I went to Barcelona last April for six days total, split up by a cycling trip on Mallorca/Minorca. I was solo most of the time in Barcelona, so I can only guess what it would be like to travel with my family. Here are a few tips:
- Booked a tour with with withlocals.com. A disaster as the guide I chose flaked on me at the last minute, leaving me waiting at the appointed tour time. This guide service is setup for “independent contractors” and my guess is that the guide didn’t get enough people on the tour to make it worthwhile to her and tried to renege. I’m happy to provide the name of the guide (who has excellent reviews btw) to avoid if you choose this service.
- Switched to https://culinarybackstreets.com. They don’t have you select the guide, just the tour, so they provide who is available. My guide was named Paula, who is their bureau chief, and she was excellent. The tour was food centric, focused on off-the-beaten path experiences, including a very interesting warehouse district taken over by community cooperatives including a 100% volunteer microbrewery.
- I guess the point of my tour anecdotes is that you might want to find a reputable tour outfit and not a particular guide, as the independent contractor/gig economy model can have some drawbacks.
- I went solo to many Gaudi sites. Other than La Sagrada, I would recommend the audio tours, unless you have kids with poor attention spans. One of the buildings Casa Batllo has a fun rooftop concert series that is a lot of fun and worth getting tickets in advance.
- The Picasso Museum was too crowded even in April, and even with timed entrance tickets. Go early or late.
- Pickpockets are alive and well. My friend got robbed within 5 minutes of stepping off the bus from the airport, in the Placa de Catalunya, a busy square. One guy splashed liquid on my friend and his luggage, the accomplice came up pretending to help, saying the liquid was feces and to go over to the fountain to get water. After turning his head and seconds later, he ran off with his backpack. Two years prior, my son was in Barcelona, and a friendly guy pretended to be drunk, and ended up pickpocketing my son’s iPhone. Note that I was totally fine, although I am pretty cognizant of my surroundings. I used a travel pouch that was under my clothes.
These are the most salient things I can pass on, and can also relay my restaurant and hotel experiences if interested.