Barcelona with kids: our 5 family-friendly favorites

If this were a Friends episode, it would be The One Where They Accidentally Rob a Thief.

But now that we’ve gotten that little bit of click-bait out of the way* — hello! We are back from a fabulous trip to Barcelona (and Mallorca) with my sister and Chris’ brother. We found the city to be a great family-friendly pick for a trip, though we definitely needed more time to see everything we would have wanted to.

*Skip to the bottom if you are just here to hear about the thief.

First, some background on how this trip came to be. Chris’ younger brother, Brett, turns 30 in November. We started with the idea that perhaps Chris should meet him somewhere for a weekend to celebrate, but quickly realized it was silly for Brett to come so far for so short a time. A week it was then — but hey! Why should the kids and I be left out of such a big trip? So we decided that the whole family would go. Then it turned into, why go in November when the weather it better in September? Then flights from Chicago to Barcelona went on super sale and we thought, hey! Why not invite my sister, Torie, given she and Brett have known each other half their lives at this point and are basically brother and sister themselves? And boom! She was in.

It sounds weird, but it ended up being a great group!

We flew into Barcelona on a Wednesday night, then left Wednesday morning. We spent Wednesday night, Thursday and Friday in Barcelona, plus the following Tuesday afternoon. In between, we stayed in a resort in Mallorca — but more on that later. It was enough time to see a lot, but definitely not nearly everything. Still, if you are heading to Barcelona with kids, here are our can’t-miss attractions!

1. FOOD TOUR. I realize this isn’t so much an ‘attraction,’ but it was easily our favorite activity so it gets the top of the list. We signed up for a three-hour food tour through With Locals, a website that connects you with local part-time tour guides. This was fabulous for us because the tour (Delicioso Barcelona) was tailored specifically to our group, and we knew the kids wouldn’t be bothering anyone else. It was also very affordable, about 47 euro per adult and the kids were free. Our guide, Guisi, took us down the “chocolate street” in the older part of Barcelona, the Gothic Quarter — obviously a strong start, Guisi. From there we visited a candy shop, the famed Mercado de la Boqueria, a restaurant where we had tapas including the BEST patatas bravas and a vermouth “breakfast drink,” and a pinchos bar.

   

   The tour was about three hours long and it was the stuff DREAMS ARE MADE OF. At least, if you are basically just a walking appetite like I am these days. #nursing

   

   The potatoes were my favorite, but the kids adored the churros and hot chocolate in the chocolate street. Naturally it was the first stop of the day, so I immediately got chocolate all over my white shirt. 

   

   What I liked best about the tour was that Guisi was able to tell us a lot of background information and answer questions for us. We also actually checked a lot of our other “must-see” spots off our list as well — I wanted to walk through the city’s Gothic Quarter, for instance, and that’s right where our tour started! Same for walking down La Rambla. We also had a surprise stop at the Barcelo Ravel, a hotel where you can go up to the roof for a panoramic view of the city.

   Guisi also explained to us why everyone was grabbing this cat’s testicles; he’s El Gat del Ravel and the rumor is if you grab him by the balls, you’ll return to Barcelona again someday.

   If you are interested in booking at With Locals tour, feel free to use my link and save 15 euro! I HIGHLY recommend booking with our guide Guisi, who was phenomenal with our kiddos. And if you do book with her, please tell her we say hi!

   

2. La Sagrada Familia. We booked our tickets for this ahead of time because we’d heard horror stories about hours-long waits to get into this Barcelona icon. Chris and I had already seen it in 2011 during a trip with my parents, but we knew we wanted to make sure our siblings and the kids got their opportunity to go too since we had been absolutely blown away. At the time we booked, the only time slot still available was after 6 p.m. and considering we’d already had a full day of sight-seeing, we were pretty much teetering on the edge of disaster as far as actually enjoying the experience went. (I was having flashback to the Hungarian Parliament tour, eeek). HOWEVER, Gaudi’s masterpiece is so unbelievably stunning that both kids literally forgot how pissed off they were as soon as we walked in. The Sagrada Familia, along with Saint Chappelle in Paris, is one of those places that’s so beautiful that it inexplicably makes me want to cry. I remembered feeling that way back on our first visit in 2011, and things hadn’t changed in the last eight years. If you go nowhere else, please make sure you see the Sagrada Familia when you visit Barcelona.

   

   

   If you are hitting Barcelona with kids, I highly recommend that you buy tickets ahead of time. Because lines suck. Also something to be aware of if you are in Barcelona with kids younger than 6: you can’t go up into the tower, so don’t bother paying for it. Apparently even Lochie counted, despite being strapped to my chest. 

