Family summer trip to Spain first time - must see cities?

You might take a look at Zaragoza. It can get hot, but the end of June should still be nice.

It is on the Madrid Barcelona train line. You can fill two days with things to visit.

It checks many of your boxes: Shopping (lots of stops in the old town, and if you need a mall there is always Puerto Venecia), several museums (firefighters museum and the Roman museum for example), interesting Mudejar architecture, and some pretty good food.

party includes kids 9 and 10

"Must see" cities is tough for me to narrow down for kids vs adults. As an adult, Madrid - with its museums and general big city vibe was awesome, but I wouldn't want to drag 9 yr old me through the Prado. However, at least next to the Prado is the Retiro which is super kids friendly.

Barcelona - also a "must see" for adults - is probably full of good stuff for younger folks (the beaches?), but most of the stuff we've done there would have been a bit tough for me to enjoy as a kid. Gaudi Gaudi Gaudi has it's limit even with adults :)

Valencia - not on your list - was super family friendly (to my eyes) with much of the Jardín del Turia as a kid wonderland. There is the really neat Gulliver Park, the Oceanogràfic València, the Arts & Sciences buildings, and the miles and miles and miles of safe cycling. Want a way to wear out a few kids? Hit the Jardin and get riding from point to point to point. Valencia also has beaches and tasty food.

I think the Alhambra might be really neat for kids and is a must see for adults. I also think Codoba and Seville make a great (and easy) pairing to Madrid.

I've never really looked specifically for "kid friendly" travel spots. I just remember in Valencia saying to my wife, "I would have LOVED this place as a kid".

With a week and intending to visit Madrid and Barcelona, I would leave it at that--there are plenty of day trips you can do from both, or you could stop en route at Zaragoza as mentioned.
Or, if you skip Barcelona, you can make one trip in the middle, but given that you have to return to Madrid you should plan carefully.
I'd save Andalucia for a future trip.

Thank you, all! I'm torn between going to Barcelona or scrapping that and going to San Sebastian for a few days instead. Is it fairly easy to get a train to SS from Madrid?

We are starting and ending in Madrid (total 8 days).

Reading other responses, I need to ask - is it 8 days for the TOTAL trip or 8 days in Madrid plus some other amount of time in other places?

And is it 8 days (but 7 nights) or 8 days/nights (usually a redeye to Europe "steals" a night)?

8 nights total makes me offer a more "focus on the two top spots" (Madrid & Barcelona) with perhaps a day trip out of each place.

Thank you! It's 8 days total with an arrival and departure from Madrid due to our flight.

I think reading through these, I'm leaning on option #1 or #2

1) Madrid to Zaragova (1 night) to Barcelona with 1-2 day trips from each Madrid and Barcelona.
2) Madrid to Barcelona with a few day trips, including Zaragova (is it aggressive to do a day trip to Zaragova)
3) Madrid to San Sebastian (skip Barcelona altogether)

I think with that short amount of time, I'd opt for #3. San Sebastián would be a great counter to Madrid, and the beach will be fun for the kids.

Yep, 1 or 3 sound good.
Zaragoza is on the train line between Madrid and Barcelona, so you’d want to stop on the way rather than day trip.
There is an amusement park in SS that we (adult kids) enjoyed walking up to. Check train v bus v plane for that journey.

A topic that comes up often is train vs bus. If you choose to go to Donostia, you are going to want to check the bus lines also, as they are often as good as the train connections.

The beach in the city is nice enough, but the weather in June is still a dicey for a beach day. OTOH there is a nice Aquarium. In their own words "A must for everyone who visits San Sebastián."

I like your plan of a day trip to Segovia. Our 7 and 9 year olds enjoyed seeing the aqueduct from below and climbing the stairs to see above, as well as the Alcazar.

In Madrid, we went to Retiro Park a few times, the National Archaeology Museum, and stopped at a lot of small playgrounds when doing walking tours. We went to Plaza Mayor with the kids during the day and then another night when a friend offered to stay with the kids so we could see a bit of nightlife.

hpwrenn18

How many nights are in your trip? Many people make the mistake of counting the day of arrival (day 1) and the day of departure (day 8) when they are actually staying one less night (7 nights). For a 7 night stay, the first and last days are travel-check-in-checkout-transfer days. Depending on the times of arrival and departure, you may just have enough time to fit in a meal on those days and have very little time to do much else. Realistically, you would only have six full days to do stuff during those seven nights.

