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We've just spent a week in Tarragona as part of a month's touring holiday in which we also visited sites at Belezy in Provence and Relax Nat on the Costa Brava.
I know its purely a personal thing, but overall we liked Templo el Sol best of the three. Its situation is ideal - Playa del Torn is a half mile long sandy, very clean naturist beach, and the Templo site is on the cliff top immediately above, covering about half the length of the beach. If you have young children or non swimmers with you, be aware that the beach shelves very suddenly a few feet from the waterline. Access to the beach is easy for the able bodied - 81 steps at one end and a steep slope down the cliffs at the other.
As you approach from the nearest town (Hospitalet del Infante) which is about 2 miles away, you have a reception area/ restaurant/ shop. Next in line along the cliff top are maybe 20 or so mobile homes for hire (60,000 pesetas a week this May & June). Further along you have touring pitches (around 3,600 a night this years prices), then at the far end are three enormous swimming pools and a pool cafe.
Hospitalet itself is a small town, with a lot of building underway. There's a marina and a very new, attractive promenade which must have cost a fortune. There's also a good selection of shops and restaurants, although many of the restaurants were closed last week. (Winter!)
The downside: Although the site was almost half full last week, a lot of the facilities were closing down. The pizza joint was closed, stock in the shop was low, and the sun-beds around the swimming pool were all locked away. (this applied to the other sites as well - one the temperature gets below 25 degrees they think winter has arrived). The restaurant leaves a lot to be desired. It's dark and dingy, with a poor menu and indifferent service. Before we went I was advised about jellyfish & mosquitoes, neither of which appeared - they no doubt think its winter as well.
Two other points: There is a railway line runs close to the site, with trains operating all night. This didn't bother us, but if you are a light sleeper it may do. There is a rule there that you dress to go to the restaurant, shop and reception area. This bothers some, but it's no big deal. Most people just slip on a T shirt or towel for the shop. Tour buses pickup at the site. We did a day trip to Barcelona (1,900 pta) and trips were also advertised to the Ebro delta, and a monastery in the mountains whose name escapes me. - so there is plenty to do if you tire of the beach.
Weather in May/June should be in the mid (May) to high (June) 20's with the odd shower.
I don't think the site itself has a website but of you look at Virtual Naturist site there is some good information.
Keith followed this up and was enthusiastic. He wrote of Playa del Torn, "Our family spent a blissful week on the beach in 1999. At the north end is the naturist camp, 'Templo El Sol'. The south end is better - it has a bar on the beach, and cannot be praised too highly! There is a website for the camp, can't remember the URL. We stayed near the delightful town of Hospitalet and ventured onto the beach daily."
See http://www.vandellos-hospitalet.org/turisme/index.htm for more pictures of Playa del Torn.
My wife and I have just returned from a week in Salou/Cambrils on the Costa Dorada. We took the local train from Salou Station to L'Hospitalet de L'Infant, the return trip for both of us was $4.80 (astonishingly cheap). From L'hospitalet station we walked down the main road and followed the signs to Playa D'el Torn/El Templo Del Sol. There was a good pavement until we hit the outskirts of town then we had to walk along the edge of the road. After 2 miles we came to El Templo Del Sol. On the left hand side of their car park we saw a sign for paths to Torn and D'Oques beaches. We went down to the D'Oques beach then turned right to reach a small beach used by those campers at El Templo who prefer a quieter beach. This sandy cove is about 150 metres long by 50 metres deep. It was very tranquil there, the odd boat passed by but we were not disturbed at all. The main beach at Torn is about 200 metres past the campsite. The D'Oques is a campsite and they have a small supermarket. It does close for siesta so check if you need to buy anything. The beach was fine sand turning to gravel at the waters edge. It shelved about 1 metre in and there are large smooth rocks (probably to prevent erosion), The floor became sandy after 3 metres and the water looked pretty clear. All in all, a nice excursion if you find yourself in the Salou/Cambrils area. The train back left at 6 o'clock so we were able to have a cup of coffee in L'Hospitalet before heading up to the station.
'Thorne'
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