3. Mercado de la Boqueria. This vast indoor food market was actually a stop on our food tour, but we loved it so much that we went back afterwards to see it again. This place is a great place to feast both literally and figuratively, because the food is awesome and cheap (only place in Barcelona you’ll hear me say this) and it is just freaking gorgeous.

   

   We had amazing empanadas, a bunch of fruit, chicken wings for Fiona and meatballs for Mr. Picky Eater, Owen. All super cheap, all scarfed down on the curb. Seriously, if you are in Barcelona this is a fabulous stop!

   

4. Parc Guell. Parks are kind of one of our “things” when we travel to new cities, and Barcelona was no exception! Their version of Munich’s Englisher Garden or New York’s Central Park is the Parc Guell, and it is exactly as whimsical and fabulous as you expect everything in Barcelona to be. It also happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park consists of a free area open to the general public, and a “monuments area” that comes at a price. We pre-booked tickets to the monuments area, and were glad we did because it saved us the hassle of waiting in line to buy stuff. As a single person I resisted buying tickets for things ahead of time because I didn’t want to be “locked in” — but as a parent, it is a lifesaver to not have to waste a bunch of time waiting in lines for things. The Park Guell was largely designed by Catalonian genius Antony Gaudi, who is responsible for so much of the other distinctive modern architecture in the city (including, of course, the Sagrada Familia). This bench is one of the most iconic parts of the park, though at the time of our visit a large portion of it was being covered up for refurbishment. We arrived at about 11 and stayed at least three hours, but could easily have explored longer. If you are planning to go, give yourself a lot of time!   If you planning a visit to Barcelona, particularly if you are visiting with kids, this is an excellent stop. However, I do think you should buy tickets ahead of time for the monuments area, as they only admit 400 people per time slot. Definitely save yourself some waiting around time and get yourself scheduled!
5. Casa Batllo. One of my favorite attractions in Barcelona was the Casa Batllo, a magnificent home originally designed for a wealthy textile manufacturer by — I’m sure this will SHOCK you — Gaudi. Like the rest of Gaudi’s work, it is unique and fascinating and seems largely to have been inspired by the natural world. It also happens to be located right on the Passeig de Gracia, the prestigious street lined with Barcelona’s most expensive shops, mostly selling shoes, clothing and handbags that cost way more than my first car. A cool place to walk down, if not to shop!

   

   This was actually a journey just for me and Fiona, with a sleeping Lochie along for the ride in the carrier. On our last night in Spain (Tuesday, after my sister had gone home) we’d all planned to go to the Casa Batllo together. Owen, however, was extremely tired and Brett had acquired the cold we been passing around among us all week, so enthusiasm was flagging. I decided I still wanted to go, and naturally Madame Never Sleeps was eager to tag along. This place was fascinating and I would have enjoyed it even if I had gone alone, but what I really liked the most was seeing how excited Fiona was about every part of it! The audioguide included in the (relatively steep) entry price was basically a smart phone with a screen. You could move this screen around each room and it would you what things looked like when there was still a family living there. It would also show you the natural objects or creatures that are believed to have inspired elements of the room. It was definitely one of the best audioguides we’ve ever had, with the sole exception being the one at the World War II museum in Bastogne.

   

   Fiona was absolutely obsessed with the audioguide and did not want to leave until she had listened to EVERY SINGLE FACT on the thing. It was adorable (and just a smidge frustrating at the end when it was 9 p.m. and we hadn’t made it to dinner yet, haha).

   I really didn’t get many good pictures because I was trying to keep track of Fi, carry Lochie and hang on to the audioguide, but it was very cool and absolutely worth a visit. The entry fee is a bit steep — 29 euro, 25 if you buy online — but children younger than 7 are free. If you have some time, I’d hit it!

   Obviously, there were a TON of things we didn’t have time to see — 2-and-a-half days is really only enough time to scratch the surface of Barcelona, so we’ll have to go back some day. But if you are going for the first time, I absolutely think that these five things should make it on your itinerary. If you are going to Barcelona with kids, you might also want to look into the Magic Fountains of Montjuic — there is an evening “dancing fountains” show many evenings (times and dates vary depending on the time of year), which looked awesome for families. We didn’t make it because the kids were too tired to go to a 9:30 p.m. show and we had an early flight the next day, but its on our list for next time.

AND NOW — without further ado —

The One Where We Accidentally Rob a Thief

Right off the bat, I’ll tell you we were warned about petty crime in Barcelona being very problematic. But we’ve traveled quite a bit without incident, so I honestly wasn’t all that nervous about it.

