The uphill side of the city, quieter and a few degrees cooler than the center. It runs from the village streets of Sarrià up through Sant Gervasi to the Collserola ridge, taking in the flat Carretera de les Aigües path, hillside viewpoints and the Tibidabo funicular. Good for a morning when the center feels like too much.
Peter Parker is an adult now, alone, having wiped himself from the memories of everyone he loved to keep them safe. He fights crime in a New York that no longer knows his name, and the strain triggers a physical change that puts him in danger. Destin Daniel Cretton directs, with Tom Holland and Zendaya back alongside Mark Ruffalo. Its darker turn makes it one for older kids.
Wile E. Coyote has been flattened by ACME gadgets for decades, so he hires an unlucky lawyer and sues the company. It turns personal when the lawyer finds his old boss running ACME. Dave Green directs, putting the cartoon Coyote alongside Will Forte, John Cena and Lana Condor. The slapstick timing lands best in the original English, and parents raised on the Road Runner laugh as much as the kids.
On their last night together, best friends Jo and Raissa find a portal to Nakali, an island full of creatures from Philippine mythology. Getting home means facing the fearsome Manananggal, and the way back will cost them their shared memories. Joel Crawford, who made Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, directs with Januel Mercado, with Dave Franco, Jenny Slate and Manny Jacinto among the voices.
Festa Major de Sarrià honors the Virgin of the Rosary with decorated façades, giants parades, human towers, and sardanes. The program includes the Correfoc, a pyrotechnic spectacle where devils parade through streets with fire effects, alongside traditional Catalan performances and street activities rooted in neighborhood traditions.
Patis Oberts opens school playgrounds to everyone outside class time, so the yard down the street becomes a neighborhood play space. A monitor opens the gate, watches over the space and gets kids playing together.
The 20 city nursery schools in the program set out sandboxes and toddler play areas for the under-sixes, and several host a storytime during the season.
Sarrià's festa comes with its own funfair: bumper cars, trampolines, a roller coaster small kids can ride, game booths and food stalls. No Ferris wheel.
The rides stay on for six days after the festa ends.
Three city kids move to a run-down farm and find an enormous tree in the woods. At the top, a new magic land arrives every day, and Silky the fairy, Moon-Face and the Saucepan Man are waiting. Ben Gregor directs Enid Blyton's classic, with Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy as the parents and Nicola Coughlan as Silky. Parents who grew up on the books will enjoy it too.
Every autumn the old amusement park on top of Tibidabo dresses up for Halloween. The moment kids remember is nightfall, when a new zombie show called The Last Dance (L'Últim Ball) takes over the Plaça dels Somnis, with a dance number that nods to the King of Pop.
Between rides, younger kids can look for the park mascots Ti, Bi, Da and Bo in their Halloween outfits.
Two neighboring festes majors end on the holiday, both with a family program. Sarrià starts with its homemade cart race down the old main street and closes with an outdoor movie and a cold-fire show. Les Corts fills the afternoon with a magician, the giants' farewell dance and a correfoc, then ends with fireworks set to music. Do a morning in one, an evening in the other.
Civic centers, libraries and neighborhood casals all over Barcelona throw small parties for the Castanyada, and many mix in a little Halloween too. Think roasted chestnuts, the Castanyera in her headscarf telling stories, puppet shows and face painting.
These are the neighborhood's own parties, small and friendly. Kids roll panellets, walk through a homemade spooky tunnel, or just eat warm chestnuts with friends.
Shopkeepers in neighborhoods all over Barcelona turn their streets into trick-or-treat routes for Halloween and the Castanyada. Kids in costume go from shop to shop, look for the sign in the window, and ask for candy.
The map shows every route found, each with its time. Some still show last year's times, since most shop associations post theirs in mid-October.
Every fall, roasted chestnut stands pop up on street corners all over Barcelona. A warm paper cone of chestnuts, or a roasted sweet potato, on the walk home is the easiest way to do the Castanyada with kids.
The pins show the 2025 stands, because the 2026 list is not out yet. The city usually posts it in late October, and most stands return to the same corner.
Caga Tió is the Catalan Christmas log: kids feed it all December, then beat it with sticks, singing, so it will "poop" out sweets.
Civic centers and neighborhood casals throw their own tió parties, with a big shared log, songs and stories. Some add a twist: a flashlight hunt for the tió in the Collserola woods, or a workshop where kids decorate a log to take home.
Beyond the big fair by the cathedral, almost every Barcelona neighborhood puts on its own Christmas fair, run by local shopkeepers and residents. The stalls are smaller and friendlier, often with a Caga Tió for kids to beat, hot chocolate, and a royal page collecting letters.
