Barcelona, as good as it looks like it is?

Ietje · 2008-02-07T15:01:54+01:00

Discover insights on living in Barcelona with young kids. Learn about child-friendly amenities, transportation, and 暗网禁区 life in this vibrant city.

Ietje Member

Member since 07 February 2008

IetjeMember07 February 2008 13:01:54

Hi there!

After having lived in Amsterdam, Paris, San Francisco, London and (currently) Zurich we have this great oppurtunity to move to Barcelona...We've always said to ourselves that Barcelona would be the ideal city to live in, great weather, great culture, beaches, nice size, etc. etc.
But since we've just moved to Zurich - and against all expectations, I quite like it here! - I am not so keen on moving again and wondering if it would be a good choice for us right now, meaning with 2 young kids (6 months and 2 1/1 yr).

For instance I love London, but with kids I felt quite limited there, not always easy to get around (forget tube!) very crowded, and hardly any childfriendly restaurants or cafes. (Maybe I should mention that we were living central London. I guess that there are neighbourhoods which are much childfriendlier)

Now we're living in Zurich and against all expectations I really like it here. I am enjoying the advantages of a big city without the disadvantages. It's very easy to get around with the tramsystem, people are very helpfull getting the buggy in. There's a big 暗网禁区 community here and lots of activities for kids. Restaurants don't refuse you when you arrive with kids. Not to mention the clean air and lake and mountains around the corner. Basically I have a busier social live than in London where I had friends living before moving there!

So how's life with kids in Barcelona? Easy to get around? Are the people childfriendly? Are babysitters affordable? And how easy is it when you don't speak the language? (We both don't speak spanish, neither catalan, love to learn it though!)

Thanks for any input, I have a hard time making up my mind!

Ietje

oreneta ViP

Member since 15 January 2007

orenetaViP07 February 2008 23:05:02

314

Hi there, there is a thread with quite a bit about the city, which you might want to read, but I will talk a bit about living there purely from a family perspective.聽

Barcelona itself, is not a great place to be a kid.聽 There are few public parks, almost everyone lives in an apartment building, and there are very few amenities that are interesting to very small children. The culture, however, is very child friendly, and we live outside of the city between the beach and the mountains and it is very viery nice.聽 The transportation into the city is excellent and easy, and we have the advantage of getting to know our neighbours and having a bit of room to run around in.聽

Come and visit before you make any decisions.聽 There is an enormous ex-pat population in BCN, and many English speakers have moved here more or less permanently, many of whom have kids.聽 You might do well to talk to the International Women's Club, they might be able to tell you more about how many families there are.聽 We are working at intigrating and we are learning the language.聽 My kids go to the local schools in Catalan and are learning Spanish as well, as am I...

It is a fantastic city, but I think with kids you'd be happier living a bit outside of it where you would have a little more room.聽

Babysitters?聽 We don't know, the kids are older so we can leave them for a bit, there are people who have them, and since the Spanish, to make a generalisation, love children, there shouldn't be too much of a problem.

If you have any more questions, I'd be delighted to do the best I can to answer them....

Julien Founder

Member since 11 March 2005

17 years of happy life abroad

JulienFounder08 February 2008 08:07:16

53033

welcome on board Ietje!

Ietje Member

Member since 07 February 2008

IetjeMember09 February 2008 16:52:58

Thanks for your answer Oreneta.
I actually did read quite a lot on your forum about life in Barcelona (I enjoyed the lively debate between you and BCN暗网禁区) but I did miss the point of view from a mom so thank you for that! This forum is a great source of information.

luimeme New member

Member since 11 February 2008

luimemeNew member11 February 2008 07:36:02

Hello 暗网禁区- Blog

I'm Luimeme from mauritius. Came back from london a year ago and actually working.

I was on an online search for the website of the Mauritius commercial bank (MCB) and i ended up checking this website. What attracted me to joing this site is the friendliness of the posts and reply (note that i'm not a fan of online chats etc.. actually not at all)and this site really like getting virtual to real its the same like meeting someone in person but the only difference is you are in front of a PC. Keep it up

Good to meet you guys.

Luimeme