Spain. August. Kids.
 

Hello folks! We're starting to think about our family trip this year, and Spain is a strong possibility. My initial thought is to try and do two cities: Madrid and Barcelona over 8 days. Maybe fly into Madrid and do three days, followed by a flight or train to Barcelona and spend the remaining 5 days there. We have one 12-year old in tow who is a great traveler. My thought is that in Barcelona we could also get some beach time in.

My initial questions:

1) I'm assuming the weather (and water) will be warm enough that time of year in Barcelona for swimming?
2) I was thinking of the Hotel Arts Barcelona since it seems to be right on the beach. Am I right about that, and would folks consider it to be a good family hotel option?
3) Does a Sat/Sun/Mon for Madrid seem enough before moving on to Barcelona? Presumably Barcelona would be Tuesday travel day, with a full Wed/Th//Fri before flying home on Saturday.
4) Is there a practical train option from Madrid to Barcelona or is flying best?

Any other thoughts or advice are appreciated, particularly restaurant suggestions that are kid-friendly. Our must do's in Madrid are the Palaces and Museums. Barcelona will be about the architecture and the beach. Thanks much!

We've just booked the train from Madrid to Barcelona and return. We've been checking for availability since December and seats were just opened up today for our trip in March. Our tickets are running 69 Euro each for first class.

The sooner you book (meaning as soon as seats are released for your dates), the better the price.

Is August the only time you can travel -- absolutely no problem with it being warm enough to swim. But in much of the country it will be really hot

All restaurants in Spain are kid friendly.

We took a fabulous bike tour in Barcelona. I highly recommend one as a way to see the city, learn some
history and enjoy a great afternoon. My kids loved it! They also have a great market, Mercado de La Boqueria.

It really depends on what YOU want to see and experience, but FWIW:

• IMO, 3 days is VERY little for Madrid, particularly if your aim is to see the palace and main museums.
• IMO, 3 days is VERY little time for Barcelona -- are you sure you can actually see / do what you want in that time?
• As you note, if you have only 8 days in Spain, you don't have 3 days in Madrid AND 5 days in Barcelona. My advice would be to get those numbers out of your head ASAP so you can plan more realistically.
• Note that many things in Spain are closed for most of Sunday, all of Monday, and a long mid-day siesta everyday. Give some thought to how that would affect your plans.
• Trains travel between the centers of cities and don't require your presence long before / after the journey. Airports are outside of town and you would need to be at the airport well in advance of your flight. Make sure you figure out whether a flight actually makes sense for your time frames before committing to what would likely be a much more comfortable and convenient train journey.
• As already noted, Spain will be HOT. Consult some online climate data resources, perhaps weatherbase.com

Good luck!

As Kja pointed out, you say 5 days in Barcelona, but it looks as if it is really only 3 if Tue is travel and you are departing on Sat. Have you booked flights already? Are you counting sat., your arrival day in Madrid, as a day of sightseeing? I know this is belaboring the point, but when you say 8 days, it seems you really have only 6 days when you take away the travel days and one of the six is partly travel.
Day 1, Sat, Arrive Madrid, get to hotel, etc. jet lagged afternoon.
Maybe palace if not too tired, Definitely not museum. Most restaurants closed until late.
Perhaps just a walk in Retiro Park.
Day 2, Sun, Madrid, check to see what is open
Day 3, Mon, Madrid, see what is open. Consider a day trip to Toledo or Segovia
etc.
There must be better options than this plan. See what others say.

Are you arriving on Sat and flying out on Sat? If so as kja and sassafrass explain you have less time than you think.

At most half a day on your arrival Saturday - but with the heat and jet lag probably pretty much a 'non-sightseeing' day. Then your departure day is that - just packing, checking out, traveling to the airport flying home. So you have Sunday through Friday and one of those is a half day travel day, which leave 5.5 days free to see/do things.

IMO, there are MUCH better options! Assuming that the OP is interested in either Madrid or Barcelona:

• Spend the entire time in / near Barcelona. There are an incredible number of wonderful day trip options (including some lovely beach options), or they could opt to relocate for a night or two if that's there preference.
• Spend the entire time in / near Madrid. Again, there's a wide array of possible day trips or options for a night or two elsewhere -- but no convenient beach options.

I sincerely hope the OP does some research to decide what works best given their interests and preferences!

The only problem I can see with restaurants is that most Spanish people eat their evening meal very late, meaning that although restaurants may be open, they are either empty or only have tourists dining. A good alternative is to graze on tapas, which is yummy and especially great for kids because it's earlier in the day and the serves are small so if they don't like it, they are not faced with a whole meal to deal with. And it allows everyone to taste different things. You can move from bar to bar, trying their specialities.

indeed.
we had dinner yesterday at Barcelona and the restaurant didn't open before 8 30. We arrived around 9.