PortAventura World 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, 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.

History

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, 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 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, 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.

PortAventura Park

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.

Ferrari Land

InvestIndustrial and Ferrari signed 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 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 is the second amusement centre themed to Ferrari in the world, after Ferrari World Abu Dhabi.

Partial list of rides and attractions

Roller coasters

Flat rides

Water rides

Amusement rides using motion pictures

PortAventura Caribe Aquatic Park

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.

Rides

Kids rides

Resort hotels

The resort features six themed hotels:

Seasonal events

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 the mazes: [REC], Horror in Penitence, La Selva del Miedo and the nighttime Halloween show Horror en el Lago.