Golden Hotels have long been a family favourite. Whilst we usually visit the Golden Taurus Aquapark in the summer, the Golden Bahia de Tossa is our go-to destination for a Christmas holiday to get away from it all.

However, Golden Hotels invited us out for a weekend to see what the hotel was like in full swing, during the busy summer season, and it’s fair to say that we had an amazing time. So, what makes Golden Hotels, and in particular the Golden Bahia de Tossa, such a great choice for your family summer holiday? Read on as we drill into the details.

Before we go any further, if you want to see for yourself what an amazing hotel the Bahia is, you can watch a detailed review on our YouTube channel:

Getting to Golden Bahía

The Golden Bahia de Tossa is located in the town of Tossa de Mar on the Costa Brava in the Catalonia region, in Spain’s North-Eastern corner.

Whilst many people drive to the hotel from or through southern France, the vast majority of UK visitors will fly into one of two airports: Girona or Barcelona.

Girona is the main airport used by package holiday companies including TUI and Jet2. If you book your holiday through one of these operators, the price you pay will include a free transfer from the airport, which takes 40-45 minutes, depending on traffic conditions and the number of drop-offs.

On this trip, we flew with Ryanair from Manchester, and you can also fly to Girona from several other UK airports. You can book transfers in advance, which is what we did, but there are usually plenty of taxis waiting outside departures and the fare to the hotel is approximately 75 euros. Transfer time will be marginally quicker than the coach at around 35-40 minutes.

For a wider choice of airlines, you could fly into Barcelona. Ryanair, EasyJet, Jet2 and Vueling all operate from the UK. We have done this on many occasions; you have no choice in the winter because Girona airport is not open. However, it does mean a 75-minute taxi ride that will cost you in the region of 150 euros.

A final note on taxis: if you are worried about not being able to get a taxi at the airport, you can always book directly with the hotel. Just e-mail them and they will be happy to make the arrangements for you.

Reception and Check In

One of the beautiful things about your arrival at the Golden Bahia de Tossa is the smell of reception. There is a lovely, inviting scent that lets you know you are finally here, and it never fails to put me in a great mood as I step into the spacious reception area.

Check-in is at 2pm and checkout at 11am, although late departure rooms are sometimes available for a small fee. If you arrive earlier than your check-in time, you can leave your bags in the luggage storage area and get on with your holiday.

One thing that experience has taught me that people worry about when visiting a hotel or city for the first time is the tourist tax. But in Spain’s Catalonia region, this really is no big deal. The tourist tax is just €1.32 per night per adult (17 and over), and it is only charged for a maximum of 7 days. This means that a family of four (two adults, two kids) staying for 2 weeks would pay a grand total of €18.48. I’ll bet most people spend more than that on their first visit to the bar!

That is, of course, unless you have booked all-inclusive. There are two levels of all-inclusive on offer, the details of which we’ll cover later, but for now it’s worth knowing that you’ll get an all-inclusive wristband when you check in.

Rooms

The hotel has a range of different room types available:-

• Standard rooms
• Quadruple rooms
• Family rooms
• Junior suites

All rooms come with a fridge, tea and coffee making facilities, air conditioning, safety deposit box (for which there is no charge), bathroom with bath/shower and hairdryer, and a balcony. Over the years, we have stayed in the Quadruple and family rooms and in all cases, they are clean and comfortable.

Pools

A hotel can live or die on the quality of its pool terrace and in the case of the Golden Bahia de Tossa, the main pool area is exceptional.

The large free-form swimming pool has shallow entry with non-slip tiles at either end, is crossed by a wooden bridge in the middle and is surrounded by beautifully landscaped gardens with lots of palm trees, bushes and rocks.

There is a separate pool for activities such as aquagym, water polo, water basket and water volley, plus a terrific shallow kids splash area that features a pirate ship with small slides. 

Next to the activities pool is a sports court for football and a shooting area where you can try your hand at pistol shooting, rifle shooting, and archery. Don’t worry, the area is well protected on all sides by thick wooden beams, so there’s no danger to any swimmers! The rife range also doubles up as a pétanque court.

Running alongside the edge of the hotel property is a spectacular landscaped rockery that stretches about 10m above the pool area and includes a couple of small waterfalls. You can walk most of the way up on a well-made path to an elevated deck with a small number of sunbeds from which you can take in the view of the whole pool terrace.

