Family Holidays: Barcelona family holidays and breaks

Take the Family holiday rating 4½ stars out of 5

Why

Barcelona is a fabulous city - loud, vibrant, beautiful and booming. Since the early 1990's Barcelona has been enjoying a period of unprecedented ecconomic success and it shows. The city is awash with new building projects and new hotels, everyone want to go there it seems. Its becoming a sleek, modern European showpiece, though without losing its unique historical charm. This is all very good for single tourists, but for a family, as with most city destinations, it takes a little more planning. On the plus side, its very child-friendly, most establishments are pleased to see them and eating out won't present many problems as Spanish children are notoriously late sleepers and most places cater for them. The climate is mild and sunny and there are numerous accessible beaches, as well as a number of lovely city parks. Hopefully you have children who'll enjoy strolling up and down the bustling boulevades and visiting fantastic/fantastical buildings and if they tire, you can easily fortify them with ice cream and a pause to look at the many street entertainers. Be a little careful after dark, Barcelona's success has attracted some less desirable visitors and her crime rate has rocketed in recent years.

Top left: Guell, Barcelona
Top middle: La Sagrada Familia
Top right: Monumento a Colón

Bottom left: Mercado Boqueria
Bottom right: Las Ramblas

When

Barcelona can work all year round as a family holiday or break destination. The summer months do, however, provide the extra flexibility of combining a visit to Barcelona with some time on one of the cities 4 beaches, amounting to 4.2km of golden sand.

How

As one of the Mediterranean's top destinations, there's no shortage of budget flights to Barcelona, from main and regional airports. Expect to pay anything from £1.99 upwards, but remember that over the age of 2, children are classed as adults. Check deals with British Airways, Easyjet, Thomsonfly, Air Berlin, new Barcelona based Clickair, (from Edinburgh), or search for deals with Expedia.

The main airport, El Prat, is situated 12km southwest of Barcelona. Travel from the airport to the city is easy and on the whole pretty fast. Travel options are, the Aerobus Airport Express bus service which runs every 15 minutes, and will take you to Placa Espana or Placa de Cataluna, right in the heart of the city. Taxis from the airport to the city will cost around 25 Euros, with a surcharge for each piece of luggage. RENFE Trains run every 30 minutes, and take around 25 minutes. Stations are Estacio de Franca, Passeig de Gracia, or Barcelona Sants (otherwise known as Sants Estacion), but for the city center change at Barcelona Sants, for another RENFE train to Placa Catalunya or hop onto the metro.

Some budget airlines, like Ryanair, fly directly into Girona Airport, which is about 80km from Barcelona. All flights have connecting buses to Barcelona, you just need to purchase a ticket from the 'Barcelona Bus' ticket counter near the baggage reclaim, hop on, and enjoy the ride. The bus will drop you to Estacio del Nord bus station.

Much of the center is pedestrianised but if it gets too hot you can easily ditch the walking and hop onto the metro. Travel within the city is reasonably priced, especially with a T10 ticket for 10 journeys on the metro system or bus routes, and is valid indefinately.

Stay

There are a vast range of accommodation options in Barcelona for families, from grand 1920s hotels with fabulous architecture, to modern hotels with great facilities to apartments and aparthotels. There are also loads of districts and locations to choose from. Check a huge range of Barcelona hotel deals with our partners Active hotels.

One of most flexible, increasingly popular and best value options for families is to stay in a self catering Aparthotel or Apartment, such as the Citadines Ramblas. These can cost from around €85 per night (for two), many of which can sleep up to either 4 or 6 people, and are able to provide cots, on request. Children under 2 often stay free of charge, and an additional cleaning charge may apply.

Do

Visit the Boqueria market near the Ramblas. Its a fascinating place, sure to appeal to parents and kids alike, full of strange little stalls and colourful characters, everyone seems to shop here and its a perfect place to stock up for a picnic.

Spend a whole day visiting the Parc de la Ciutadella, where there is not only a lake for boating, but an enormous fountain designed by Barcelona's favourite architect Gaudi. There are two intersting natural history museums and a large garden for running and shouting in. Also well worth a visit, (allow at least half a day), is Parc Guell, a park designed by Gaudi full of amazing stone structures, multi-coloured stunning tiled mosaics and great views over the city. Be prepared for a 20 minute walk from the metro station, (up a steep hill), but look forward to amazing views from the top, (and remember to seek out icecream stops along the way to reinvigorate the weary.)

Take the family for an amble up and down the Ramblas, where you will be constantly entertained by street perfomers, great little shops, food stalls and the locals. It is also a street of great beauty with some fantastic buildings, just look up.

Visit Tibidabo amusement park, only 30 mins North of Placa de Catalunya by a special bus service called the Tibibus that leaves from outside El Corte Ingles (a large department store) in Placa Catalunya. It is more of a fairground than an amusement park, so more suitable for younger children. For teens and adults who prefer something a bit more full on, head for Port Aventura, owned by Universal studios, although is an hour and half away from the city. Read Take the Family's review of Port Aventura Hotel and theme park.

Go up the hill of Montjuic, the largest open green space in the city. You can give your family a wonderful cultural experience in one of the excellent museums here, or just explore some of the more outlandish remnants of the modernisme building experiment. Take them round the famous Spanish village, which is situated here or just stroll around one of the many beautiful gardens. It could well take you a couple of days to cover.

Eat

Introduce the children to some delicious Spanish specialities in Tapas bars or little cafes. These are to be more recommended than the larger restaurants, which tend to serve very slowly and often have rather drab surroundings. Make it fun for them by eating in the markets round the Ramblas or eating fresh fish near the port. It is possible to find the bland international food that children seem to love, but much better to try and stick to Spanish, as it is of course, much better and much cheaper.