Vila-seca (Cat.Vila-seca) is a municipality in Spain, the comarca of Tarragonès, in the province of Tarragona, Costa Daurada, Catalonia.
Vila-seca has a large petrochemical complex shared with Tarragona and La Canonja, including Repsol complex in El Morell makes one of the greatest petrochemical areas of Europe.
PortAventura
The main attraction of the city is the PortAventura Park – a theme park located in the PortAventura World Resort, opened to the general public on 2 May 1995.
The park features five theme areas: The park has five themed zones: the Mediterranean Sea, the Far West, Mexico, China and Polynesia, and one themed zone, Sesame Street, which opened in 2011. There is also one theme area based on Sesame Street, which was opened for the 2011 season of the park.
PortAventura World is an entertainment resort in Vila-seca. It was built around the PortAventura Park theme park, which attracts around 3.5 million visitors per year, making it the most visited theme park in Spain and the sixth most visited theme park in Europe. The resort includes a second theme park, Ferrari Land, since 2017 and also includes PortAventura Caribe Aquatic Park, five hotels, a convention centre and a RV park. It is the biggest resort in the south of Europe which attracts around 5 million visitors per year.
Architecture and sights
Vila-seca preserves remains of the old fortifications, the castle and the parish church. The most important element of the old walls is the Portal de Sant Antoni, which remain in the town center.
The castle of Vila-seca de Solcina, which appears in documents from the 15th century, is one of the most significant buildings in the municipality. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Dutchman Joan Kies Helmont bought it from the Archbishop of Tarragona. The new owner had the old building demolished, minus the master tower, and in its place erected a building reminiscent of Dutch farmhouses. Antoni Kies i Muñoz sold the mansion in 1899 to Isidre de Sicart i Torrents. The Sicarts remodeled the building and gave it its current modernist look.
The church of Sant Esteve has a single nave and belongs to a style of transition between Gothic and Renaissance. The bell tower, with a rectangular floor plan, is covered by a roof and has six windows.
Shopping
The weekly market in Vila-seca is held every Friday, in La Pineda – Plaça de la Cançó Catalana.
Vila-seca tertiary sector has a very large, active and diverse, with nearly 600 commercial initiatives and services, located mainly in urban areas Vilaseca and Pine. The shopping street is the street Vilaseca Ramon Olzina and main shopping promenade of Pineda’s Pau Casals.
Restaurants
There are no Michelin list restaurants in the city.
Transport
The nearest airport is in Reus.
The Costa Daurada has a high speed rail (AVE) station in Camp de Tarragona, located only 20 km from Vila-seca, where both AVE and Altaria trains stop, from where you can then travel to Tarragona and other municipalities via coach or taxi service.
Vila-seca also has a train station with local and medium and long distance trains with destinations throughout Spain.
By car:
From Reus 12 min (8.3 km) via C-14
From Tarragona 15 min (8.9 km) via Ctra. València/N-340 and N-340
From Barcelona 1 hr 21 min (107 km) via C-32 and AP-7
From Madrid 5 hr 42 min (550 km) via A-2 and AP-2
Main information
Area: 21 sq. km (municipality)
Coordinates: 41° 06′ 40″ N, 1° 08′ 42″ E
Population: 22.555 (municipality)
Languages: Spanish, Catalan
Currency: Euro
Visa: Schengen
Time: Central European UTC +1
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