Naturally, this situation happened about two hours after we all met up in Barcelona.

So we were sitting at an outdoor cafe near our AirBnB when one of those street vendors came around trying to sell the usual trinkets, including some of those collapsible wooden bowls. If you’ve been to any major city in Europe, I’m betting you know the ones. Now, getting asked to buy stuff happens pretty much everywhere we go, with varying levels of persistence from the vendors. Our strategy is usually to say “no, thank you” once and then ignore if they continue to badger us.

And …. that strategy, in this case, was exactly why this particular scam worked. Having already told this guy ‘no’ once, we pointedly stopped looking at him. Which was unfortunate, because he had put his collapsible bowl directly on top of my sister’s phone and then simply picked up both and walked jogged* away when we ignored him.

*Chris tells me he jogged away, which I didn’t notice at the time.

It took us a few minutes to realize it was gone, but as soon as we did we figured out what must have happened. Chris and Brett immediately jumped up from the table and started to “go look for the guy,” despite me and Torie telling them we thought this was extremely ill-advised. At the time, I was extremely worried that they were going to try to confront the guy and it would turn out that he didn’t take the phone — or worse, that they’d get into a fight.

Chris and Brett decided to “think like a thief” and followed a line of umbrellas marking all the restaurants with outdoor seating, looking for the dude to be doing the same thing to someone else. After a few blocks, they had pretty much decided to give up and turn around when BAM. THE GUY COMES AND SITS DOWN ON A BENCH RIGHT BEHIND THEM.

And then, lest there be any doubt, he took out my sister’s phone and start ripping the case off of it.

At this point, Chris went up to the guy and yelled that it was our phone, the guy tried to deny it and then Brett just ripped it out of his hands. The guy got up and just walked away.

This, as Chris says when he’s telling the story, is where things got weird.

So since he was just walking away, Chris and Brett decided to call the cops and followed at what Chris calls “a safe distance.” Until the thief noticed this and starts running and, either motivated by the wine from dinner or just a thirst for justice, Brett decided to give chase while yelling “THIEF! THIEF!!”

Note: I always interject here — IDIOTS! YOU ALREADY HAD THE PHONE! 

Chris, thinking Brett pretty likely to murdered, did not chase him but followed quickly while he was on hold with the cops. That is, until some woman stopped him to point to a phone on the ground. She didn’t speak English but pointed in the direction of Brett, so Chris asked “thief thief thief?” and she nodded and said “SI.” So, Chris thinking that Brett has managed to drop his own phone while chasing the thief, picked it up and put it in his own pocket.

Brett ultimately gave up on chasing the guy and found Chris again, which you’d think would be the end of it. EXCEPT THEN THE THIEF CAME BACK TO CONFRONT THEM.

Apparently  the thief realized his own phone was missing — we aren’t entirely clear how he knew, either he saw it sticking out of Chris’ pocket or talked to the lady who’d pointed it out to Chris — and came over and started yelling at Chris and Brett. At this point, some British guy who spoke Spanish came out to try to intervene and Chris explained that this dude had stolen my sister’s phone and they had recovered it.

–More Spanish yelling —

British dude: “Ok, well the thing is … he says you stole HIS phone?”

Chris, who had by now found out that Brett still had his phone so the one he was holding must actually be the thief’s: “Well, TECHNICALLY …”

In the interest of avoiding trouble (especially at the cops hadn’t bothered to take him off hold), Chris and Brett gave the thief back his phone and headed back to the restaurant. Where they faced death again, because I was so pissed off that they’d done something so stupid. It hadn’t helped that I had called my sister’s phone while we were waiting with the kids at the restaurant (in the vain hope it was still in some crazy hidden pocket in her purse) and BRETT PICKED UP, said “I’ve got the phone but hang on” and then proceeded to leave the phone on while this all went down. All I could hear on my end of the line was garbled yelling in English and Spanish, so naturally I assumed they were being stabbed and started yelling stuff like “THE POLICE ARE COMING!!! WE KNOW WHERE YOU ARE!” into the phone like an idiot. (I had walked away from the table so not to scare the kids).

Hilariously, the cops called Chris back when we were already back at the restaurant and asked us to wait there. The two officers who showed up to listen to the story clearly thought it was the most boring and pointless thing ever — “So … you have your phone?” — but ultimately did let the big kids climb in their squad car and look around. I wish I’d gotten a picture of this, but I was still too worked up (and pissed off) to think of getting out my phone and taking a picture.

So all this is to say … keep an eye on your stuff while you are in Barcelona.