Parc del Laberint d’Horta

Small entrance fee but the maze is lots of fun for the kids and the surrounding park is nice and well maintained. Can easily be reached by metro (Mundet station).

Parc Guëll

Parc on and around a hill-top (as often in Barcelona). Offers a nice view over the city and some playgrounds for the kids. The more touristic areas are found towards the bottom of the hill and a bit crowded. Can be reached by bus or, if you don’t mind a walk, the “Lesseps” metro station. Definitely better than the “Parc del Guinardó” which we found rather dry and relatively badly maintained.

Castell de Montjuïc

Fort on a hill-top overlooking Barcelona. A must-do. Take the metro to “Paral-lel” which connects directly to the Funicular mountain-train (same ticket). The rest of the climb can be done on foot or by cable car (expensive!). On top of the hill, one has a nice view over Barcelona and its harbor.

Delta del Llobregat

This one was of the most appreciated by our kids. Most easily reached by car. There is a parking space at “Camí Reial de València, 08820 El Prat de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain, 41.308862, 2.111924” from which you can easily enter the delta to the South for a refreshing walk. In addition, the parking space is situated right underneath the landing flight path for the Barcelona airport a few 100m to the west, meaning the little ones got all the entertainment they desired. A dedicated plane-spotting zone, offering a view on the runway itself can be found at “41.308120, 2.110080”.

Barcelona beach

You should definitely go there once, for instance by taking the metro to “Barceloneta” but we far preferred alternative beaches in Catalunia. Especially the beach of Blanes is fun to do with kids. It has all the facilities but is not overly crowded. We also visited Riumar (see at the end of this page).

Camp Nou

Actually, pretty boring side of Barcelona, but my son absolutely wanted to see the stadium of FC Barcelona. It can be found close to the “Maria Cristina” metro station.

Maremagnum and L’illa diagional shopping-center

Maremagnum is probably the better known, but relatively small. We preferred “L’illa Diagonal” close to metro-station “Maria Cristina”, which also featured some alternative indoor play-zone for kids with little science-experiments (The latter could have been a temporary set-up though).

Traveling around by metro

The T70/30 tickets are convenient for families with kids. They can be used on metro, bus and the R-trainlines around Barcelona for up to 70 displacements (one for each family member) within a 30 day period. Additionally, some “funicular’s” like the mountain train to Montjuïc can be used with the same tickets.

Parking

In short: horribly expensive. Limited free parking spaces can be found around the metro stations furthest from the city center. Everything that looks like a parking space but has some color to it (yellow, green, blue) is paid or can only be used by some limited groups of people. Solid white or yellow lines along the sides of a road indicate parking is not allowed.

Places we visited in the wider area

• Riumar and delta de l’Ebre: Riumar is a small, quiet and partly foreclosed (financial crisis) village with nevertheless the potential for a fun afternoon on its beach and in the surrounding delta. We also enjoyed a 45 minute boat-trip through the Delta with Creuers Delta de l’Ebre
• Blanes: Fun beach, but not overly crowded and touristic like the one of Lloret de Mar a few kms north. The botanical gardens of Blanes are also highly recommended
• Olot: Situated right next to an extinct volcano. Nice to climb up to the crater with the kids
• Besalú: Mediaeval town classified as a national historical-artistic complex