Hello everyone!
In April, we will be spending three weeks in Spain, starting our journey in Barcelona, accompanied by our two little ones—a toddler and a baby.
I am seeking suggestions for a family-friendly, pleasant, and relaxing vacation, with plans to stay at 4-5 different places.

I am contemplating between two options:

1. Embarking on a road trip from Barcelona to Malaga (with a return flight) and making stops in towns along the route.
2. Opting for a direct flight from Barcelona to Malaga and staying at various locations around Malaga (with a return flight as well).
3. In both options, we also plan to allocate a few days to explore Barcelona.

I would greatly appreciate your insights on which option might be better, and if you have a third suggestion, I would be delighted to hear it.

Of the options you list, I would lean towards #2 . Barcelona is a great city but three days there would be about right. You could then spend a few days in Malaga, a terrific city in its own right before renting a car and spending a few days in various Andalusian cities like Seville , Granada , Cordoba , Jaen etc.

When we lived there for a while we would sometimes book one of the precribed Paradores "routes" staying in the individual parades which are often in Historic building, usually in great locations . Some are more family orientated than other.
https://paradores.es/en/rutas

I agree with Crellston, Andalucia itself deserves as much time as possible.
If you do decie to drive down, we did a longer road trip from Italy over two months and on the way down between Barcelona and Malaga we stopped in Alcala' del Jucar , Alcaraz, (both splendid small towns off the tourist route ) Baeza to visit Baeza and Ubeda (loved both) and Jaen.

Andalucia is wonderful and April is the perfect time to visit weather wise. Looks like you will miss Easter which is March 31 this year. I'm sure the festivities are very interesting but Seville would be very expensive and very crowded during Holy Week. So April this year will be perfect. You will have time for Granada and Cordoba, too.

Am happy to hear you are spending time in Malaga. It's a wonderful city with a beautiful historic center. An amazing cathedral, the Atarazanas Mercado where you can browse, shop and eat. Plenty of small art museums. And if you can manage it with your children, take a walk to the top of the Alcazaba. The views of the port and Mediterranean are stunning, and you will walk by lush vegetation, exotic flowers, fountains, patios, and then the small Nasrid palace at the top. Stroll the seaside promenade and have drinks overlooking the Mediterranean while watching the sunset.

Is Barcelona your first stop after a long international flight? If so, I suggest spending 4 or 5 nights in Barcelona to help you get over jet lag and leisurely see some interesting sites.

Thank you everyone!
I believe we've made a decision; we'll opt for option #2
I'm genuinely thrilled about the prospect of staying in that area; based on what I've read, it's truly a beautiful place.

Could you kindly suggest some villages for us to stay in?
We're hoping to find smaller villages without parking problem and a good selection of restaurants for dinner options (are those places exists?). Ideally, these villages would serve as convenient bases for exploring recommended destinations such as Malaga, Cadiz, etc...

small village with good selection of restaurants.

you probably don't understand how small villages work ;-)

One can only hope

So places with good selection of restaurants and with parking available?

I agree that option #2 is the best decision, especially with children on board. Fly into Barcelona and tour, then take a non-stop flight directly to Málaga and spend some time relaxing in this lovely, pedestrianized city (easy for strollers) with its beaches and long palm tree-lined sea promenade.

Cádiz is definitely not well connected to Málaga. It´s on the other side of Andalucía, it requires a long train ride with train change, and it sits on the Costa de la Luz, on the Atlantic, rather than on the Med.

Easy, quick high-speed train connections from Málaga: Sevilla, Granada, Córdoba.
But these 3 are the great Al Andalus triangle cities, not small villages.
Antequera (40,000 people) is smaller, very interesting and has excellent train connections to all 4 cities.

I'm not quite clear on the request for "smaller villages without parking problem and a good selection of restaurants".

Do you mean around Málaga on the coast or up in the hills?
or do you mean close to the 4 cities above to be able to commute?
Commuting by car into the first 3 cities would be problematic with their heavy traffic and historic quarters that are Moorish mazes (and Granada's historic quarter is heavily restricted to residents and taxis). It would be easier to visit them by public transportation.

