Hotel Suggestions Barcelona: convenient & safe area for teens to explore?

I think the answer to your questions are beyond the knowledge of many who post here.

Keeping kids (older teens) away from temptation is a function of education and responsible parenting. I have traveled throughout Barcelona and while I certainly cannot indicate which areas are likely to contain prostitution and drug related activities, most of the tourist areas are like tourist areas of other large cities.

Are there drug dealers near the La Sagrada Familia? Maybe....maybe not. Is there prostitution near the beaches? Possibly. Danger proof your kids, rather than trying to speculate on whether there are areas in Barcelona that are kid-safe.

As a parent, I don't recall being comfortable with turning my kids loose in any major city. Our visits were family visits, carried out generally as a family.

We have a couple of regular posters here who live in (or have lived in) Barcelona, and they'll be able to give you good advice.

Pickpocketing is quite the profession in Barcelona. That's by far the likeliest crime to encounter, so job #1 is to convince the youngsters to protect their personal possessions, including their smartphones. The riskiest areas are the areas where there are lots of tourists, so they are pretty unavoidable: the Barri Gotic, the Ramblas, etc.

Thank you for the recommendations. The reason I asked this question is that another article I read today states that some of the very places I was looking to book in were particularly bad--not just ubiquitous pickpockets! Obviously, street smarts are important for anyone of any age, but I could easily tell you what parts of my town to stay away from. Other areas are perfectly safe. So thank you for all the helpful information.

Bill is the authority on this subject, but I would recommend the following:

• stay in an apartment in lieu of a hotel. Cost is essentially the same and room to spread out with benefit of a kitchen.
  • unsure of the source of "drug sellers and prostitutes", but our family (including teenage daughters, now in their late 20's) have roamed many areas of Barcelona without encountering a plethora of temptation or impacts due to their existence. Confident these issues exist, just not encountered. Suggest the same knowledge used at home to beware of these issues, applies in Barcelona.
  • Do focus on being "pickpocket aware", but not alarmed. Barcelona remains as the number 1 tourist destination in Europe and brings a cottage industry of pick pockets so common sense tactics are needed.
  • A half day at the Barcelona beach is an excellent experience and great place to release the teens.

Enjoy the journey!

We stayed in the Gracia neighborhood with my three teens and I felt very safe for them to walk around. I even thought La Rambla was safe for them, mindful of your surroundings as you would be in any city. Gracia, as Bill said, is more neoghborhoody, and a little ways outside the main tourist crush (but we still walked everywhere - La Sagrada, Park Guell, Eixample, everywhere. Oh, except the beach - we took the metro there ;p)

We have been to Barcelona five times over the past years and with two sons on a couple of occasions. Barcelona has a reputation for pickpockets but saw little of that activity and no activity related to drug dealers or prostitutes. Not sure what you are reading.