is that 2/3 times a week, they have various photo opportunities (a snake, parrot, weird looking Mickey Mouse etc!) Please note that these cost €10 each and so be careful!
We did do Kids Club a couple of times as it was nice and quiet (and cool!) but whilst the entertainment team do speak English, it is probably better if you stay with your child, to make sure they understand everything.
Twice a week, they do a walking tour to the beach to the foam party. Whilst it goes on for 2 hours, you’ll only be there for an hour at the most. It is good fun, but make sure you bring a towel or two!.
Conclusion
Overall, we did have a lovely holiday and the Hotel Europa Splash was just the right size for us and what we needed. Would we go back? Probably not, as I wouldn’t want to have the exact same holiday, but for a short burst in the sun, it is a pretty good place.