Barcelona for Families on a Budget

Even wildly popular European cities like Barcelona don’t have to break the travel budget. A few tips and a little planning can cut the cost of sightseeing and dining, as well as enrich your family’s experience and move you beyond standard tourist routes.

Plan your visit to include the first Sunday of the month and plan to see the most expensive museums that day, when they are typically free. Many museums are also free after 3 p.m. (most are open until 7:30 p.m.) every Sunday.

Other popular and lesser-known attractions are free, too. Step back into Roman times as you explore underground excavations at Museum of the History of Barcelona, free on first Sundays and every Sunday from 3 to 8 p.m. At Montjuïc Castle, climb the battlements and see the entire city spread out below you. You can even enjoy a picnic in the moat, open free all day on first Sundays and every Sunday from 3 p.m.

Kids love the highlight of the Maritime Museum: the magnificent gold-encrusted, full-sized replica of a royal galley. It and other ships are displayed under enormous vaulted arches from the former royal shipyards. Be sure to find the secret garden, Jardins del Baluard, near Santa Madrona Gate. Like the others, this museum is free on first Sundays and every Sunday afternoon.

The Picasso Museum is free on Thursday afternoons from 5 to 9 p.m. and all day on the first Sunday of each month. It may surprise you to see how the artist’s imaginative work fascinates young children. For an outdoor activity, challenge the hedge maze at Parc del Laberint d’Horta, free every Wednesday and Sunday.

When everyone is hungry, skip the restaurants and head for Boqueria, Barcelona’s extraordinary central market, were you’ll find both local color and food (open Monday–Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.). You can nosh inexpensively at stalls or provision with bread, cheese, fruit and cold cuts for a picnic lunch or dinner to enjoy in a park — perhaps the free Parc de la Ciutadella.

Many of the most enjoyable pastimes in Barcelona are free: wandering the Gothic Quarter, admiring the Gaudi architecture on Passeig de Gracia, joining the evening stroll along La Rambla, sunning on the beach. Kids will like the fanciful ironwork and strange shapes on Gaudi’s houses; see if they can spot the chimneys that inspired the character of Darth Vader.