For little kids there are also Christmas trains, small road trains that loop through the neighborhood past the lights.
Besides the big parade downtown, about twenty neighborhoods hold their own Cavalcada, the Three Kings parade. The floats are smaller and often homemade, and many of the royal helpers are neighbors. In Sant Andreu the Kings arrive by train.
For little kids these are often the better pick: short routes, thinner crowds, and a good chance of a wave and a handful of sweets without a long wait.
The big gift night here is January 5, when the Three Kings arrive. Santa, called Pare Noel in Catalan, has become a second gift-bringer for many families, so December brings chances to meet both.
The custom is to hand over a letter in person: to Santa before Christmas, then to one of the Kings or their royal pages, the patges.
In the days before January 5, kids hand their wish list in person to a patge reial, one of the Three Kings' royal pages, often with a quick chat about how good they have been all year.
The pages set up in markets, squares and little royal tents all over the city. Tradition says naughty kids get a lump of carbó, coal, these days a sugary version from the bakery.
Barcelona has no frozen ponds, so skating here means the rinks that pop up for Christmas. The biggest is the real-ice rink at Westfield La Maquinista, with a Christmas market and a giant slide next to it.
Some rinks are real ice and some are synthetic panels, which feel slower underfoot.
Tibidabo, the old amusement park on the tallest hill over Barcelona, gets a full Christmas makeover each winter. A giant tree greets families at the entrance, the Merlí free-fall tower lights up as a Christmas star, and a skating rink with city views takes over the Plaça dels Somnis.
Santa visits before Christmas, and after New Year the Three Kings' royal pages arrive to collect children's letters.
The flooded forest recreates 1,000 square meters of Amazon rainforest, with live caimans, capybaras, and tropical birds, plus simulated rain every 15 minutes. Other halls hold a full T. rex skeleton, a wall of giant geological cross-sections, and a planetarium. Clik, Flash, and Touch Touch are hands-on rooms built for the youngest visitors.
A ceramics studio on Balmes running kids' classes, parent-and-child sessions and summer casals alongside private birthday groups. Children hand-build a bowl or a mug and decorate it with ceramic colors, guided by a teacher, with clay, glazing and two firings covered. Older kids can take the potter's wheel instead.
Open since 1901, this mountaintop park stacks more than 30 rides up the side of Collserola. The signature Avió has swung kids out over the rooftops since 1928, and there is a hand-painted carousel, the Muntanya Russa rollercoaster, the Miramiralls hall of mirrors, and a small Automaton Museum. A separate Panoramic Area holds gentler rides for the youngest, and the Cuca de Llum funicular carries you up to the top.
Plaça de Sarrià is the heart of what still feels like a village swallowed by the city, a calm square in front of the Gothic church of Sant Vicenç de Sarrià. The pedestrian streets around it are full of bakeries and family-friendly spots, which makes it an easy, low-key stop away from the tourist crush.
A genteel garden from 1934 at the top end of Avinguda Diagonal, laid out by Nicolau Rubió i Tudurí on the grounds of a former amusement park. Shaded gravel paths wind past statues of poets and musicians. It is a welcome green break between the modernist sights and the Diagonal shops.
A 17-hectare hilltop forest park whose star for kids is the Tren de l'Oreneta, a working miniature railway run by volunteers since the early 1980s. Children ride real scale-model trains, often steam-hauled, along a 636-meter track that winds through tunnels and over bridges on a ten-minute loop. The train runs Sunday mornings, weather permitting, with several playgrounds along the wooded paths.
A wild, wooded 17-hectare park in the Collserola foothills above Sarrià, far quieter than the city-center green spaces. The big draw for kids is the miniature railway, run by volunteers, looping 635 meters past its own little station, through tunnels, over bridges and a viaduct. There are also the ruins of an old castle and sweeping views to the sea.
A wooded hilltop park in a quiet residential corner of the city, with gently ramped paths through shady Mediterranean woodland that stay walkable even with a stroller. Trails connect open squares with room to run, and stone steps climb to a mirador with a 360-degree panorama over Tibidabo, the Sagrada Família and the sea. A wood-themed playground sits among the gardens.
A guided night visit inside the historic Fabra Observatory on Tibidabo, opened in 1904. Expert guides walk you through the modernist building and its museum rooms, give a short astronomy talk, then take you to the dome to look through one of Europe's oldest working telescopes at the moon, planets, and asteroids, with city views from outside the cupola.
