visiting Barcelona with teenage boys and dh....advise welcome!

[ssd]

the boys arent into culture/museums etc, just the nou camp.....we would like to stay at a beachy place and travel in for a day here and there

flying from Glasgow from June 28 onwards, max we could afford is 7 nights, kids 13 and 15, me and dh, budget really tight, about 1.5k at very most

any suggestions wld be very welcome

We stayed in Costa Brava last year and did a couple of day trips into Barcelona on the train. It was about an hour journey for us, but the train goes right along the coast and there are loads of hotels and beaches closer than that.

I'm sure you could find a hotel in that price range, just be wary of going for half board deals in anywhere cheap. We made that mistake once and the food was dire so what we saved on the hotel we spent on eating out.

My boys were 10 and 12 when we went and they couldn't be persuaded on the Dali museum, but they did enjoy Nou Camp. We did a tour and a match which they loved. It's really easy to get a hop on and off tour bus round Barcelona and then you can pick and choose which bits you want to see, and only stay at them for a short time if they get bored easily. Mine liked seeing the old Olympic stadium the most. It's free to wander round and only takes about half an hour.

Sitges? Not far from Barcelona. Beach. Nice restaurants.

Fly to reus, via easy jet. Stay anywhere on that coast, Cambrils is nice. Regular trains up and down the coast. We've stayed in taragonna a few times, it's about an hour from Barcelona.

we took our teens on a walking tour with a guide who described the events of the civil war, it was pretty amazing to see a modern city in that context when it was all so recent and the kids said it was the highlight of their visit. google civil war walking tour barcelona, i think his name is Nick Lloyd. and we used airbnb to book and apartment in el Born ie gothic quarter

Yes to the old Olympic stadium- you can do an open top bus tour that stops there.

My ds's also liked Parc Guell, loved the Ramblas (be prepared to pay a small fortune for pizza and fizzy drinks and huge glasses of sangria )and the old fashioned amusement park the name of which escapes me.

Their favourite place, of course, was neu camp!

Fedupnagging Tibidabo Amusement Park.

Looks a bit rickity and quaint but does have some scary rides. It does have the absolutely best haunted house ever. It's a massive hotel that you walk round in a small group (unaided). Full of very convincing props and actors...I literally ran out when all the "people" locked up in the cellar escaped!

Yes, I remember now. Thanks revealall.

You walk up a steep hill, or get the road tram, then the fur nicolas railway upto the park. I remember my boys loving the little railway!

Oops, autocorrect! 'funicular railway'

Yes we did the whole funicular tram after the HoHo bus - took about an hour and costs E4 a ticket one way.
However the taxi back to the city only cost E11 for us all and took less then 10 minutes. So that's my top tip.

If you are on a budget - you could do worse than to stay up north from Barcelona in one of the resorts.

I took DS (15) last year for a few days. Flew to Barcelona- and took the train up to Calella, where I had booked us a hotel, half board for 5 nights - the hotel was okay, 4 (mor like 3) but fine. It was a bargain break - as the flights weren't much, and the hotel was less than £200.

We took the train into Barcelona on a couple of day trips to have a look around.

There is loads to see there- the open top buses are worth it, as you get to see loads. I think the 2 day ticket is good value, as itn's only a few euros more than a one day. There are offers around if you look, and book prior to your trip.

however the underground system is good too.