The people of Barcelona are rebelling against the city’s tourists , and are protesting in the packed Ramblas at the bum-bagged invasion and shooting the clueless café crowds with water pistols. Hmm. It doesn’t sound like kind of environment that you want to take your children to.
But c’mon, Barcelona is one of the best cities in the world, and has been my favourite for years. The beach, the bars, the restaurants, the shopping, Primavera, the Catalan attitude (shooting water at tourists being indicative of these fine folk), the whole vibe of the place is so cool that to deny your precious children the experience is tantamount to cruelty! And actually, if you do Barcelona right, seek out the stylish spots away from the crowds and try to blend in to local life more than the usual throngs, you’ll have a time as brilliant as ours. With Airbnb’s incredibly frowned upon in the city, hotels are back in a big way.
Now, for families, your choice of hotel is all important. Quite simply, even with children the age of mine — 9 and 12 — traipsing around the city all day is not feasible. You end up spending a lot of time in your hotel, so getting a good one with enough activities on-site is crucial.
And myGod, did we find a good one. El Palace Barcelona is the former Ritz, which opened in 1919 as Barcelona’s first five-star hotel and regulars over the years included Salvador Dali, Picasso, Frank Sinatra, Sophia Loren, Josephine Baker, The Rolling Stones —everyone basical.