Recommendations of where to stay/visit in Catalnia area of Spain

[hulababy]

We are thinking of going next summer for two weeks.

We'd like to visit Barcelona and think that a day at Potaventura theme park and the water park would be good days out too, especially for DD, age 5.

Anyone know what else is nearby to do?

And also where to stay? We'd prefer a villa or an apartment, rather than a large hotel and would go for two week's car hire to give ourselves some flexibility in what we do.

Locally we can fly to Reus, rather than the main Barcelona airport.

We would NOT want to be in a really British type resort, with english pubs and beer - want to see some of Spain and eat their food and see their culture. Is this possible in this area. I know the two theme park days would be very tourist-y but they are fine. It is the rest of the holiday we want something else for.

Last year we went tot he South of France and stayed in a camp siote place for the first time - but it was rather warm at night with no aircon. Do they have these sites in Spaina nd what are they like? Might consider it again for maybe 7 ights.

And if we did 7 ngihts here, what other twin centre type place might be a short, few hours drive away worth visiting and staying at?

Never been to Spain before so any advice would be gratefully recieved. Thanks.

Should say Catalonia

Never been with children but have friends in and around Barcelona.
We have stayed with them in the middle of the city and in Villasar de MAr, a bit further up the coast.
A lot of the towns / villages up the coast are nice and have beaches etc but not much else.
We went further north one year and stayed in Escala, a little fishing village.
It was beautiful, we loved it, but it was just the two of us and we weren't on the look out for things to do with LOs.
Avoid Empuriabrava - horrid resort where lots of Germans stay. Nowt wrong with Germans, don't get me wrong but it is a German equivalent of what you are trying to avoid.
Lots of nice places too further inland - into the mountains a bit further north.
I thought Girona was a lovely city worth a visit.

Thanks.

It is hard to decide. In the evening we fancy walking about, having a meal, another little wander - maybe a roundabout or a climb on the rocks with DD, then back to villa/apartment for a bottle wine whilst DD is in bed. A bit like we did in South of France really.

St Feliu de Guixols is a lovely family resort town near Girona. It's mostly populated by Spanish holiday makers. South of Barcelona is Cambrils, a pleasanter and smaller place than nearby Salou, although you will find British holiday makers there.
Fir villas and apartments, I've uses holiday-rentals.com and also ownersdirect.co.uk
Best of luck
Dawnxx

I was also going to say Bambrils was a nice fishing village type place, commercial enough to have shops and plenty eating places. Salou is horrible, full of british bars and tshirt shops. We visited taragona which was nice and traditional too.

We stayed in a big campsite half way between the 2, it was a bit too haven/ butlins for me.

Just stumbled on this one