My first time posting, enjoying reading threads on Spain travel! Our first trip to Spain, we are a family of four with 10-yr-old son + 8-yr-old daughter. We are all comfortable with Spanish (though we're used to castellano from Argentina).
Two main areas of inquiry, smaller one first:
1) Arriving mid-June, planning on about 3 weeks making our way from Barcelona to Madrid. So many wonderful itinerary suggestions in this forum, thank you! Questions:
a) any additional nuggets of wisdom about this area specifically with regard to things kids the age of ours would enjoy? We love the outdoors, wandering on foot, by bike or bus, water/beaches, food, street performances, festivals, music, appreciate some history and architecture but are not buffs (i may be slaughtered for saying that, i'm sorry!) and our kids will not love endless hours of pacing walls, guided tours, or touring cathedrals or museums. We will definitely enjoy the Barcelona sights, the Dali wonders, caves, some beaches, hopefully some Picos hiking. So, anything else that you would recommend as wonderful specifically for a family along the possible itineraries of northern Spain?
b) if we are not in a rush is it feasible and economical to make our way during these 3 weeks mostly by bus?
2) The real puzzle: After our 3-week trip, my husband is heading home and the kids and I are looking for a place on the north coast in which to settle for another 5 weeks to practice our Spanish (early July to mid-August). Our main criteria are a place where they primarily speak conventional castilian spanish and that has organized activities for children. I'd prefer to avoid the largest cities of the region (popn 100K+), and I'm guessing if we go to any of the tiny (1-5K) picturesque (and positively dreamy-sounding!) fishing towns, there will be few organized kids' activities and they may speak mostly the autonomous language of the region. So I'm thinking that mid-size would be best - am I right? The organized activities are key because I speak to my kids in Spanish (castellano) almost exclusively anyway, and they reply in English...sigh. I will need to drop them off somewhere for the day with Spaniards in order for this to be anything different than a regular day at home. It doesn't need to be a guidebook destination or have any unique attractions. The fewer tourists the better, especially any English speakers. We would very, very much love to be right on the coast near safe swimming beaches. We're water people, there's just no way around it. And, finally, we are hoping to stick to the north coast because we're not hot, hot, humid weather people, either. ;)
So, is this fantasy? Or might there be a real town along the north coast that has swim lessons or a futbol club or actual summer art, music, etc programs for kids of working families at which everyone was speaking primarily Spanish? (I do realize that programming in August might be slim anyway because of vacations, but we'll have at least 3 weeks in July). Do Laredo or Castro Urdiales seem like possibilities - how about the language there? Should I drop my avoidance of the larger cities and check out someplace like Santander? Am I wrong about language or activities in the small towns? Should I give up the desire to be right on the water? North coast altogether (when I mention language immersion around here, everyone says Salamanca, but I don't want to be surrounded by students from other countries. we don't need spanish classes, we want to live a regular life in spanish. plus it sounds hot.)? What would you do? :)
So very, very grateful for any thoughts to throw in the hopper - muchas gracias!
Michelle