Barcelona Travel with kids
 

Hi! We are going to be in Barcelona (10 days with 3 of these in Mallorca) this fall, and i had questions about travel with kids.
1. Is the Metro safe to bring kids on?
2. The bus cards- are these easily found, or is there one specific place to get them?
3. Bathrooms! Is it easy to find a restroom? (My kids always have to go!)
4. CosmoCaix? Can you buy tickets at the door? How long does it take to go through?
5. Good breakfast place in the Eixample district? (Also, any cheap kid friendly food suggestions are very welcome!)
6. The Magic Fountain- worth it?
7. I saw this store on tv from Barcelona that recycles posters from events- what & where is it?
If most everything is walking distance, then we'll be walking. I suppose really I have tons of questions, but I'll start with these...:)

On our to do list- Sollier Train/Palma/Montserrat&Abbey/Parc Guell/Sagrada/CosmoCaix/Gothic Quarter-Santa Maria/Picasso Museum/Coast?

How old are the kids and how good are they with travel. We skipped Montserrat on a five-night stay because it would have been too long of a day, but our kids are 4 and 20 mos. Cut expectations accordingly if any of the hobbits is young (sub-7).

What's a bus card? Why would you take the bus - the Metro is quick and easy and not subject to traffic flow. Barcelona is fairly walkable from the Arc de Triomphe to the harbor to the Colon Monument to the Placa Catalunya and into Eixample. I'd not do that in a day, though.

Any Metro is safe to bring kids on as long as the kids don't think jumping in front of the oncoming train is a good idea. Just know where they are and be able to herd them. Barcelona's Metro also has a decent number of elevators leading to platforms and to the stations themselves.

You get metro tickets from the machines in the metro station. They work for buses and trains.

Bathrooms abound in the Eixample area because there are plenty of fast food chains (American or European) and your kids can duck in there. The Born is more difficult, the Raval worse.

Don't know about breakfast. Are you staying in a hotel? If so, why - there are ton(ne)s of apartments for rent and that's way more convenient for large families. Know where your local market or, better yet, Carrefour supermarket is so you can get the kids snacks. That said, breakfast isn't a big meal in Spain and, no matter what other pretensions may exist, Catalonia is in Spain.

You need to know when the Magic Fountain is running - the days and displays are now on winter time. You should take the kids.

Hi! And thank you for your quick response! The kids are 12 & 9, and we hike alot, so I think the hiking might be pretty cool. We're staying in an apartment in the Eixample district, supposedly near a market and the metro. In the listing it said it's near a bakery, so that'll work. We've never been to Spain, so it's getting close & I'm getting nervous! Do most places take credit cards? What am I missing?

I don't know what a bus card is, either, but there is a transportation card good for city metro and bus. There are various options, unltd one day, 10 trips, etc. If you are talking about the tourist buses, you can get those in various places. Maybe you need to explain what you're talking about and what bus.

Yes, most places take credit cards if you are talking about spending money of any magnitude.

Everything is definitely not within walking distance, Barcelona is a huge city. Of course that depends what you want to see and do. But you would not be walking from Parc Guell to the Gothic Qtr, for example. You might want to look at a map to help you with some of these ideas.

We were in Barcelona with our kids when they were 11 and 14. Completely safe to take the kids on the metro, you will need to use public transportation as others have mentioned as somethings are not in walking distance. My husband is always looking for a bathroom and often uses the bathrooms in the bigger hotel lobbies.
Here is a link to my trip report, you may find helpful (lists restaurants, etc):
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-tangines.cfm

Small dissent - I don't think Parc Guell to any other major site in Barcelona is really walkable or vice versa. The Parc is up a steep hill from the Eixample area and it's nearly a mile from the nearest convenient Metro station.

We walked from Parc de la Ciutadella to the Arc de Triomphe to the Gothic Quarter close to the Port and back to Placa Catalunya in one day. That's a decent hike too.

It's best to section off Barcelona and visit pieces of the city: Monjuic and Placa Espana area, Port Vell area, El Born, Passeig de Gracia and Eixample, etc. Whichever areas are far from your flat, take the Metro there and walk around. With 12 and 9 year-old monkeys, you can accomplish more than we did with a toddler and a preschooler.

Magic Fountain is definitely worth it. Check the schedule; it isn't as frequent in the off season.
I think the shop you want is Demano, www.demano.net. It's in the Poble Nou district, near the Bogatell Metro station. A bit hard to find; it's on an elevated street.

