Looking for a family-friendly beach

Just north of Barcelona is the Costa Brava, easy to get to. We loved our stay in Begur.

You can visit Mallorca and Menora via plane or ferry from Barcelona. I've only been to Mallorca but I find it wonderful if you avoid the party spots (which is easy to do). I posted a couple trip reviews about very different Mallorca trips I took recently that you can read. Alcudia Bay has many all-inclusives on a beach perfect for families (fine sand, shallow water, small waves) but for a family trip I'd pick one of the hotels on nearby Pollenca bay (nearly still, shallow water, family-friendly promenade and restaurants). Both are about 45 minutes from the airport and can be reached by private transfer or a longer bus trip.

That said, there are probably suitable beaches closer to where you're going to be, but you asked about the islands so I felt compelled to respond. I love the scenery on Mallorca and the diversity of beaches there. Near Pollenca is Cala Sant Vincenc which has a couple of family hotels right on the small coves. The water is lovely and it's a very relaxing area. Something to consider!

Hi Kathie...

There are no "party beaches" -whatever that means- here in Catalonia. This is not to say you might find more "happy youth" in this one beach than in that other one, but excessive noise and drunkness are forbidden in the beach (during daytime anyway) by the municipality regulations to which each beach belongs to. Many of our beaches are "manned", meaning you'll find, at least from Jun to Oct, lifeguards, police, etc. either based in the beach or in case of smaller coves or very long beaches, passing by from time to time. They do act upon these two types of uncivilized attitudes. Having said that, there are two particular towns (Salou, near Tarragona and Lloret de Mar to the north of Catalonia), known for the flocks of British and German youths invading every Summer, which Town Halls seem to be less strict in these matters.

This, of course, doesn't rule out you can't come across noisy -and annoying!- beach-goers here and there. And they don't need to be "partying" to be a pest -if you know what I mean! That "type" is universal and you'll find them in every country, either locals or tourists on vacation.

You also have to keep in mind that during Summer time there are no "empty, peaceful beaches" anywhere on these shores as there are lots of beach-goers, locals and tourists alike. We do receive literally millions of tourists from Europe and beyond that visit us for many reasons, one being our weather, so for many, the beach is also in their bucket lists. Then, the density of people, even if there's no yelling, makes any beach... hectic, if anything to put it into words.

So, in general terms, the beaches are "peaceful" (mind me!) because most of the beach-goers are after the same: relaxing, although the density of people can make it sometimes difficult.

Exactly the same goes on in Mallorca, Menorca or Formentera, in the Balearic Islands. Most of their beaches and coves are a paradise... in Winter! lol.

--part 1--

TARRAGONA

As per "the beach doesn't seem to be the main thing" in Tarragona... well, Catalonia is a small territory, the size of Maryland, with over 500 miles of coastline. The coastline is "divided" in different areas, and the one around Tarragona is called "Costa Daurada" (Golden Coast) for the fine golden sand. Here a promo video of the Costa Daurada. Thus, indeed there are plenty of other things Catalonia is known for (from culture to gastronomy, art, folk and a long list), including weather and landscape... and beaches, as I said, over 500 miles of coves and beaches, is one of them -or at least millions of fellow Europeans think so year after year.

Tarragona has two stations, the one serving the line you mention -fast train- is indeed outside Tarragona, at 1 1/2 mile, but there are a bus line and plenty of taxis connecting with the center of Tarragona. Then, the other station, the one connecting medium distance and commuting trains with other towns and city on the coast and also with Barcelona, is located in Tarragona, by the port.

Should you choose this city for your stop over, you'll encounter a great city, once the capital of the most Western province of the Roman Empire, which covered over half of today's Spain and Portugal, which has plenty to offer: from magnificent Roman remains (circus, amphitheatre, forum, necropolis, aqueduct, wall and temple) declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2000, to a cute medieval neighbourhood around the cathedral to a Modernist landscape from the late 19th century by famous architects such as Jujol, Salas and Gaudí himself among many other. Here some more info on the "must visits" in Tarragona.

Tarragona is also "home of the human towers", and during your visit you'd come across two heritage festivals, Sant Roc in Aug 16th and Sant Magí from 14 to 19th of August.

