4 Parents Share Their Tips for Enjoying Barcelona as a Family
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Spain consistently ranks as one of our readers' favorite countries to visit, with evergreen holiday destinations like Mallorca and thriving cultural capitals like Madrid and Barcelona. While the latter may be widely beloved for its youthful nightlife and ancient history, it's also an underrated city for families traveling with kids and teenagers.
We talked to four parents who live in the US, UK, Spain, and Portugal about what makes Barcelona a go-to favorite for families with children of all ages—including Gaudí's quirky imprint on the city, its highly walkable neighborhoods, stroller-friendly public transportation, and more.
A flight attendant’s first family trip with 10-month-old twins
“I'm a part-time flight attendant and I'm a first-time mum to 18-month twin girls. I’ve been a flight attendant for 8.5 years and my mum used to be one too, so I want my daughters to share our travel bug. I want them to understand what I do and also to know that there's other things out there—different cultures and foods and lifestyles. For our first family trip all together, we went to Barcelona. Sevenah and Venesah were just 10 months old. My husband and I had previously been to Barcelona and we both loved it—and knew the weather would be lovely that time of year as well. We didn't really have a set itinerary, it was more of a go-with-the-flow situation. It was less about seeing the popular attractions and more about getting the twins used to walking around in different environments, getting them used to eating out and dining in restaurants, that kind of thing. It was our first family holiday, so we tried to take as many pictures as we could, and we took them to the beach. We visited La Sagrada Familia and I think they were in awe of it, because it was so big and tall—it was nice to see their excited faces. I found the public transportation in Barcelona to be very family-friendly. On the metro, every stop had an elevator that we could get onto with a double stroller. And every restaurant we went to had two high chairs available, which isn’t always the case elsewhere. The locals were always happy to help us with the kids. If they saw us with the stroller, they'd let you go ahead first, or help pick it up. Even in restaurants, the waiters and waitresses always interacted with them. The twins tried patatas bravas for the first time! We also went to a fine dining restaurant called Xavier Pellicer. I was a bit dubious at bringing the girls there, because I thought they might be loud, but they were great and it was so nice to have that little adult time, even with the kids. My advice for other parents is: Don't be afraid to do something for yourself. I know it is a family trip, but go to that fine dining restaurant that you want to visit, or that hotel that you've always wanted to stay at.” —Shanice Reis
A genealogist's family reunion
“My family is from the Basque region of Spain on my mother’s side and from the Navarre and Aragon regions on my father’s side. For me, family has always meant everything. When everything goes to the crapper, there's always family. So from that point of view, it's always been important for me to be able to tell my daughter about who they are. I actually run a genealogy research firm—and every person involved in ancestry research has a story to tell. One of our first trips to Spain together as a family was to Barcelona, which we loved because there was an amazing dichotomy between what adults can do and what children have access to. For this trip, we started out in Paris and took a taxi cab to Disneyland. We spent the whole day there and then we boarded an overnight train from Paris to Barcelona, where my uncles and cousins from Zaragoza later met us. We had the entire sleeper car to ourselves and my daughter, who was 12 years old at the time, absolutely loved jumping from bunk bed to bunk bed. We got up early in the morning to watch the countryside pass by the window. It was just an excellent way for us to spend time together as a family and see part of the country that we would never have gotten to see. What’s great is that Barcelona is a modern city—we normally stay in Hilton or Marriott hotels—but you can still really experience its ancient history and culture. My daughter loved traipsing through the Roman ruins, and there are still parts of the old aqueducts and Roman baths. Then there’s the influence that Antoni Gaudí had on the city. La Sagrada Familia, obviously, is an unbelievable site to see. We've watched it grow, if you will, over the last 10 to 15 years that we've been visiting the city into what it is today. It's a slow construction process, but it's magnificent, and you can still go inside and see the light coming through the stained glass windows, which my daughter loved. Kids have a blast at Park Güell too. It’s so quirky and there are hardly any straight lines. My daughter would sit down in the park and she would take a piece of paper out and try to sketch some of the things she saw. We probably have some of those still in a box somewhere.” —Mark Minguillon
Toddlers, teens, and everything in between.
A Barcelona family explores their home turf
“We are actually from Spain, but because of my job, we moved to the US for six years, first to Orlando and then to New York. We moved back to Barcelona a little over a year ago. We always loved to travel before we had our daughter Chloe but now with her, it feels even more adventurous. It’s exciting knowing all the benefits that travel has had on her development. She's only two years old and she has already traveled to four continents and lived in three different cities in two countries. Because of that, she's independent and has developed a sense of curiosity and respect for other cultures. Right now, if you ask her what their favorite meal is, she would say ramen, which she tried in Japan. And that's weird for a kid, you know. We always recommend travelers to visit Barcelona because any time of the year is a good moment to travel here—like all Mediterranean countries, Spain has a mild climate so it doesn’t normally get too hot during the summer or too cold during the winter. Unlike Orlando or New York! Also, it’s a very walkable city, which is really important when you have kids in strollers. We recommend families stay in the Grácia neighborhood north of Barcelona, it’s a little village with plenty of cute car-free streets and cafés—it’s a great vibe. And if you want to be closer to the city center, then stay in Eixample. Chloe loves to explore, so all these little neighborhoods are great for her to wander around freely. There are also so many great places within 30 minutes of the city for day trips. There’s Montserra, a beautiful mountain that I love, and Costa Brava north of Barcelona has amazing blue water and incredible beaches.” —Jordi Aguilar
A globetrotter's pre-cruise visit with five kids
“We left for full-time travel when our youngest daughter was a year old. After traveling throughout the US and Hawaii, we continued on to Asia for seven months, then Europe for another six months, and then lived in New Zealand. Now we live in Portugal. Our youngest is seven and our oldest is 17, both girls. Our three boys in the middle are 9, 11, and 14 years old. We went to Barcelona this fall in anticipation of a cruise and spent two full days in the city. Barcelona is well set up as a cruise port, so it was not difficult at all to access the cruises from the city center. Spain is huge on kids. You're always seeing kids at dinner with all the adults. There's no separation of ‘the kid’s table’—that just doesn't exist. I never feel like young kids are unwelcome in Spain, unlike some other European countries. Whenever we travel, it is always a bit of a balance finding things all seven of us enjoy regardless of age. In Barcelona, we visited Casa Batlló, the coolest of the three Gaudí houses. The kids surprisingly all loved it—they’re not typically into architecture but the audio guide was really entertaining. Because we are often taking the kids out of school to travel, we’ll treat historic or cultural activities like this as a substitute. Sometimes I’ll tell them they can do homework pages or, for example, participate in the audio guide of this historical monument. They'll usually opt for that because it's just much more fun!” —Leslie Stroud
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
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