I'm so glad you guys found me- I'm taking notes!!! I looked it up and I think the bus pass I was thinking is actually the t-10?
I don't know how to add in things time-wise, or what is walking distance, so I thought I'd write out my so-far list, and that way if there are better suggestions or things I need to add, you all can let me know.
Arrival/Day 1-Mallorca fri. 10:30am. (We're staying in old Palma) We'll be tired, so we only have 'get settled in, eat, maybe carriage ride along the port'.
Day 2-Soller Train. If we leave early enough, take bus from soller to Deia and walk around a couple hours.
Day 3- Open top bus (ticket lasts 24 hrs to get on & off) See Cathedral, Castillo Bellver. Shop.
Day 4-Leave Mallorca at 1:55, arrive Barcelona 3. Check in. Maybe ride an open top bus here to look around. Get some fruit to take back to room. Eat. ?
Day 5- Monserrat! Abbey, tram, incline. hiking. souvenirs. Take last train back & eat.
Day 6- Undecided what I can fit in! but will have Park Guell 1st, Sagrada Familia & the CosmoCaix Science Museum(My kids love this sort of thing, so I'm throwing in kid stuff). Is this too much?
Day 7- was going to be Santa Maria Church, Gothic Quarter, Picasso Museum, but now that I read about the weekend art market, I have to change this...I don't know how long things take or if I should add something else? If I put this day on Saturday, the Magic Fountain would be running & closer- if there's time?
Day 8- Hot air balloon. Eat. Magic Fountain if we don't get it the other day. Casa Battlo?
Day 9- may put day 7 here since this is Saturday? No clue what goes here yet. Maybe a random thing I don't know yet? Help!
Day 10- Last full day. Free day- open to suggestions!!!
Remember to buy stickers at airport next day.

You're jumping around all over the flippin' place so you need to reorient with a map.

Parc Guell to Sagrada Familia to the CosmoCaix means traipsing over miles of ground that you can handle far more efficiently in another manner: museum first, train back to Gracia, cab to the Parc then walk to Lesseps metro after you're done with the Parc and go somewhere from there, not necessarily the Sagrada Familia - that's better for another day. Sagrada Familia will remain in place regardless of what day you choose to visit.

I'd pick the Pedrera (Casa Mila) over Batllo. If you're going to a lot of the art museums (Picasso, Fundacio Miro, Fundacio Tapies, MACBA, CCCB, etc.), look into the articketbcn pass. It includes La Pedrera but does not include Casa Batllo and Batllo admission is steep. Most of the attraction of Batllo is viewable from the street, for La Pedrera you need to go inside and to the roof. No matter what you choose, you should still walk the Passeig de Gracia from Placa Catalunya to La Pedrera.

The Magic Fountain is not close to the Picasso Museum or the Gothic Quarter - you still need to hop the metro.

Considering your monkeys are 12 and 9, you may want to investigate a Fat Tire bike tour on day 7. The Fat Tire tours were started by an American in Paris and they keep to the flat part of Barcelona and will hit areas not mentioned on your list.

Today I think I definitely need to print a map :). I think I had put them in that order because I'd read reviews on tripadvisor saying to go to the park early, and since the CosmoCaix is open til 8pm, we wouldn't need sunlight for the museum. I will save a different day for the Sagrada (I just threw it in between because we are staying close to it, and I thought after the first half of the day we'd come back to the room, but I we probably don't need to). I'm writing in La Pedrera for sure.
What kinds of attractions are near the Magic Foutain? Our hot air balloon trip will drop us off back around noon, so maybe that would be a nice area to explore that Friday evening.
We actually rented bikes with the girls last weekend at Callaway Gardens, and they were good for about two hours, but my youngest had to stop several times and had a few crashes, so that would be a bit of a chance trying to follow a group?
What's in the Born district?
a good link to find/print a good map to list what we're doing?
Must try foods? :) thanks everybody!

I really like the Streetwise maps. You can purchase at most travel stores or Barnes & Noble or Amazon. Also great map for bringing with you when traveling. Doesn't open too big and laminated so stays in good shape.

Maybe just a few more details...

Parc Güell can be easily reached by regular city bus 24 which calls at Pl. Universitat, Pl. Catalunya and all way up Passeig de Gràcia and at Lesseps metro. The bus stop at Lesseps metro is a bit hard to find, though. It's easier if you already got off the metro at Fontana going TO the Park. (bus takes a different route back into central BCN).
This regular city bus drops you off right at the Eastern entrance to the Parc so you have no climb. Bus stops are indicated by displays and you want to get off at "Ctra Carmel/Parc Güell".

