Barcelona Family Travel over Christmas

No car for the city of Barcelona. It would be a burden rather than useful as well as costly to park. With a family the size of yours, I'd probably take a taxi from the airport into town. Someone will come along who can tell you what that might cost. I travel solo and was very happy with the Aerobus.

Does your apartment not have Wi-Fi? Or do you need to have super-reliable connectivity for business reasons? I know we have at least a few people who have rented hotspots, but most of us make do with the free Wi-Fi in our lodgings along with occasional use elsewhere when we encounter it at a restaurant, etc.

We were 5 people as well, with kids a little older (6 and 9). I think taxi will be easiest. Most only fit 4, so you'll have to wait for a larger van taxi. I was a bit worried about that, but we lucked out and there happened to be one right there when we got to the taxi line (actually skipped ahead of a couple smaller groups). Car seats are not required in Barcelona taxis if you stay within the city. There is a surcharge for the extra person, as well for each piece of luggage. I think we paid around 40-some euros.

https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/airport/transport/barcelona-airport-taxis.html

If you need to catch a taxi during your trip, it'll be very difficult to hail a van taxi on the street. We used the myTaxi app, which worked reasonably well. Just make sure the GPS on the app has you at the correct location.

Now, if you're worried about not having a car seat (regardless of the legality), you can also prebook transfers and request car seats. A couple that came across in my research were kiwi taxi and Barcelona Day Tours. There are good reviews but also bad ones (like driver not showing up), so that's why we just decided to catch a taxi at the taxi line.

• No car if you can avoid it. This is a European big city.... traffic is always a pain and parking is a money haemorrhage. Public transportation in Barcelona is great: cheap, efficient, safe, convenient and modern. Taxi as well.
• Ann already explained above about car seats in taxis. Don't worry too much, there are merely 10 miles to/from the airport.
• I suggest you rent an apartment with WIFI instead. Plenty of offers these days, almost a must. Check booking.com or homeaway.com to get you started, but there are plenty of other sites, just google "Barcelona rent apartment". Also be aware of legal requirements of the accommodation: http://meet.barcelona.cat/habitatgesturistics/en
• Do indeed make a dinner reservation as Xmas Day's a "difficult day", on the one hand, many smaller restaurants are closed and on the other, plenty of Barcelonians avoid having to cook after a heavy meal at lunchtime that day and get off to a restaurant that night. Check, for example, https://www.bcnrestaurantes.com/eng/restaurantes-barcelona.asp?fecha=25-12-2018&pax=4&precio=&tipor=5&lista=todos for some choice. Albeit I said many are closed, this city has over 15,000 eateries, so plenty left to choose from!

Enjoy!

I would agree with others who said that you should avoid renting a car if at all possible. If you are staying near Sagrada Familia, the public transportation options will get you within (likely) a few blocks of where you need to be. There a buses that will take you directly from the airport to that area. You can download the TMB app to get a real time schedule and see what bus number you need. Google maps also worked well for me when I was in town. If you don't mind the extra cost, a taxi would be fine as well. But I would still recommend using the public transportation when you are sightseeing around town.

I also agree with others who have said that you should just rent an apartment with WiFi. That being said, if you have T-Mobile, data and texts don't cost extra, just phone calls. I was able to use my phone when I was in Barcelona for a week without any extra charges. I really think its much more difficult (though not impossible) to get around without being able to use your phone for data, especially when you have a large group of people who may not be together the entire time.

I don't have any recommendations for dinner-- I'll leave that to people who have more experience in the city and locals, but I will say that restaurants are hit or miss on holidays and Sundays. I was just there for La Merce (the festival of the patron saint of the city) and lots and lots of things were closed.