The uphill side of the city, quieter and a few degrees cooler than the center. It runs from the village streets of Sarrià up through Sant Gervasi to the Collserola ridge, taking in the flat Carretera de les Aigües path, hillside viewpoints and the Tibidabo funicular. Good for a morning when the center feels like too much.
Peter Parker is an adult now, alone, having wiped himself from the memories of everyone he loved to keep them safe. He fights crime in a New York that no longer knows his name, and the strain triggers a physical change that puts him in danger. Destin Daniel Cretton directs, with Tom Holland and Zendaya back alongside Mark Ruffalo. Its darker turn makes it one for older kids.
Wile E. Coyote has been flattened by ACME gadgets for decades, so he hires an unlucky lawyer and sues the company. It turns personal when the lawyer finds his old boss running ACME. Dave Green directs, putting the cartoon Coyote alongside Will Forte, John Cena and Lana Condor. The slapstick timing lands best in the original English, and parents raised on the Road Runner laugh as much as the kids.
On their last night together, best friends Jo and Raissa find a portal to Nakali, an island full of creatures from Philippine mythology. Getting home means facing the fearsome Manananggal, and the way back will cost them their shared memories. Joel Crawford, who made Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, directs with Januel Mercado, with Dave Franco, Jenny Slate and Manny Jacinto among the voices.
Festa Major de Sarrià honors the Virgin of the Rosary with decorated façades, giants parades, human towers, and sardanes. The program includes the Correfoc, a pyrotechnic spectacle where devils parade through streets with fire effects, alongside traditional Catalan performances and street activities rooted in neighborhood traditions.
Patis Oberts opens school playgrounds to everyone outside class time, so the yard down the street becomes a neighborhood play space. A monitor opens the gate, watches over the space and gets kids playing together.
The 20 city nursery schools in the program set out sandboxes and toddler play areas for the under-sixes, and several host a storytime during the season.
Sarrià's festa comes with its own funfair: bumper cars, trampolines, a roller coaster small kids can ride, game booths and food stalls. No Ferris wheel.
The rides stay on for six days after the festa ends.
Three city kids move to a run-down farm and find an enormous tree in the woods. At the top, a new magic land arrives every day, and Silky the fairy, Moon-Face and the Saucepan Man are waiting. Ben Gregor directs Enid Blyton's classic, with Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy as the parents and Nicola Coughlan as Silky. Parents who grew up on the books will enjoy it too.
Every autumn the old amusement park on top of Tibidabo dresses up for Halloween. The moment kids remember is nightfall, when a new zombie show called The Last Dance (L'Últim Ball) takes over the Plaça dels Somnis, with a dance number that nods to the King of Pop.
Between rides, younger kids can look for the park mascots Ti, Bi, Da and Bo in their Halloween outfits.
Two neighboring festes majors end on the holiday, both with a family program. Sarrià starts with its homemade cart race down the old main street and closes with an outdoor movie and a cold-fire show. Les Corts fills the afternoon with a magician, the giants' farewell dance and a correfoc, then ends with fireworks set to music. Do a morning in one, an evening in the other.
Civic centers, libraries and neighborhood casals all over Barcelona throw small parties for the Castanyada, and many mix in a little Halloween too. Think roasted chestnuts, the Castanyera in her headscarf telling stories, puppet shows and face painting.
These are the neighborhood's own parties, small and friendly. Kids roll panellets, walk through a homemade spooky tunnel, or just eat warm chestnuts with friends.
Shopkeepers in neighborhoods all over Barcelona turn their streets into trick-or-treat routes for Halloween and the Castanyada. Kids in costume go from shop to shop, look for the sign in the window, and ask for candy.
The map shows every route found, each with its time. Some still show last year's times, since most shop associations post theirs in mid-October.
Every fall, roasted chestnut stands pop up on street corners all over Barcelona. A warm paper cone of chestnuts, or a roasted sweet potato, on the walk home is the easiest way to do the Castanyada with kids.
The pins show the 2025 stands, because the 2026 list is not out yet. The city usually posts it in late October, and most stands return to the same corner.
Caga Tió is the Catalan Christmas log: kids feed it all December, then beat it with sticks, singing, so it will "poop" out sweets.
Civic centers and neighborhood casals throw their own tió parties, with a big shared log, songs and stories. Some add a twist: a flashlight hunt for the tió in the Collserola woods, or a workshop where kids decorate a log to take home.
Beyond the big fair by the cathedral, almost every Barcelona neighborhood puts on its own Christmas fair, run by local shopkeepers and residents. The stalls are smaller and friendlier, often with a Caga Tió for kids to beat, hot chocolate, and a royal page collecting letters.
