Malaga or Barcelona? With a 5 year old.

Barcelona for sure. We found Malaga to be a sea of high rise condos, and traffic to be extremely congested.

I think that Barcelona would be a perfect choice (though I may be a bit biased), there is so much to see that one could spend several days in the city alone. Barcelona also has a variety of great day trips. Málaga, is a nice and historic city, but I don't think that there are many viable day trips nearby.

For a taste of the potential day trips (or full-on side trips) from Barcelona that you could do:

-Girona: An ancient city in northern Catatonia. Has an impressive Cathedral, towering medieval walls, narrow winding streets, and one of the best preserved Jewish Quarters in Europe. Some of the Game of Thrones T.V. series was shot here. There is also a pretty unique Flower Festival there during 11 – 19 of May, if you choose to adjust your timeline.

-Dalí Museum in Figueres: just north of Girona (big fan of his artwork). I have seen several tours out of Barcelona that not only visit his Museum in Figueres, they also visit his whimsical house in Cadaques, which is relatively close by to Figueres.

-Medieval Villages of Besalú and Rupit: One can do both villages by car from Barcelona or via a guided tour.

-Tarragona: just a short train ride south of Barcelona. They have some of the better Roman ruins in Spain, including a Roman amphitheater. I would start at the Museu Nacional Arqueològic (MNAT) then have lunch at my favorite place in Tarragona Restaurant Antic which is right next door to the museum, then walk off the lunch to the amphitheater.

As for neighborhoods in Barcelona, I would recommend Gràcia. It is the "hip" place to be now in Barcelona with its co-working spaces and artist studios, but also feels very cozy and welcoming, something that is becoming hard to find in a big city like Barcelona. I think that it will be perfect for a young family. It is also within walking distance to most of the Gaudí sites.

Wherever you do decide to go, be aware that you will be traveling in Spain during Holy Week (Semana Santa) April 14-21. The majority of Spain's cities, towns and villages, all have their own processions and celebrations combining music, art, and color. There may be some slowdown in those cities, towns and villages attributed to Holy Week. Note that Easter Monday is a public holiday in Spain, so the large majority of shops and restaurants will be closed.

Personally, I think that you should embrace the fact that you will be in Spain during Semana Santa. It will make your travel experience so much deeper and rewarding than any normal day of the week. In Andalucía (where Málaga is located) there will be the most intense spirit of Semana Santa. Málaga along with cities like Córdoba, Granada, and Sevilla will have really spectacular Semana Santa processions.

On the other hand, outside of Barcelona, around Catalonia, one can find some pretty cool Semana Santa events too. Here is a detailed post from a fellow Barcelona local, Enric, describing Holy Week in Catalonia, look for his response at the end: Barcelona Holy Week

Where exactly would you plan to "day trip" to from Malaga? Have you looked at a map and considered distances?

There have been a slew of recent posts here from people who were planing to spend their trip sleeping in Malaga or Marbella (usually in a condo/timeshare that a "friend" appeared to be hoping to palm off on them), and "day tripping" to everywhere from Barcelona to Madrid to Morocco - which is where they actually wanted to go. This is a disastrous idea - the posters appeared to have no idea how far their actual intended destinations are from Malaga. Like staying in New York City and "day tripping" to Miami or Chicago.

If you want to spend time in Malaga (something I would never want to do), then great, go to that condo and have fun. But if you actually want to spend time in Madrid, Toledo, Seville, Barcelona, or anyplace else distant from the Costa del Tourismo, then taking that condo or time-share off somebody else's hands is no bargain and seems like a really bad idea to me. But maybe I'm just blind to the charms of Malaga and its surroundings (or I'm a fool for not wanting to spend most of each day getting to and getting home from the places I actually want to experience).

Personally, I wouldn't spend a month in Malaga even if the accommodations were free (Barcelona seems like a much, much better choice for most people) but tastes do vary and there's no shame in wanting to be wherever it is that makes you happy.

Either way, do yourself a favor, and stay where you want to actually spend time, whether that's Malaga, Barcelona or Madrid. But don't fool yourself into thinking you could sleep in any one of these places and "day trip" to the others. That's not realistic (at least not to me).

Good luck.

In defence of Malaga!

It's certainly true that long stretches of Costa del Sol are over-developed with hotels and blocks of flats, and that includes parts of Malaga city itself. But one could say exactly the same about parts of Barcelona city and its environs.

Malaga isn't all like that (from what I've read in recent weeks, I sometimes suspect that RS or individual forum posters are confusing it with Torremolinos and perhaps don't realise that "Malaga" is the name of the whole municipality & province as well as the city so they see "Torremolinos, Malaga" and assume that is the city centre proper). Malaga city itself has a very attractive old town that is not high-rise concrete, it is highly walkable and has little traffic because it's largely pedestrianised. Malaga sights include a Roman theatre, Moorish palace and mediaeval castle. There are many museums and galleries, including the Picasso, a branch office of the St Petersburg museum and the Thyssen. Malaga has a growing foodie reputation. There are also several day-trip options, both along the coast (it's not all built up) and inland in the province and neighbouring provinces.

I'm not claiming Malaga is the equal of Barcelona - it clearly isn't - but nor is it somewhere to avoid at all costs.

Personally I wouldn't want to spend 30 days in either city taking day-trips considering all the to-ing and fro-ing between accommodation and railway/bus station each time you want to go somewhere. And Barcelona is very busy with tourists - I'd find a whole month with young family tiring nd trying.

Why not split your time in half? You could have a fortnight in a big city like Barcelona - enjoying the many city sights and with just a few day-trips - and then go somewhere smaller and more relaxing in central Andalucia to use as a base for days-out, such as near Antequera perhaps.