travel around Easter with kids?

Barcelona isn't much around Easter. There is a Good Friday procession, put on by a club of Sevilla expats, but the rest of the week has only extra masses at the churches.

I would expect more in Madrid but haven't been there so can't say for sure. The best was Holy Thursday in Zaragosa, 26 clubs (similar to Kiwanis or Shriners clubs) put on processions all day and night with lots of drums and excitement - sans tourists. I highly recommend it.

We also saw a Good Friday procession in Pamplona. It wasn't bad but subdued and dull compared to Zaragosa.

I'd expect Salamanca, Valladolid, and Burgos to also have great Easter Week festivities that are non-touristy. Smaller towns like Segovia may be more like Pamplona. Toledo could be really good too.

Getting into Zaragosa by car was a little difficult by car because many roads were closed but the price and availability of lodging didn't seem to be a problem. We got an ideal place, one of the nicest we stayed in, calling when we were on our way from Montserrat mid-morning. We didn't have any trouble getting into or around Pamplona, the streets closed for the route right around sunset for about an hour or two. If you're training and walking, it shouldn't be an issue.

"...Barcelona isn't much around Easter." Hahaha, I suppose Brad must not be much acquainted with the city. Barcelona is an all year around destination, we receive visitors every month of the year, especially in summer (duh!) and also in Easter. If Brad meant that the processions in Sevilla (and other parts of Andalucia for that matter) are more ornate and flamboyant, that's likely to be so, mainly because us Catalans are not as religious as Andalucians and also because we tend to be more austere.

However, for those willing to see processions in Catalonia in Easter it's a must to see, among others, the ones in Girona (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3CMXZtu_G8) or Tarragona -both one hour from Barcelona, one to the north, the other to the south. But if something epitomizes the religious tradition in this part of the world is the Dance of Death (or Macabre Dance) most especially the one offered in Verges (http://infocatalonia.eu/w/20KB8 or another one here http://vimeo.com/21673120), a small town located near Girona -north of Catalonia- which year after year offers a glimpse of probably the last remaining Dance of Death in Europe, performed uninterruptedly since the Middle Ages.