For little kids there are also Christmas trains, small road trains that loop through the neighborhood past the lights.
Besides the big parade downtown, about twenty neighborhoods hold their own Cavalcada, the Three Kings parade. The floats are smaller and often homemade, and many of the royal helpers are neighbors. In Sant Andreu the Kings arrive by train.
For little kids these are often the better pick: short routes, thinner crowds, and a good chance of a wave and a handful of sweets without a long wait.
The big gift night here is January 5, when the Three Kings arrive. Santa, called Pare Noel in Catalan, has become a second gift-bringer for many families, so December brings chances to meet both.
The custom is to hand over a letter in person: to Santa before Christmas, then to one of the Kings or their royal pages, the patges.
In the days before January 5, kids hand their wish list in person to a patge reial, one of the Three Kings' royal pages, often with a quick chat about how good they have been all year.
The pages set up in markets, squares and little royal tents all over the city. Tradition says naughty kids get a lump of carbó, coal, these days a sugary version from the bakery.
Barcelona has no frozen ponds, so skating here means the rinks that pop up for Christmas. The biggest is the real-ice rink at Westfield La Maquinista, with a Christmas market and a giant slide next to it.
Some rinks are real ice and some are synthetic panels, which feel slower underfoot.
Tibidabo, the old amusement park on the tallest hill over Barcelona, gets a full Christmas makeover each winter. A giant tree greets families at the entrance, the Merlí free-fall tower lights up as a Christmas star, and a skating rink with city views takes over the Plaça dels Somnis.
Santa visits before Christmas, and after New Year the Three Kings' royal pages arrive to collect children's letters.
The flooded forest recreates 1,000 square meters of Amazon rainforest, with live caimans, capybaras, and tropical birds, plus simulated rain every 15 minutes. Other halls hold a full T. rex skeleton, a wall of giant geological cross-sections, and a planetarium. Clik, Flash, and Touch Touch are hands-on rooms built for the youngest visitors.
A ceramics studio on Balmes running kids' classes, parent-and-child sessions and summer casals alongside private birthday groups. Children hand-build a bowl or a mug and decorate it with ceramic colors, guided by a teacher, with clay, glazing and two firings covered. Older kids can take the potter's wheel instead.
Open since 1901, this mountaintop park stacks more than 30 rides up the side of Collserola. The signature Avió has swung kids out over the rooftops since 1928, and there is a hand-painted carousel, the Muntanya Russa rollercoaster, the Miramiralls hall of mirrors, and a small Automaton Museum. A separate Panoramic Area holds gentler rides for the youngest, and the Cuca de Llum funicular carries you up to the top.
Plaça de Sarrià is the heart of what still feels like a village swallowed by the city, a calm square in front of the Gothic church of Sant Vicenç de Sarrià. The pedestrian streets around it are full of bakeries and family-friendly spots, which makes it an easy, low-key stop away from the tourist crush.
A genteel garden from 1934 at the top end of Avinguda Diagonal, laid out by Nicolau Rubió i Tudurí on the grounds of a former amusement park. Shaded gravel paths wind past statues of poets and musicians. It is a welcome green break between the modernist sights and the Diagonal shops.
A 17-hectare hilltop forest park whose star for kids is the Tren de l'Oreneta, a working miniature railway run by volunteers since the early 1980s. Children ride real scale-model trains, often steam-hauled, along a 636-meter track that winds through tunnels and over bridges on a ten-minute loop. The train runs Sunday mornings, weather permitting, with several playgrounds along the wooded paths.
A wild, wooded 17-hectare park in the Collserola foothills above Sarrià, far quieter than the city-center green spaces. The big draw for kids is the miniature railway, run by volunteers, looping 635 meters past its own little station, through tunnels, over bridges and a viaduct. There are also the ruins of an old castle and sweeping views to the sea.
A wooded hilltop park in a quiet residential corner of the city, with gently ramped paths through shady Mediterranean woodland that stay walkable even with a stroller. Trails connect open squares with room to run, and stone steps climb to a mirador with a 360-degree panorama over Tibidabo, the Sagrada Família and the sea. A wood-themed playground sits among the gardens.
A guided night visit inside the historic Fabra Observatory on Tibidabo, opened in 1904. Expert guides walk you through the modernist building and its museum rooms, give a short astronomy talk, then take you to the dome to look through one of Europe's oldest working telescopes at the moon, planets, and asteroids, with city views from outside the cupola.