Which residential areas of Barcelona would you recommend for a family?

Hi everyone,

I will be soon relocating from UK to Barcelona with my family (wife + 2 small children). I have started looking for flats/houses to rent on the websites suggested on this forum, but not knowing Barcelona makes it a bit hard to decide in which area of city/outside of the city to look for an accomodation. I wonder if you could recommend places worth considering; the key criteria for me are:

- rather quiet neighbourhood, with "familiy friendly" area (playgrounds, parks in walkable distance)

- with reasonable commuting to Sants Station (Estacio Sants) - (ideally 30-40 minutes to get there)

- also with reasonable (max 1h) access to the airport

I am looking for a 3-bedroom apartment, so if you know price ranges for rent in any of such areas, I would appreciate also this info.

Thanks in advance
A.

Barcelona is a wonderful city but sorely lacking in green space and parks if you are anywhere near the center.  You need to be on the outskirts of Barcelona in the zona alt or such in order to get much in the way of parks.
We live outside of Barcelona in a village, and we are happy with that arrangement.  The  rent is lower, there is more green space and we can still get into the city well.  Unless you can withstand some really pricey rent, you may be happier looking at the suburban train lines out from that side of the city, and think about looking in some of the smaller towns with good connections.

We are happy this way with two kids, and if we were living in Barcelona city itself we probably would have left. There is simply no where for the kids to play that we can afford.

If you do some homework I am sure that you can find something that would suit you, though you may want to make a visit over to look at the options.  Get a day pass with three zones on it and check out the towns you can get to that are not on the opposite side of the city from the airport.

Good luck.

adrzej - My husband and I are also relocating to Barcelona and have some of the same questions.  Good luck in your search and let us know what zone you end up in!

So you're going for sure!!!  Cool!

Folks,
I'll be movingfrom Montreal to Barcelona with my girlfriend and our baby daughter.  Just based on housing prices we're considering Vilafranca del Penedes or Rubi.  We're mainly looking for affordable housing with enough space for kids to grow up, but still a good public transportation connection with the City Center.  Any comments on these options?  Hints?
Thanks
Rob

The wine should be EXCELLENT in Vilafranca, though that makes me think it may be pricy too...I have no real idea though...

I would highly recommend my neighborhood, which is Les Corts. It's a quiet neighborhood, with quite a few playgrounds and quiet spaces, just a ten or fifteen-minute walk to Sants train station (or two metro stops). The airport train is thus easily accessible, and we are not far from the Ronda de dalt (ring road) for driving. There are lots of families with small kids in this area, for sure. I don't know what rental rates are right now, but I suspect for a three-bedroom, somewhere around 1500/month.

I found this ad, for example, after a quick search:
http://www.loquo.com/ps/vivienda/partic … o/12691357