A month in Spain with Kids

Check out Sitges. It is a nice beach community with a 45(?) minute train ride into Barcelona. The beach is sand not pebbles. There is a fair sized grocery store (next to the train station) and a nice seaside promenade. Lots of galleries, restaurants and cafes. You could rent a car and visit Montserrat for the day. There will be a lot less foreigners(?) here than in the Costa del Sol but I do not know of any beach town where you'll be the only 4 tourists!

Based on these criteria - ' a typical Spanish town (small or large), near the beach, where we can interact with Spaniards and don't need a car' 'rent a car for a few days and do some sightseeing, but don't want to have one the entire time'
'don't want to end up in a resort full of foreigners' 'a non touristy beach town, that's walkable' Malaga - the CITY or immediate environs and no other mistaken use of Malaga. You will find tourists, it is inevitable anywhere on the coast but they can easily be avoided when you know where they will be. Malaga is an excellent transport hub, bus and train wise. However, if you want countryside with ease and return to a base, you will need a car as the bus schedules to very modest sized villages/towns/areas are not designed around you, the tourist, this will apply anywhere. A normal working city where you will still find areas with a small area 'feel' or vibe. Many a website like - ownersdirect - just 'google' apartment rental Malaga or permutations.

Kirsten, May I suggest Benalmadena. I spent three months in this town for five years and am returning there in early Oct. for a week. While walkable it is mostly uphill and downhill. The town boasts a fine park with the library attached to it. The view from the library of the sea is grand. On the far side of the park is a sea world kind of show. Further uphill is the Tivoli Amusement park with many rides and restaurants and a flamenco show area. Here's their website: http://benalmadena.com/ There is also a cable car that takes you the top of mountain where you can view the entire coast and the snow-capped Sierra Nevada near Granada. I used to love going to the flamenco recitals put on by the kids of the local flamenco schools at the Casa de Cultura. Be aware that you will be paying high rents for an apartment in June.
You can take the bus or train to Malaga in the east and to Fuengirola in the west. And, the local bus system is will connect to you all parts of the town.

I'm not sure Sitges is the best suggestion, it's become a gay hotspot (not that there's anything wrong with that) and may not be the best family choice with small children. A couple of potential areas: Costa de la Luz in the southwest. Lots of sand and lightly populated (my ideal). I liked the area between Cadiz and Tarifa. There are some nice Roman ruins with a museum near Tarifa (admission is about $1). You can visit Gibraltar (the kids will love the Barbary Apes there) easily as a day trip from Tarifa or catch a ferry to Tangier, Morroco. The town of Tarifa is a lot nicer than I expected, plenty of places to eat and views of Africa (Morroco). This part of Spain also has hill towns (white towns) that are interesting, you could do a loop of Jerez, Arcos, and Ronda. I'd also check out Antequera, there are Dolmen (passage tombs) that are as much as 20,000 years old (admission is free). You would be wandering further but definitely worth seeing Seville, Cordoba and Granada. The language here is similar to Castillian (but not exactly). The Costa Brava, north of Barcelona. We didn't have good weather when we were in Barcelona. If we had, we would have caught a train up to Arenys de Mar for a beach day. The area is mostly rocky coves with smaller sand or gravel beaches, and there are lots of small to medium towns along the coast where you could rent a place. Tossa de Mar and Blanes are a couple of larger towns. The language is Catalon through here, Castillian Spanish is a second language to the locals. From this area you can easily catch a train or drive into Barcelona to see the bigger sights. I did a trip report here called Spain: Affordable Lodging, Clean Bathrooms that you can check out.

"I'm not sure Sitges is the best suggestion, it's become a gay hotspot" We found that Sitges was NOT a 'Gay hotspot' and met all sorts of people of all ages including young families. We are a middle aged couple and are surprised every time that other posters mention this gay aspect. There are some gay festivals but not strictly a 'gay community' anymore than San Fran, New Orleans or even Vancouver.

Thank you for all the great suggestions, I'll start looking into the places listed. Has anyone heard of or visited La Herradura? Also, I forgot to mention in my initial post that I will need WiFi because I will be working from Spain.