Easter in Spain or France?

I don't know anything about Easter celebrations in any of those places, but from the weather standpoint, my money's on Barcelona. But understand that Barcelona these days is mind-blowingly busy, and many of the top sights have to be pre-booked. I have no idea whether Easter week is likely to be even more crowded that the week before or the week after.

I would opt for Barcelona as well based solely on the weather aspect. I have no interest in celebrating it so can't comment on which city would be best for that however Catholicism is stronger in Spain.

I've been in Andalusia on a number of occasions over Easter and can't recall much in the way of disruption, there are often very well attended parades in many towns and cities.

Semana Santa (Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday) is huge in Andalucia, with lots of processions, crowds and high season prices in some places, especially Sevilla and Malaga. My understanding is that Barcelona has few celebrations and is more "just another week." There are places like Zaragosa that are close which have processions you could go to. It's quite an experience, even if you aren't religious or Christian. In Spain Easter is the biggest religious holiday of the year.

Thank you all for taking the time to reply. This will be a difficult decision still; I guess it comes down to whether we want an exciting or mellow experience.

I was stationed in Rota, Spain for 2 yrs, can definitely 2nd the Semana Santa week, something that was amazing to watch.

I've been in France on Easter Sunday several times, and the 2 things that stood out were: (1) Many families were out at restaurants for lunch having an early Easter feast; and (2) Chocolate stores and bakeries were loaded with chocolate eggs and rabbits.
On one of those trips we were in the Basque region of France on the Spanish border, staying with friends on Palm Sunday. You could see to the Spanish side, and there were people carrying palm fronds to church. Our friend pointed to them and said: "The Spanish and the French are both Catholics. The difference is that the Spanish really believe."

Thanks again for your insights. Looks like Barcelona is our destination; hopefully we haven’t waited too long to book lodgings.