Were you planning to visit any of the cities other than Málaga or are you looking to "settle into" and stay in an Andalusian town? That's where I'm not really clear.

If the latter, Estepona would probably be a good fit. Although it has a heavy expat population, unlike Nerja, it does maintain a very Spanish feel, and is a town "on-the-move", constantly improving and has some nice dining and has underground garages. But it´s a town of 67,000 not a small village.
Benahavís (population 8,000) is another "expat" town, more of a village that´s known as a restaurant Mecca, but it´s up in the hills and not on the coast and hills are steep. Parking is problematic in many of these hill towns.

Thank you for the detailed answer.

I didn't have it all planned but I don't think we'll visit big cities other than Malaga. I think we'll want to "settle into", as you called it, in an Andalusian town.
Because we have 3 weeks, I'm looking to stay around 3-4 different places around Malaga (on the coast as well as up in the hills).
I just thought that a smaller town would be more convenient, that there would be less traffic.

I'm looking for places to stay that have all necessary amenities (supermarket, restaurants...) and can be used as bases for exploring recommended destinations.

The goal is to have a nice, relaxed, family vacation. To explore some of the attractions (but not all, I don't mind missing things) around us, eat good food and get to know the local culture.
Essentially, our goal is to ensure that even with two young children, we can still have a good time on our vacation

Given your explanation, and knowing that you don't plan to visit the big cities (I thought that might be the case), and that
you´re looking for something in the Málaga vicinity, I think that Estepona would be one good fit.

Estepona is large enough to have a variety of restaurants, English is spoken, but it does maintain its Spanish culture, there are underground parking garages, supermarkets, parks. It's pretty, tidy and does have beaches (although the beaches on the Costa del Sol are not particularly "pretty"---for gorgeous golden sand beaches one goes to the Costa de la Luz).
The Trip Advisor Estepona forum has a poster, "turista inglesa" who is very helpful and gives good guidance to the city and its surroundings.

As to the hill towns to the west of Málaga, such as Mijas (with its "burro taxis" and ubiquitous souvenir shops), Benahavís (the restaurant town), Gaucín (a mostly British artists' colony), they do have a heavy expat population, limited parking, and the hills are steep, if those things matter.

As to hill towns to the east of Málaga, I'm just not a Nerja fan, as it seems to me like a small Northern European colony, and Frigiliana up in the hills is a blindingly white, artists´village but also has become quite touristy like Mijas, although smaller with not quite as much condo development around it.
A place like Vélez Málaga might have appeal. But I haven't spent much time in that area.

The Málaga province/Costa del Sol TA forum is filled with posters who spend vacations or have purchased homes in these smaller communities and know them well.

The places where I would not settle into: Fuengirola, Torremolinos (concert jungle high rises)

The small city (no longer a town), that I've used as a base for exploring the surrounding, lovely pueblos blancos is Ronda. It does get very, very busy during the day with day trippers up from the coast (we're out and about exploring during the day), but it can be magical at night (like Toledo) when they day trippers depart, and it certainly does have restaurants, cafés, museums, horseback riding, Roman ruins at Acinipo, a cattle and horse farm to tour, the "ReservaTauro", an olive mill to visit, a tapas culture, evening guitar concerts, a modern day hammam, supermarkets, underground parking. But it´s not a small village; however, the countryside is gorgeous and the white towns in those parts are delightful. Most visitors enjoy Ronda far more when they give it time, a number of nights.

If you want to stay in 3-4 places plus say 4 days in Barcelona, that is a lot of moving around and you will likely waste at least half a day everything time you move. We lived in a large village/small town north of Malaga for a year and whilst t was great for us and for improving our Spanish and the locals were friendly, I think you will find it difficult to "settle in" anywhere.

One of the posts above mentioned Antequera, not a village by any stretch but it is very nice. Lots of restaurants, shops and great train links to place like Seville. Jerez, Granada Cordoba etc all possible day trips without the need to pack and unpack. A car would be useful perhaps for Jerez and Cordoba but positive liability for Seville and Granada. Parking, if you can find it, can be expensive and or inconvenient.

Antequers is also convenient for places like Ronda, El Torcal and El Caminito del Ray.

