Barcelona Family Holidays & Breaks

Barcelona’s Best Green Spaces

• Spend the day at Parc de la Ciutadella, with its boating lake, its extravagant fountain with gilded statues including water-spouting dragons, its mammoth statue, its free-flying green parrots and its two natural-history museums.

• Head for Parc Güell, designed by Spanish Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí and full of mesmerising stone structures including a bench in the form of a sea serpent and vibrant tiled mosaics, one of a salamander (dubbed ‘el drac’ or the dragon).

• Take an evening stroll along the green lung of Las Ramblas with its spectacular architecture, street performers and food, trinket and pet stalls. Locals do this en masse before or after dinner, often with an ice cream in hand.

Barcelona Best Art and Architecture

• Marvel at Gaudí's masterpiece, the fantastical Sagrada Familia, which finally reached structural completion a century after the architect's death, in early 2026. An audio-guide brings it to life for kids 6–12, while over-fives can climb its spindly towers. (Tip: Book well ahead to circumvent the queues).

• Don’t miss another Gaudí masterpiece, La Pedrera or Casa Milà with its topsy-turvy roofscape of chimneys that kids love to race around. Inside you’ll find displays on the natural inspirations for the building's design (which included snakes and sea sponges), a mock-up of a period apartment, and occasional events including workshops and puppet shows (some in English by request). Don’t miss the giftshop with its charming old-fashioned toys or the excellent ground-level bookshop. 

• Go up Montjuic hill by funicular or cable-car for child-friendly cultural venues including the Catalan National Art Museum and the Fundació Joan Míro, and several remnants of the Modernist building experiment, plus amazing views over the city from the 18th-century castle. You can also swim in the outdoor pool built for the 1992 Olympics (open to the public in July and August), and on certain evenings, Montjuïc hosts a famous Magic Fountain sound-and-light show.

Barcelona’s Best Beaches

• Head for Barceloneta, the closest beach to the centre, and hence the busiest, with lively chiringuitos (beach bars) and seafood restaurants.

• Alternatively, try Mar Bella, where you can play ping pong or volleyball before refuelling at one of the chiringuitos. It’s about a 15-minute bike-ride along the seafront from Barceloneta; bike hire is widely available. 

Barcelona Theme Parks

• Enjoy the charmingly old-fashioned Tibidabo amusement park in its stunning location beside the neo-Gothic hilltop Temple Expiatori del Sagrat Cor (30 minutes from Plaça de Catalunya via the Tibibus from outside El Corte Inglés department store). The fairground rides, rollercoaster and surreal museum of automatons come with 360-degree views over the city.

• For full-on theme-park thrills, head for PortAventura and Ferrari Land 90 minutes south of the city (with dedicated trains from Barcelona Sants train station; you can get train tickets including park admission).