Barcelona tips with 3 boys! 2-8 years old!

[DungunGirl]

Hi there

Was wondering whether there are any tips for a 3 night trip to Barcelona with 3 kids. We have booked for August.

I am most interested in what people felt about the travel and getting about.

Is the Barcelona Card worth the money?
Or is it just better to pay for the metro/tram etc?

We would be limited in what we do with young children...we are planning to do the Gaudi stuff - Sagrada Familia and that other one with the mosaic lizard.

Trip to the Football stadium is a must according to my 8 year old!

Other than that maybe the magic fountain and the cable car ride.

Based on the locations of all this and the fact we will have 3 adults and 3 children... what would be the most economical way to travel?

Also, is getting to the city centre by the airport bus easy? and cost wise reasonable?

Any tips or guidance MUCH appreciated!

HoHo bus. You get on and off where you like. Camp Nou and Parc Guell on same route I think.

However we found a taxi is much the best/cheapest way - pretty much every ride was E10 and saved queuing and wasting time. Barcelona is very very busy.

Metro is pickpockets location of choice and you miss seeing stuff as you are underground.

The Tibidabo Amusement Park is brill. great mix of weird, quaint and propeer scary rides. Don't leave till last thing though as leaving a the same time is nightmare. Taxi back!

We had a metro pass that covered local trains, underground, bus and tram. It was fairly convenient.

We took the train in from the airport, but a taxi back out again. We made good use of buses and underground, though.

The beaches are lovely. If you like aquaria, there is one at the foot of La Ramblas, in a modern shopping/eating complex.

If you enjoy waterparks, there is one about an hour north of Barcelona.

Hi Dungungirl. I'm interested to know where you have booked as have been thinking of weekend break with the kids and Barcaelone would be perfect.

Hi ladyemem
We are staying at the Holiday Inn Express which is pretty central and as the cost included breakfast that is one less thing for me to think about! I basically got the whole thing through Expedia for £900 for all 5 of us which I thought was pretty good considering it was for the summer holidays.

Is it the Holiday Express on Carrer Pallars? If it is I wouldn't say it was pretty central TBH. It has a very different feel from the city proper and you will transport into the centre or to the sights.
It's a good price for five of you though and when you have been once you'll know where you want to stay when you go back!

It's a very compact city, you can walk almost anywhere.
To get around most of what you want to see the open top bus hop on, hop off is great and quite inexpensive.

For the age of your children I'd highly recommend the aquarium.

You absolutely cannot walk almost anywhere from your hotel though. I would have said from the ages of your boys that you would do better to be nearer the centre or at least the beach. However this might not be an option now but as it's your first trip (they are always trickier it probably won't matter) .

I see that taxi's won't work with your party of five so well but it will be very hot to be on the metro every day.

Top tip is to be up early as the city is packed from mid morning onwards but pretty quiet at 8 -10 am. Get the HoHo bus as they have stops close to your hotel. Restaurants on the beach further down towards Port Vell are fab and child friendly (despite being nightclubs at night!).