Me and Tomasz have been to Barcelona many times. Before meeting there in 2008, I studied Spanish for a month in one of Barcelona’s language schools, and Tomasz lived there for 6 months with work. Later, we visited this city together twice, and Tomasz a few more times on business. So it is easy to guess that we know Barcelona quite well and we have probably seen almost everything that can be seen there. So this time we did not have to see all the museums, churches, etc., and we wanted to focus on our favorite places and get to know Barcelona in terms of attractions for children. Did we succeed?

Barcelona is a huge city. It is noisy, it is dirty and it is smelly. My guess is that many people will not be able to find its charm and magic in all of this. Perhaps if I visited Barcelona for the first time as a mum with 2 children in the middle of summer, I would not be able to admire it. So I will not try to convince anyone that it is the most beautiful city in the world, but for me it is worth visiting, at least because of the work of Antoni Gaudi, which I am a huge fan of.

I have always found Barcelona not a very child friendly city and to be honest this trip didn’t change my mind. Of course, with children as old as ours it is quite manageable, but with a toddler in a pram, I sincerely advise against it. Well, unless you decide to just not use public transport, but walk 20 km per day. Even when we were riding the subway, we were walking min. 10 km a day. And it is precisely because of the metro that I advise against traveling to Barcelona with young children. The subway is very crowded, the underground corridors, which stretch for miles, are extremely hot, and there are no elevators or escalators in many of the stations. It was hard for us to move around with suitcases on the way to and from the airport, let alone with a baby in a pram. In the subway, you can’t count on anyone giving a seat to a child or an elderly person. I wonder how the elderly, people with children, not to mention disabled people, move around Barcelona. It is a city of youth and survival. Unfortunately, I did not see any place for the “weak” in the public space. It’s a bit of an introduction, but in a moment I will show you our favorite places and try to convince you that with older children (or without) it’s worth it! (only preferably in spring or autumn).

Parc de la Ciutadella
We lived in the El Poblenou district, so it was natural that we started our adventure with Barcelona from the 19th century Ciutadella Park. There, we admired the restored fountain / cascade with golden horses, took the mandatory photo with the mammoth sculpture, watched ducks and other birds swimming on the lake and, to the delight of the children, we took a boat ride. There is a Barcelona Zoo right next to the park, but we decided to ignore it as we are not fans of city zoos.

Quarter El Born
This is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Barcelona, adjacent to Barri Gòtic. It is characterized by narrow, medieval streets, designer shops, cozy cafes and bars. It is worth going there for a short walk and visiting the places below.

Center de Cultura i Memòria is a recently opened cultural center and museum in a restored town square with the exposed ruins of 17th century Barcelona. The children also really wanted to see the exhibition (mainly pottery found in the excavations), which turned out to be free on the first Sunday of the month (if not for Adam’s insistence that we go to the museum, we probably wouldn’t even ask about the admission fee, and so we had a nice surprise).

Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar (Our Lady of the Sea) – a beautiful 14th-century gothic cathedral, which was built mainly thanks to labor and funding by the people, unlike the main cathedral, which was sponsored by the wealthy inhabitants of the city.

Picasso Museum – this is the first museum dedicated to the painter’s work and the only one created during his lifetime. It has one of the largest collections of the artist’s works, numbering 4251 paintings.
We decided that cubism and surrealism are something that may interest our children, and besides, a little art hasn’t hurt anyone yet. Adam liked the most the series of paintings, in which he saw dogs (maybe they were cats, but let’s not get into the details), while at the sight of the ceramics painted by Picasso, everyone decided that they also wanted to paint some plates 🙂

Barri Gòtic
A gothic quarter between El Born, El Raval, Plaza Catalunya and the port. Like El Born, it is famous for its narrow medieval streets, popular bars and restaurants. We didn’t spend too much time there, we stopped by the cathedral (and we were totally shocked at the sight of the advertisement placed on its tower), we walked under El Pont del Bisbe (i.e. Bishop’s Bridge) and on Plaça Reial. We also ate lunch in El Bosc de Les Fades (Forest of Fairies), which is the bar where me and Tomasz met for the first time 🙂

Montjuïc
It’s a hill located in the south of Barcelona, at the top of which we can visit a 17th-century fortress, and on its slopes there are parks and themed gardens. You can get to the top of Montjuïc by railroad (from Paral.lel station) and then by cable car (you have to buy separate tickets for the cable car), or of course you can go up on foot. From the top there is a view of the city and the port.
This time we did not have the ambition to go to the top, we were content only with the playground and great slides on the hillside. Then we walked past the National Palace, the Magic Fountains up to Plaça d’Espanya.
In the western part of Montjuïc there is an Olympic town, a souvenir from 1992.