As per the beach in Tarragona, see for yourself... still, think that beach "ain't a main thing" in Tarragona?

But again, I could mention a number of other stop-overs from Tarragona to Barcelona equally worthwhile exploring, from Torredembarra to Vilanova i la Geltrú or Sitges, among other. Unfortunately, your train doesn't stop in any of them as, being a fast train, it goes straight to Barcelona. But again, you could switch in Tarragona to a Regional train, or once in Barcelona take a Regional train to any of these towns.

--part2--

Still, if you prefer to go to Barcelona, I can suggest an escapade to one of the many neighboring beaches.

Barcelona's 10 city beaches were chosen by National Geographic as the "Best Urban Beaches" a few years ago, however, the term "urban" says it all... crowds! So a number of us residents in Barcelona prefer to go to beaches nearby instead which tend to be a tad less crowded in that time of the year.

You have easy access by train -which is more like a metro service!- to many beaches in towns and cities north and south of Barcelona. From a 10' ride to say a 40' ride you have plenty of choices (Sitges or Vilanova i la Geltrú to the south if you plan to spend most of the day out so you can visit these two cute towns which have plenty to offer beyond beaches; or Gavà or Castelldefels closer to Barcelona -the later with several miles of beach-... to the smaller (hence less crowded) beaches in the towns north of the city, say Badalona, Premià de Mar, Vilassar de Mar all of them at a short train ride (<30'). I should mention that the train rides along the coast in this stretch so in most cases you get off the train and the beach is less than 300 yards away.

--End--

I am not one for "laying on a beach", but I love walking a nice beach and doing some beach combing. Usually for shells, but in Barcelona we found a lot of small pieces of sea glass on the beach. I now have a small bowl full of pretty glass as a remembrance of a fun time on the Barcelona Beach. Hopefully it was ok to pick it up, we did look for signage saying it was prohibited.

Oh my - you all are so kind!
Thank you for so much information. Really, the hardest part of planning is eliminating some of the wonderful to choose only the fantastic! (we are so excited!)
I hadn't thought about the Costa Brava because everything I read seemed to be focused on driving there. But thanks, Suki, I found the town of Tossa de Mar inviting and not too far from the Barcelona and the Barcelona airport, found out we could take the Sarfa bus there and straight to the airport too.
But with that info from Enric about regional trains, I will also try to see if that's a possibility. Or if we chose Tarragona, we could take a regional train from Zaragoza right to the town, a much better idea than the AVE train plus a long taxi ride, I will look into that. Festival! giant puppets - wow!
By the way, we've already planned to be in Barcelona awhile and I know we will spend time on those beaches [and thanks for the endorsement, Enric]. We are landlocked here in Missouri - any chance to see the sea is greatly appreciated! Of course I know we will have to share with thousands of others - that's okay! After thinking about this I realized instead of saying "party" I should have said "prohibitively expensive," or "exclusive," and your links have encouraged me to let that worry go!
After reading your Mallorca report, Sarah, I'm thinking that will have to be for next time, not enough days but - so tempting!
Knowing my family, I think by the time we get to the last four days we'll want to stay put and enjoy "living" somewhere.
Picking up beach glass! I will tell them about the two possibilities and let them decide north or south!
We are already talking about places "on the list for next time." Thank you everyone for the help!
Kathie

Hi Kathie

All towns in Catalonia are linked "to the outside world" at least by bus, and many also by train. The problem is that in some areas the bus schedules might not be so convenient sometimes. That's true in a lot of the towns in Costa Brava... albeit not all. You see, the train tracks follow alongside the coast from the edge of Catalonia, in the south, to Blanes, in the southern tip of Costa Brava, then it turns inland towards Girona and then again outwards again towards the coast in Port Bou, in the northern tip of Costa Brava. The reason is simple... the name Costa Brava is Catalan -the local language here in Catalonia- for "rough coast", so not easy to lay a train line when you have this :))

