Seeking advice on 10-day Barcelona/France family trip with 20, 18, 16 year old boys

I think you’re wise to consider the massive crowds you’ll encounter in France in August, as traditionally the majority of residents do vacation for the whole month. I’d avoid flying because the added time to get to airport and required advance arrival times will negate any time savings over train travel. And it’s so much more fun and relaxing to take the trains in Europe. Here’s an idea for an alternative: from Barcelona: take train to your farthest destination … instead of the Riviera, look into train to Narbonne, which takes only about 2 1/2 hours. Narbonne is a lovely small city and also is a very short distance to coast/beach. From Narbonne you can cycle along the Canal du Midi. From Narbonne you could drive or train to Nimes, which like Arles has a wonderful Roman-era coliseum. (Or since Nimes is farther , head there first and then west to Narbonne) I’m personally not a big fan of the Riviera, but that’s just me. Then train or drive to Carcassone for your last stop before heading back to Barcelona.
It looks like train tickets for August go on sale March 13 — you can save a lot of money by booking your tickets on the 13th or shortly after, while the cheapest prices are still available. And August dates will sell quickly.

First, count your time in nights, not days. For example, night 10 Barcelona.
Fly to Nice and make your way back if you stick with the Nice destination.
You really have 9.5 days or less because every time you change locations you loose a minimum of half a day, if not a full day.
Choose no more than three locations and day trip from these.
Note, I live in the Occitanie region. It's very hot in August. You'll need to plan accordingly.
There's enough in Catalonia and Occitanie to fill a few months.

I hope you have not purchased your air tickets. Your route offers an ideal chance for a multi-destination itinerary, flying into one big city and home from another. A multi-city search function will help purchase the trip on a single ticket. The price is often the same as a simple round trip, saving you the cost of returning to to your arrival port. And the time saving is substantial, especially on a short trip such as this one.

Thank you all for the excellent responses. We will review our options with your thoughtful ideas in mind!

In August you can expect to see lots of people on trains, flights and especially, if you have a car, on the roads all along the south coast of France, from the Spanish border to Nice.

Particularly on Fridays and weekends during vacation departures and returns. Every year in the traffic forecasts these days are in red (very heavy traffic) or even in black (exceptionally heavy). Which can lead you to get stuck on highways for hours in traffic jams

Instead of the riviera, consider beautiful world heritage sights.

The boys might like medieval Avignon and the Roman Pont du Gard aqueduct and museum (maybe by bike or canoe?). Beautiful Uzes and Nimes could be included on this day.

Consider the Roman sights in Arles and the Van Gogh sights in Arles and nearby St Remy where you can see the asylum where he spent this final years after cutting off his ear. Van Gogh’s story is sordid, full of betrayal, lust, loss, and mental illness. This might interest the boys. The Fondation Vincent Van Gogh in Arles will include the original Starry Night over the Rhone in a temporary exhibit this summer. The medieval village of Les Baux could be included on this day.

Provence is famous for cycling routes. You could take an e-bike tour of Luberon villages,

Aix-en-Provence is another beautiful town for a walking tour or scavenger hunt to see the hidden gems, From here you can take a day trip to Cassis and the Calanques (canoe or boat trip with swim?).

I have heard that hiking trails sometimes close due to fire dangers in August.

This is spectacular advice - I think the stops and activities you mentioned are exactly what my boys would enjoy. While they do enjoy the beach, none of us enjoy traffic jams or large crowds at the beach. I think one beach day, with maybe another visit to a second beach would be sufficient for us.

I will work on an itinerary with these activities in mind. If anyone has recommendations re: which towns to stay in (and for how many nights) to visit some of these spots and sites, that would be very helpful.

Many thanks!

We are flying into Barcelona with our two boys, 12 and 16, in late July. We are working our way up to Paris for the Olympics. We have 5 nights in Barcelona, 5 nights at an inn near Arles (with an enormous pool, thank goodness), and then we are heading up to Paris for 6 nights.

One thing you need to consider is how much the trains will cost you from point to point. I agree with the poster above who mentioned positioning yourself at your farthest point and working your way back. In the order you listed above, Nice is a long way from Barcelona. At the very least, maybe leave the Barcelona parts until the end?

As to the heat, we spent last summer in Greece and Croatia, the summer before that in Italy. The heat is manageable, especially if you have an ocean or pool nearby. I would just plan your travel and other downtime in the middle of the day.