Help! Spain with kids in either Feb or April

Most hotles do not have indoor pools and dont open their outdoor pools till its warm, it will not be warm enough in march, and some places wont open them till May, never mind april. Many if not most pools are not heated.

Go in april, the later the better.

First things first... while some in this forum will say that 8 days is "plenty of time" to visit both regions -and for some it might be so- I disagree, especially if I was travelling with kids. For me, wasting a full day travelling -I am assuming you'll be arriving/departing from the same city (usually cheaper) so you'll have to invest at least half a day to go to and later another half a day to return- it's far too much if I only had a week. Furthermore, there are also those that believe it's all about hoping from major city to major city, but again, there are plenty of things to see/do outside most major cities, after all, many hundreds of years of history have passed by in our culture, so "after" Malaga, or Seville... or Barcelona, there are plenty of other things to see/do around those cities without the need to change hotels if you don't want to, namely day escapades here and there outside the city to see this and that. In short, I would seriously consider one region or the other but not both and leave the other for another time. But again, that's only me of course.

PS... and of course, if you choose Catalonia -where Barcelona is capital of- I'll be more than pleased to assist with suggestions :)))

Thanks, Enric. I'd be delighted to hear your suggestions for places to visit in the Catalonia region.

I wouldn't worry too much about Holy Week being too crowded, depending where you are I guess... I heard Seville was crazy so we went to Cordoba.

My son (13) and I had 5 days before joining his soccer team in Madrid (where we went also to San Sebastian, and daytripped Toledo). He really wanted to go to Gibraltar to see the monkeys (I could definitely have skipped it, but he realllllly wanted to go and realllly enjoyed it, so I was good with the extra travel time).

We arrived Madrid and took a train the next day to Cordoba where we spent 2 nights (so basically 1.5 days). I booked a tour the first night through Arten Cordoba for the Holy Week processions - I thought he was going to whine and hate it. But he really loved it so much, we booked the tour for the next night too. Really I think he loved collecting the wax from the nazarenos, once he was brave enough to go up and say "Cera, por favor". We also did a segway tour which he loved (I was scared to death, but that's another story and more my issue!).

It was pretty crowded at night, but we were out with our guide right in it, so it was fine! I didn't find things really that crowded during the day. We were there Wed, Thurs (left on Good Friday for Gibraltar).

If you want to do Barcelona, another poster on here spent some Holy Week time in Zaragoza (Thursday to be exact), and really loved it, which is near to Barcelona. You could do Barcelona, Zaragoza, Madrid? We really like Madrid too. I would just maybe stay out of Seville (although i it may not be as bad as they say, I don't know). Cordoba only 1.5 hours train from Madrid too....

Also, it was chilly. Even in Gibraltar, it was nice, but I wouldn't call it warm. (This was last week of March though, not sure when Easter falls this year).

Overall I was really pleased that we got to spend some Holy Week time there.

Kim

Thanks for your insight, Kim. We are torn. I don't want to skip the sights of Andalucia, but I also feel worried about those kinds of crowds during holy week. I'm almost thinking we should go in February and go directly to the Andalucia region, but it seems insane to go to Spain for the first time and not go to Barcelona or Madrid!

Maybe we should go to Barcelona in April, do day day trips from there, and go to Andalucia some other time.

Help! :-)

If you have 8 nights I would recommend 4 nights in each of Barcelona and Madrid. Spending all your time in the one place may be less stimulating for your girls.
If your heart is set on the Alhambra in Granada then this would be possible (at a pinch) ...
Barcelona (3) >> Fly to Granada (2) >> Madrid (3)

As said earlier, I wouldn't want you to think I'm biased just because I am from Barcelona, but there's more than you can chew whether you choose one or the other without the need for trying to fit both in the same 7-day trip. I can understand the feeling of 'wanting to do everything' but sometimes it's better to focus.

Anyhow, there are literally tons of ideas I could bring regarding a 7-day stay in Catalonia, let me throw some of the most typical for many visitors:

• 4 days visiting Barcelona -lots do to here, let's talk later.
• A day escapade to the fortified town of Besalú and the medieval centre of the city of Girona, the unofficial second capital of Catalonia.
• A day escapade to the former Roman capital in the Iberian peninsula: Tarragona
• A day escapade to Montserrat, the Holy Mountain, and an excellent Natural Park
• Half a day visit to Sitges or to Tossa de Mar, both traditional coastal towns a stone throw away from Barcelona
• Half a day visit to one of the many vineyards in the Penedès area, also near Barcelona, such as Codorníu or Freixenet, some the biggest wine producers in the World. A very instructive visit for kids, including the underground caves.
• A day visit to Port Aventura, one of the best theme parks in Europe, located at a 90' train ride from Barcelona. Next year, Ferrari Land will be added to the park, a new area dedicated to F1 racing full of new attractions for all ages.

Just for an idea of things you could do/visit in Catalonia
For a general picture: http://act.gencat.cat/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Welcome.pdf
For a more in-depth view: http://act.gencat.cat/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/CataloniaTouchofGenius.pdf
Some ideas with kids: http://act.gencat.cat/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Cat%C3%A0leg-Vacances-en-fam%C3%ADlia-ENG.pdf

Some sites for gathering ideas on what to do in Barcelona: http://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/ | http://www.infocatalonia.eu/ | http://www.timeout.com/barcelona | http://lameva.barcelona.cat/en

During Holy Week...
While most of Catalonia is not too religious these days, certainly not Barcelonians, there are still some Holy Week traditions that have perdured thru time and are still spectacular to watch, such as the parades in Girona (see from 1"00' onward) or in Tarragona (see from 8"40' onward) -incidentally noting that the later, under the name Tarraco back then, was the de-facto capital of all the Roman territories in the Iberian peninsula at the time of the crucifixion of Christ and as such, it preserves the remains of many typical Roman buildings (the amphitheatre, the circus, etc.) Both cities can be reached by train on a short hop from Barcelona (40' to Girona and 70' to Tarragona). And for a unique religious experience, there's a small town called Verges in the north of Catalonia, which preserves the ancient ritual of the Dance of the Death, probably the last remaining in Europe. It's celebrated at night and it's breathtaking even if, like me, you're not a believer. Note however that for this event you might need either to stay overnight or to rent a car to return to Barcelona.

Enjoy!

PS: All of this without having to change hotel, lol!

Enric always offers fantastic (detailed and accurate) advice, and it's true, your girls may like a visit to Port Aventura. However, for me, I'd always choose the Alhambra. Lol.

Hahaha, David, I have to confess I only mentioned Port Aventura because of Koorb's girls... after all I am sure there are plenty of theme parks elsewhere.

Well, you always have to give something up. I would just pick one and then get happy about it and think about what you are missing. There is always next time! :)

You can't go wrong either way really! :)

Sagrada Familia is amazing, and I would go back to Spain just to see that again.

Kim

Thank you, everyone, for the fantastic information. We have a lot to chew over!