A family holiday is a nailed-on success at Eurocamp, Playa Montroig in Spain
A luxury Azure apartment on the Costa Dorada ticks all the boxes for summer fun
Andy Cronshaw
The beach at Playa Montroig
It's a sizzling 35 degrees centigrade on Catalonia's Costa Dorada.
Further into Spain's interior and down the coast in Andalucia it's even hotter – 45C in the shade.
People are sitting fully clothed in fountains in Sevilla, sleeping on rooftops in Madrid.
Here, however at Eurocamp's Playa Montroig, there's a cooling breeze wafting through the palm trees.
It's still too hot for tennis on the purpose-built courts just a minute from our air-conditioned Azure holiday home.
Too hot perhaps for a game of table tennis a stone's throw from the central reception area in the middle of this sprawling but charming complex.
Let's face it; it's too hot to wear clothes other than those which have an affinity for water.
There's only one thing for it: a saunter down to one of two swimming pool areas.
The first and biggest is perfect for children and kidults of all sizes.
There are several water slides but my daughter Niamh, aged six, can't decide which she likes the best.
We'll just have to keep trying them all.
Beside main pool at Playa Montroig
Serious swimming is out; this is strictly for cooling down and for fun.
The other pool is great for toddlers with smaller slides and tons of features including a huge bucket that fills with water and dispenses its contents when full.
If we make it by 11 the kids can do the dance-along water disco, while we set up stall on the artificial grass in shade of a blossoming bushes.
We've got sliced pineapple from the campsite shop steeped in lime juice.
But when we a need a caffeine boost there's a café on hand where an excellent cappucino can be had for little more than a couple of Euros.
Around lunchtime it's difficult to resist a pizza.
Enjoying the toddlers' pool at Playa Montroig
Tonight we're booked into one of the two on-site restaurants with a table set under a canopy of leaves. Here the paella is excellent, either traditional Valencian or 'mountain' style.
No doubt we'll order one of several cheap and easy-going rosado wines; a Rioja perhaps or a local Terra Alta production.
Such is life here at Playa Montroig.
Paella at Playa Montroig
Tomorrow we'll head to the excellent beach.
It's a five-minute walk from the centre of the complex. A wander though the tent and caravan pitches discovers a small settlement of well-furnished living accommodation.
There are open-air kitchens running on gas, hammocks set up in the shade of olive trees, glasses clinking as beer is extracted and poured from fridges powered by onsite electricity.
On the beach there's a children's play area and a cocktail bar nearby.
These guys know what they are doing.
Later in the evening as the sun goes down people sit with pizzas and drinks while kids enjoy the last of the sunlight.
On the following day, we'll take our hire car to one the of quieter coves where the beaches are superb for adventures and swimming.
Llenguadets Beach, near to Salou, further down the coast, is one such spot.
The water is crystal clear and warm. There are rocks to dive off and enough sealife under the surface to make it worthwhile donning a snorkel.
A beachside café is just the ticket for ice cream or a beer.
While there are teams of beach hawkers shipped in from Senegal for the season but there's a no nuisance.
And when the sand ingress becoming a little too annoying it's time to pack up for home.
Each of the apartments along our block is kitted with three bedrooms, a shower, and kitchen.
The Azure porch at Playa Montroig
There's a porch where, while Sarah and the girls shower off that pesky sand, I sit and crack open a chilled beer. This one is a craft IPA from Barcelona.
Across the road are a Dutch family and they raise a glass with a knowing smile. Salut! Life is good.
Here the Dutch, Germans and Irish outnumber the Brits by some distance.
To the side of each holiday home there is a barbecue grill, all you need are some coals.
Tonight we've got skewered beef, mushrooms and vegetables marinaded in herbs and spices.
It's all available in the local shop where produce is plentiful, and as a trip to a local supermarket proves, very reasonably priced.
To match the food an elegant red from nearby Somontano. If we get through that there's a Ribera Del Duero. And why not? The bottles are half the price we'd pay at home.
But while the foods is cooking we've got slices of Manchego, Serrano ham and fried padron peppers for which I have chilled a bottle of La Guita Manzanilla, price: €5.
Finally the kids are slumbering and we're free to enjoy the balmy evening. We've got one of those coils burning but in truth there are very few mosquitoes.
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Relaxation is paramount, but we're here for two weeks, so day trips are a must to break things up.
The first is a trip to one of several waterparks that sit along the Costa Dorada coastline: PortaPortAventura Caribe Aquatic Park near to Salou.
There's a breathtaking array of waterslides, bars and restaurants with admission around the €20 mark.
But for something a little more quintessentially Spanish there is the historic city of Tarragona little more than 25 minutes drive from Cambrils.
Drivers can head to straight to the old town which can be accessed from the final motorway junction into Tarragona.
There's plenty of parking just outside the walled inner town.
Here the warren-like cobbled streets wander through charming squares. The biggest attraction is the site of a Roman town, where a circus and amphitheatre stood for gladiatorial combat and chariot racing.
The bowels of the structure are still intact and allow a fascinating underground journey culminating in taking glass lift to the top of a tower where the whole of the city can be surveyed.
A view over Tarragona
Along with Cambrils, Tarragona has some of the finest seafood restaurants in Catalonia.
We headed to El Lagut where the dinning area is cellar cool and seemingly hewn from rock, creating a cave-like interior – a welcome respite from the heat.
The friendly waiting staff are only too glad to explain the dishes in perfect English.
We get super-fresh anchovies and mussels while the centrepiece is a local speciality: fisherman's fish stew blackened with squid ink and stuffed with crabs and fish.
Of course it's washed down with white wine, this time from Celler Alimara in Terra Alta.
Fishermen's stew at El Llagut
Tarragona is by no means the only place to head for traditional Catalonian food.
Cambrils is packed with traditional Spanish eateries a good few of which are Michelin starred.
Never one to be starry eyed I directed my loved ones to El Posit which turned out to be a sort of Catalonian Harry Ramsden's... only much better.
The menu covers a panoply of fish dishes and platters divided into categories with deep-fried delights and speciality Catalan rice the standouts.
With tables set out into a typically Mediterranean square and child friendly facilities, it's the perfect spot for a family lunch.
After another tough day out on the road it's time to head back to our luxury camping apartment with the option of cocktails on the beach or a few cheeky beers on the porch.
So genuinely impressed were we with our trip to Eurocamp we have rebooked for another year; this time in the Languedoc.
For a family holiday, it's a nailed-on success. The easy accessibility of the pools and kids clubs are the deciding factor.
Kids show with 'Roiggy' at Playa Montroig
To get to Playa Montroig we flew to Barcelona with EasyJet from Manchester and hired a car to drive the 100km or so to the site.
Nearer is Reus but it worked out more expensive to fly there.
For a three-bed Azure holiday home prices start at about £1,500 per week but check out www.eurocamp.co.uk for the latest offers and deals depending on availability and seasonal fluctuations.
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