CosmoCaixa is either a somewhat steep uphill walk from metro Av. Tibidabo - or you change there to bus 196 which makes a quick loop via the lower station of Tibidabo cable car but eventually calls at "CosmoCaixa" bus stop.
The museum itself consists of (often hands-on) exhibits like the rainforest or the different experiments, mostly with signs also in English, and the demonstrations/activities. Since the latter are in Catalan or Castilian only, it should not be worth it if you don't understand either language properly. You buy the tickets for the museum at the door. Try to avoid rainy weekends ;)
The walk back to Av. Tibidabo metro is less strenous (downhill), and you can see some of the big mansions along the street in often quite phantastic archtitecture.

Other activities which may interest kids could be a ride with the harbor cable car. Quite an adventure to ride the elevator up the tower in the harbor and start the journey across the harbor to Montjuic from that height. Nothing for the really faint at heart, though.
http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.c...barcelona.html
Again, the buses will get you closer to the destination as the metro. Depends on location of your apartment to say which one is easiest to get there.

The new natural science museum (Museu Blau) which is located where Av. Diagonal pokes into the Mediterranean sea *should* be a big hit for kids - since I gave up to get inside due to a 200 meters long queue with mostly families with smaller children on a (rainy) saturday.
http://w3.bcn.es/V65/Home/V65XMLHome...3694_3,00.html
weird link, hope it works

Bags and stuff made from recycled textile banners/ads has become quite a hallmark BCN item. Besides Demaho you will also find stores of competitor Vaho in the city center, e.g. here:
http://vaho.ws/en/shops

Finally, the T-10 ticket you mentioned is not only a bus pass, but a 10-ride ticket for all TMB city buses, metro, local trains within the given zones. Zone 1, the cheapest, already includes all of Barcelona proper and the airport (excluding tourist buses/ Bus Turistic, Aerobus, the harbor cable car, the cable car to Tibidabo or to the castle on top of Montjuic, the historic Blue Tram).
As there exist many other tickets like unlimited day or multi-day-passes, the T-10 is not always be the smartest choice. It also depends how many rides you think to do in those days.
You can find a summary of possible public transport tickets here:
http://www.tmb.cat/en/bitllets-i-tarifes
You got to scroll down a bit to get to the multi-day passes.

I just got back from a week in Barcelona with my almost nine year old daughter who had a great time. She loved the metro, and the T-10 cards are definitely the way to go - very easy to manage travel. We did take the metro to Parc Guell which was a haul from the metro stop, but she was fine even after we walked all the way around the park. If your kids are hearty hikers, they may be okay. Just one warning is that we found that there was a very long line at both Sagrada Familia and the Picasso Museum and while she was good about walking everywhere, none of us thought that waiting on line was the best use of limited time so we opted to skip those or just see from outside. The Miro museum was very interesting with sculptures on the roof.

The fountains are definitely on winter schedule - fri and sat night only - as we sadly found out.

we found that when we needed to go to the bathroom we usually just timed a coffee or treat break - I found that the way to keep my daughter going was ice cream or something when her energy was lagging.

Other tip - double check the hours of things. Most museums are closed mondays and we found that for example, the last day we were there Casa Batlo unexpectedly closed at 2 PM. Also, not sure how old your kids are but alot of the museums are free for kids under 12, but Casa Batlo (again) charged over 7 years old. If you are deciding between a few, might help make the decision. Since you are in the area, definitely walk over to the Passage de Gracia at night to see the Gaudi and other buildings.

Have fun!!

We used the map that came with our Top 10 (blah blah blah) of Barcelona book from DK (sorry Fodors). The book is useful (and less than DK's full Barcelona guidebook - $14 v. $22) and has both a very good street map and a map of the Metro (the latter is about a year out of date but all the center-of-the-city stops are accurate). Our apt was on a gated alley-sized street off a decent-sized street in the Gothic Quarter and the alley was on the map. Getting a map that's accurate for the Bari Gotic and El Born and the Raval is the hard part because there are so many small streets. Streetwise maps are decent (had one for Madrid) but the question is how much they cover.

If you have an ipad/iphone/iexistence, Barcelona's metro has a metro map app.

Think hard about Casa Batllo, it's hideously expensive and the Euro isn't likely to collapse THAT much in the next month to make it reasonable. Standing around the outside and gawping is free.

I mentioned this before, but here's the Articket BCN website: http://www.articketbcn.org/en/

Is it easier to walk from the girona metro area to playa catalunya or actually take the metro there? How long of a walk is this? we're going to be central between the Sagrada/Verdaguer/and Girona metros, so were wondering which was more practical to use? Is every station about the same?

For Famillia Sagrada, you can buy advance tickets at any Caixa bank ATM. We bought them the night before, were there at 8:45 and did not have to wait at all. Also there is a branch across the street from the church and you can buy your ticket just before you go in. Then you don't have to wait in line.