Below this terrace is the pool bar, which serves drinks and ice creams all day.

Sunbeds won’t be an issue at this hotel, there are so many to choose from including three separate elevated areas of the terrace – the one mentioned above, one that incorporates the activity pool and one that is built into the base of one of the hotel wings.

There is also a small indoor pool accessible via the steps in the lobby bar, which is open from 8am to 8pm daily. It’s worth noting that this pool is also open at Christmas, meaning you can still get your swimming fix even when it’s too cold to swim outside.

As if all of this wasn’t enough, one of the hotel’s true highlights is its rooftop terrace. This is a quieter area that features two small plunge pools, some very comfortable padded sun loungers, a bar area with tables and chairs and spectacular views of the surrounding area. Note that this is an adults-only area, and you need to validate your key at reception to get access. Don’t waste time visiting the 6^th floor without first getting your room key validated!

Spa

The hotel’s full name is Golden Bahia de Tossa and Spa. There are a variety of treatments available for an extra charge in the spa, which is located down the stairs from the main lobby bar, alongside the indoor pool and gym.

All-inclusive

Before talking about the hotel’s bars and restaurant, let’s talk about the all-inclusive options.

There are two levels of all-inclusive that can be summarised as follows:-

1. Standard All-Inclusive – in which many drinks, snacks and ice creams are included, but there is a small charge for some drinks.
2. Golden All-Inclusive – in which all food and drink at the hotel is included.

For the vast majority of holidaymakers, I think the standard version of all-inclusive is more than good enough. Plenty of beers, wines and spirits are included and for those that aren’t, for example Guinness, Havana Club 7 rum, the charge is so small that it probably isn’t worth the cost to upgrade to the Golden all-inclusive.

It’s worth noting that this effectively means that many drinks at the hotel have three pricing levels: the cost to buy (for guests on bed and breakfast, half-board or full-board), the small upcharge for all-inclusive guests or free for Golden all-inclusive guests.

Bars

Outside of the pool areas, the hotel has two main bars.

The Lobby Bar is modern and stylish. It flows through from the reception area along one wing of the hotel. The décor in this bar is impressive, full of light and little ornamental touches. I love the supporting pillars, and whilst you may not think of breeze black as beautiful, wait until you see the combined effect of the black edging and strip lights on these pillars. The wave shapes amongst the lights on the ceiling are also cool, as are the rows of tables separated by indoor plants.

There are lots of smaller tables with chairs in front of a small indoor stage that is used for music performances in the evening and to show sporting events on a TV.

The main bar, which hosts the evening entertainment on a larger stage, is beyond the Lobby Bar and is only open in the evening.

Restaurant

Like the Lobby Bar, the Mare Nostrum (“Our Sea”) Restaurant benefits from a sleek, modern design. More importantly, the food is pretty good too!

There’s lots of choice for all three meals. At breakfast, you can get all manner of traditional cooked breakfast items, in addition to a huge selection of bread, croissants, pastries and fruit. I enjoyed my daily bowl of porridge into which I sprinkled dried cranberries and nuts.

For lunch and dinner, there’s a large selection of meats and fish with a number of side dishes. Pasta will be freshly cooked to order, and pizza is always available. There is a different selection of desserts every day and cheese and crackers to finish off with. There is even an ice cream dispenser so that everybody can have a go at being an ice cream man.

Show cooking takes place at all three meals. For example, at breakfast you can be served a freshly made omelette that is cooked to order, and at lunch and dinner, the chefs will be busy slicing meats or cooking fish.

There is ample seating and even an outdoor section so that you can enjoy your meal on the terrace.

Standard all-inclusive means that you will be allowed to order beer, wines or soft drinks with your lunch and evening meal. For other guests, only water from the hotel’s filtered water system is included, with a charge for all other drinks. A nice touch at the Golden Bahia is that when you walk into the restaurant, bottles of filtered water are already set out on the table so you don’t have to ask the waiting staff except for a refill, which they will be happy to oblige.

All guests, regardless of board basis, have access to tea, coffee, hot chocolate, fruit juices, and water at breakfast.

If you have any allergies or specific dietary requirements, the hotel will happily cater for your needs – just the ask restaurant manager.