Font Màgica de Montjuïc
The Magic Fountain located between the National Palace and Plaça d’Espanya. In the summer, from Wednesday to Sunday between 9.30 pm and 10.30 pm, you can enjoy a fantastic music and light show. During the day, the fountain is active only at selected times. We went to admire this performance twice. The second time we came half an hour in advance, but that still didn’t guarantee us seats on the stairs nearby, so you probably have to come an hour earlier.

Park Güell
This is my beloved place in Barcelona. A large park in the northern part of the city. It was designed by Antoni Gaudi at the request of his friend Eusebi Güell (Barcelona’s industrialist), who financed the project. The park was originally intended to be a residential estate for the wealthy bourgeoisie. However, the project was never completed. Only 5 buildings were built, the famous terrace with a very long bench decorated with colorful mosaics and the Column Hall, which was to serve as a market square. The park has been owned by the city since 1922 and is open to the public.
From the terrace of the park there is a panorama of the entire city, and the park itself is an ideal place for children to play (provided that the temperature is below 30 degrees :)) Gabriela and Adam liked various alleys, hidden steps, a colorful bench and the famous lizard at the entrance. Had it not been for the terrible heat, we would have probably stayed there much longer.
Admission is €10, children 7-12 years €7, and younger children free.

Sagrada Familia and other Gaudi buildings
As I and Tomasz had previously visited both the famous Sagrada Familia basilica and the Casa Milà and Casa Batlló buildings, this time we only walked along Passeig de Gràcia Street and showed them to the kids from the outside. But if it was my first time in Barcelona, I would definitely not miss visiting inside 🙂 The entrance tickets are very expensive, so if you were to choose one of the 2 houses, I would recommend Casa Milà “La Pedrera” more. And we will definitely come back to the Sagrada Familia when it is finally finished (currently the completion of works is planned for 2026).

Tibidabo
This is a hill that reigns over Barcelona, ​​overlooking the entire city. At the top of the hill is Sagrat Cor Church and an amusement park. Going to the top is a bit complicated as first we have to take subway 7 to Av. Tibidabo, then by bus 196 or the blue bus included in the price of the Funicular (the track railway taking us to the top). You can buy combined tickets with the entrance to the amusement park. Actually, the entrance to the amusement park does not cost anything, but of course you must have a bracelet to be able to use the attractions.
The Sagrat Cor Church, due to its hilltop location and architecture, resembles the Parisian Sacre Coeur basilica located on the Montmartre hill.
The funfair was founded in 1901 and is the oldest working amusement park in Spain (and the third oldest in Europe). There are no crazy attractions like high and fast roller coasters, but there are some famous old carousels, mainly for enjoying the views (and these are impressive). We arrived at the amusement park around 11 am and until 2 pm we managed to ride maybe 2 attractions. The longest queue was 1.5 hours! (at that time, the children rode something else). Fortunately, after 2 pm it somehow thinned and it was possible to ride normally. In the evening we rode the only roller coaster 2 times in a row without even getting out of the car 🙂 So our advice is to go there only in the afternoon, when school trips and summer camps have finished their visit.

Science Museum – Cosmo Caixa
This is a Museum that we had never known existed before, and it turned out to be a hit with children on our last day in Barcelona. It is situated under the Tibidabo hill. The museum offers a variety of exhibitions, both permanent and temporary, that showcase the environment, nature, science and space. Cosmo Caixa has also a planetarium and a small rainforest with huge piranhas 🙂
We were stuck at the Museum for over 2 hours doing various experiments and watching fish. The perfect place to hide from the heat (or rain).
Tickets are only € 6, and children under 16 go for free.

There are definitely many other attractions and places to visit in Barcelona. Football fans will definitely want to visit the Camp Nou stadium, besides there is a zoo, an aquarium and several other museums. As for us, what we saw was enough (and there was quite a lot of it). Besides, we did trips outside the city, which I will describe in other posts.

We stayed at the Capri by Fraser Barcelona hotel in the first week. There we had a family room / apartment with a separate bedroom, a living room with a sofa bed and a kitchenette. It worked just prefect for us! Breakfasts are not included in the price, but we did it ourselves. An additional advantage was the free parking and laundry room 🙂 And 5 min walk to the metro.
Last night in Barcelona we stayed in the same area but at the Holiday Inn Express Barcelona – City. We had a regular room there, which would have been rather cramped for a longer stay, but breakfast was included and that was what we wanted before flying home.