And every time you change cities and hotels, you use up valuable time (about half a day) for the transfer. And because you are flying in and out of Madrid, you're going to have to waste valuable travel time returning back to Madrid.

Spain is a big country. If you have 7-8 nights, I would suggest that you limit yourself to Madrid and one other city (total 2 hotels). Going to Barcelona would eat up about 3 hours each way. Going to Bilboa would eat up about 5 hours each way.

Grandparents are old and grandkids are young. Travel, lugging baggage, and changing hotels takes up energy and time. It can be exhausting for most of us, especially if we try to do too much in a short time

Personally, if I have to fly in and out of Madrid and only had 7 nights, I would probably stay all 7 nights in Madrid (1 hotel). There is a lot to do and see in Madrid. I could do a day trip to Toledo and a day trip to Segovia without changing hotels. You end up doing more by trying to do less, if that makes sense.

Good luck.

Only 8 days, suggest Madrid, 2 nights, two more with day trips to Toledo and Segovia then move on to Seville. Toledo is a MUST.

Do not try to go to Bilbao. The Basque region is just too far away. If you decide to see Barcelona instead of Seville, you will miss a great city.

Thank you all. This is so helpful. Our trip is actually 10 days - I did take off two days for travel so it’s 8 full days in Spain which sounds a little too long in just Madrid. I think then I will keep it simple and just do Madrid and Barcelona. It sounds like going to Bilbao is too much. Thank you everyone!

I think you can count on hot weather. 90 Degrees F and higher. Years ago a friend and I were in Seville in mid-June. On our 1st day, the temperature reached 107! You get an understanding of the Spanish need for an afternoon siesta and very late dinner. Speaking of which, your kids may have a problem with such late dining. My husband and I both do. Our solution is to eat our main meal mid-day. We then have a lighter meal, something like wine and tapas, in the evening.
My advice is don’t skip Barcelona, one of my favorite cities in the world.

With ten days, forget Sevilla, especially in the summer. Please do not make the mistake of trying to cram in too much, with a group, in hot weather, for your first visit.

Ten days: I would spend at least three nights in Madrid. Are museums a big interest? Or stay longer in Madrid and see Segoviai and Toledo on day trips. So give about 6 nights in Madrid. From there you a take the train to San Sebastián and spend the rest of the time there and also in one other place on the Basque coast, possibly the slightly inland city of Bilbao. Then take bus to Bilbao, spend two nights there, and finally, fly home from Bilbao.

I hope you did not already buy tix RT to Madrid, because it is always best to fly into one city and return home from another, to avoid backtracking. If you have the tickets, firm, you could fly to Madrid from Bilbao and connect to your homeward-bound flight, although you would now be on two tickets. Or, just return to Madrid and fly home from there if you have to.

Do not even consider Barcelona unless you are going to limit just to Madrid and Barcelona, with day trips from Barcelona to the Costa Brava, Figueres, Tarragona, etc...... But I'd leave that city for another trip.

Considering the interests of the 9 and 10 year olds, my vote would be for three, maybe four, days in Madrid with day-trips to Segovia to see the aqueduct plus the Alcazar and to Avila to walk the walls. Then on to Barcelona for the balance of the trip. What an awesome family adventure!

hqwrenn18:

It sounds like you fly in and out of Madrid and have 9 nights. As noted by others, it would have been preferable to fly into Madrid and out of Barcelona or vice versa to save on doubling back. However, I assume that it will be difficult to change your international flights at this late date.

Much depends on how early you need to fly from Madrid to back home on your last day. If the departure time is very early, you will have no choice but to have to return to and spend the last night in Madrid to make an early morning flight. That would mean that you would spend four nights in Madrid, four nights in Barcelona and one last night in Madrid before flying home. You see how that last night and hotel change is a bit of a time waster?

On the other hand, if your flight out of Madrid is later in the day, you can consider spending the last night in Barcelona and taking a regional flight from Barcelona directly to the Madrid airport to catch your international flight home. If you do this, you will save on having to do the last hotel change. In that situation, my preference would be to spend four nights in Madrid and five nights in Barcelona. There are lots of things to see and do in both cities and the surrounding areas.

Good luck.