Should you choose Tossa de Mar, you can indeed get there by bus from Barcelona, easy peasy. If anything, it'll be quite crowded on those dates, actually lots of places, especially in Costa Brava will be. Btw, there's no "long taxi ride" in Tarragona... we're talking about a mile and a half from the fast train station to the centre of the city of Tarragona (city, not town!). And if you're coming from Zaragoza is far better to ride the AVE (fast train) to the station outside Tarragona and then a short taxi hop -literally 10'- to the centre than taking a slow regional train all the way to Tarragona. We're talking around 1 hour versus 3 hours. Just sayin'

Again, no "exclusive" or "expensive" beaches, if that's what you're referring to... ALL our beaches are public, free to go and open to everybody. You don't pay to go to the beach if that's what you were thinking. By Law, all the coastline -up to 100 yards inland I believe- it's public property, not only here in Catalonia but in the whole of Spain (still I do believe that, all the way back from the time of the Spanish dictatorship -which supposedly ended in 1975-, there are still some "irregularities" in some places in the South of Spain regarding this and there are still a handful of properties "at the beachfront", blocking access to the general public, so to speak).

Yes, I know a bit of Missouri, and I sympathize you're "landlocked", but you still have the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks, don't you? :).... you see, for us here in Catalonia is "ah, the beach, yeah down there to the right". It's hard to appreciate something when it's always there, isn't it?

For picking beach glass, seashells and other rocks, better head towards Costa Brava, where the sand is coarser and, in many (not all!) beaches you're walking on rocky bottoms when you enter into the sea -much like in a river- and you'll find some marine life. The Costa Daurada, to the south, is made of very fine golden sand and there are no rocks in the sea (little life too). Having this fine sand it also makes the water a tad murkier than in Costa Brava. IMHO, I prefer the latter, I suppose I prefer to walk on a "cushion" rather than on a "bed of rocks" when entering into the sea. This is how I see it in Costa Brava, LOL!

Enjoy!

A tricky subject now...

Over the years, in the travel forums, including here, I've noticed there are a number of visitors from certain areas of the US -especially if it's their first time to European beaches- that are not aware that there are significant differences in the views towards "nudity" and "partial nudity" between us and "some" parts of the US.

I profusely apologize in advance if this is not the case here, but this is a subject often avoided by some visitors and then some get embarrassed (or worst, shocked) when going to our beaches... so I think it's worth mentioning, if not for Kathie, for any other reader that comes across this thread with ignorance on the matter.

• There are no "topless areas". Topless is something normal in all beaches. This doesn't mean topless is necessarily predominant but each woman chooses what she prefers to wear -or, not wear- with total normality.
• There are plenty of nudist beaches (open to anyone, of course) along the coast here in Catalonia. In case anyone is interested, this is the map of our 60+ nudist beaches, several of which are in and near Barcelona. They're clearly marked, but they're not "enclosed" so anyone can freely walk in.

This means we don't have "family-friendly" beaches as understood in some parts of the US when it comes to this matter, in fact, all our beaches are "family-friendly" as per our views and our kids grow up seeing this as a natural thing of human nature. I am quite aware, as I am familiar with many parts of the US states, that the same (or similar) views are shared in lots of places over there, but it's equally true that in many others the views are far more conservative than ours (or, as we'd say here: far more prudish) so it's good to raise this issue beforehand.

El Masnou with Ocata Beach is less than 30 minutes by R1 commuter train to the north from central Barcelona. It makes a good choice for a quieter car-less beach stay near Barcelona. Sitges to the south might seem a little frenetic to some in the height of summer. It is almost a necessity to have a car for the gorgeous parts of the Costa Brava - Begur, Llafranc, Calella de Palafrugell, Tamariu and Cadaques.

We LOVED Tossa de Mar !!! It’s onky 1:20 hr there on bus ( nice modern buses ) ! Small but very scenic !! Google for photos !!

We also love love love Mallorca !! We’ve stayed in Palma and in Cala D’or ( twice and would go again tomorrow! )

We LOVED Tossa de Mar !!! It’s onky 1:20 hr there on bus ( nice modern buses ) ! Small but very scenic !! Google for photos !!

We also love love love Mallorca !! We’ve stayed in Palma and in Cala D’or ( twice and would go again tomorrow! )