That said, if it were my trip I think I would base myself in Malaga. Its a great city and we rented an apartment there close to Artazanas market in the centre and loved it. Again, relatively easy to use a base for excursions , either day trips or a night or two away.

crellston makes a good point about moving around too much, especially with kids.

And parking, ime, is definitely a liability also both in Jerez and in Córdoba (learned the hard way), but from your post #9 you don't plan to visit those cities.

My post, #8, was about Antequera, which would make a good base beyond Málaga because the train station (outside of town) is on the high speed line for an easy trip from Málaga.
But...I was thinking that it would be a good base to access the 3 cities of the Al Andalus triangle.
However... I realize now, as you said in post #9, you don´t want to visit the big cities of Granada, Córdoba, Sevilla (or Jerez or Cádiz much further to the west and not on the Med).

If you don´t want to settle for your entire time in at an apartment in Málaga, Antequera (or Estepona or Ronda in the mountains) would make for a good second base, as both are large enough to have the services that you would need. A tiny village just won't.

I live in a Madrid suburb of 25,000 inhabitants, and I'm very thankful on a daily basis that it's not a village, that it has several big supermarkets, some nice specialty food stores/bakeries, laundry/dry cleaners, a health center, a hardware store, low cost petrol & a car wash, several pharmacies (open 12 hrs and 24 hrs), many bars, coffee shops & really nice restaurants, easy, continuous bus service to Madrid, plenty of other shopping, free parking everywhere, tons of flat walking/biking trails, stroller friendly.

A small village does limit you a great deal. What I believe you need, is a larger town with the services I mentioned above for your day-to-day needs.

Maribel really knows her stuff.

If it were me I would base in Malaga and Barcelona, if I wanted a third I would add Girona (a bit further north). I'd do it all by public transport because it is so easy compared to using a car. But if your culture is car-centric it is tough to more away and I understand you will have tonnes of kid support material to move about. (most of which you could buy locally or just not take). Either way have a great holiday.

I noticed that Marbella wasn't mentioned here at all, you guys don't recommend it?

Thank you very much for this answer! I'll take all of that into account in my planning.

Splitting our stay across three locations means spending around five days in each place. My expectation (and hope) is that it won't feel like we're constantly on the move. If we'll stay at one place all this time it means we'll have to do many "day trips" with long drive, and I want to try and avoid it.
Thank you very much for the suggestions as well

What you're saying about my culture car-centric is really interesting. I agree with you. I find it much more difficult to rely only on public transportation compared to using a car.

I've never taken to Marbella, but probably more to the fact it was famously the home of British criminals hiding from justice under the Franco regime more than anything. I've visited since and found it ugly.

I´ve never really taken to Marbella either, bilboburglar.
While I haven't found it especially ugly, like Torremolinos and Fuengirola, I haven't found it especially, overly charming either. I was surprised that I didn't find the Old Town more inviting (but it was March)
I visited to have tapas on the callejuela leading down from the Plaza de la Victoria (cute enough) and Taberna Nińa del Pisto is indeed charming. But I was glad that I had chosen Málaga for my extended stay.

Agree completely about Torremolinos and Fuengirola

Interesting, Thank you!

Based on what I've learned so far, I'm thinking we'll begin our trip in Estepona, then head to Antequera.
Now, I'm looking for a third spot, maybe to the east of Malaga.
I decided not to include Ronda because it's between Estepona and Antequera, and I can easily visit it from either place.
This way, I'm kind of forming a triangle around Malaga, and hopefully, we can explore some interesting places without driving too much.

What do you think?

Estepona, yes
Antequera, yes

If you feel that you need a 3rd 5-night base to the east, the villages of the Costa del Sol Oriental, to the east of Málaga, are heavily populated by expats and Northern European vacationers (Nerja, Frigiliana), as I mentioned, if that matters.
Vélez Málaga (population: 75,000) is the capital of the Axarquía Malagueńa, the region in the hills.
I don't know it well, so you would want to do some research as to lodging.
https://www.marbesol.com/en/malaga-g...ants%20of%20an

Thanks!
Do you think it's worth exploring the east side of Malaga?
Or maybe we should concentrate more on the west and north?