Entertainment

The entertainment programme offered by Golden Hotels is one of the reasons that so many guests return year after year, and we’re no different. The choice of games and sports that you can participate in whilst staying at the Golden Bahia de Tossa is impressive.

All activities take place on and around the pool terrace where you’ll find fun games such as table shuffleboard, shufflepuck, sjoelbak, table skittles and cornhole. Over in the shooting area, you’ll find pistol, rifle shooting or archery (one of these three activities will take place every day), darts and my favourite, pétanque. There’s also a daily aquagym in the morning and a daily team game in the pool (waterpolo, basket or volleyball).

Every day, guests will get the chance to win the highly sought-after gold medal in a fun game of skill such as golf or ring toss. Three medals are awarded daily, one each to the best child, teenager and adult.

In addition to sports and games, there are also additional activities such as sangria-making every week.

During the summer months, there is a separate entertainment programme for teenagers covering the same activities played by the adults, obviously at different times. Kids (4-12) are also well served by the hotel’s Goldy Club. This has three sessions every day (10.30am – 12.15pm, 2.30pm – 4.00pm and 9.45pm – 11.00pm). Here the kids play sports and get involved in craft activities in the Goldy Club room.

The daily programme covering these activities runs from 10.30am until 4.30pm. After a few hours’ break, the hard-working animation team are back for a full evening programme that starts at 8.10pm with either balloon modelling or face painting followed by the mini-disco at 8.45pm. This is a riotous experience with the animation team members dressed in brightly coloured outfits leading the kids through a series of fun dances, and sometimes one of the Golden Hotels mascots, Goldy and Goldina, will join in the last dance.

Next up is the diploma and medal ceremony for all the winners of the day’s games, followed by either a quiz, a game of bingo or some other fun activity where the adults can win prizes.

The evening concludes with a show from a visiting professional act; a singer, band, magician or acrobat. On our visit, the best act that we saw was Mercury Rising – a tribute to Queen. I loved this show because the singer got the crowd going, and he is ably backed by two excellent band members playing the guitar and keyboards.

Out and About

With the rich variety of activities on offer, a fabulous pool terrace and the chance for the adults to escape to the serenity of the amazing rooftop pool area, you’d be forgiven for never wanting to leave the hotel during your stay. However, there are the practicalities of a holiday to consider in addition to some worthwhile sites worth mentioning.

The town of Tossa de Mar has a great beach and perhaps its biggest asset is the Vila Vella, or the old town. The imposing turrets of the Costa Brava’s oldest remaining fortified town look down over the beach and out to sea. From the beach, you can walk up the ramp that leads into the old town, and the cobbled streets and town walls that you can also walk along make all that effort worthwhile.

There is a large supermarket and pharmacy just a 5-minute walk away from the hotel, and the bus station where you can catch a bus to reach either Barcelona or Girona is less than a 10-minute walk away. Barcelona, with its world-class monuments including La Sagarda Familia, Parc Guell and Montjuic Castle probably needs no introduction but the smaller, less familiar Girona is also worth a visit. It too has a cathedral (featured in an iconic scene from the TV show Game of Thrones) plus an impressive city wall and the atmospheric Arab baths.

Review

I think it would be hard to find a better hotel than the Golden Bahia de Tossa that ticks all the boxes for an enjoyable family summer holiday in Spain. The hotel is outstanding in so many aspects from its beautiful swimming pool and terrace, the rooftop pool and sun deck and the quality and amount of entertainment on offer throughout the day and running into the evening.

The relaxed vibe around the hotel means that it is probably less “full-on” than some of the other hotels in the Golden chain, but whilst this may be a negative for some, it will be a positive for many others. The great thing about Golden Hotels is that they cater for all tastes from simple, relaxed hotels suitable for couples and those who want to laze about and do nothing, right through to hotels that have that buzzy vibe where something is going on most of the day. The Golden Bahia de Tossa sits somewhere in the middle of that scale giving the best of both worlds and, as at all the chain’s hotels, the staff are superb; always happy to help out and be friendly whilst going about it. I cannot state enough what a difference this makes to your holiday.

Whilst this may seem like some kind of advertising guff on my part, I can assure you that this is the way you will feel when you visit this hotel, and we put our money where our mouth is, returning year after year.