Barcelona is Spain's second city, next to the capital Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia. It's hosted the Olympic Games, it's one of the wealthiest cities in Europe and it's situated on the Mediterranean with a fantastic climate all year round. It's a cultural hub, full of theatres, concert venues and street performers, and you can even go on a tour of FC Barcelona's Camp Nou football stadium! Barcelona is a place everyone should visit at least once in their lives, and with a huge selection of rental apartments all over the city, it's great for kids and very affordable to explore!

Barcelona is jam-packed with things to do, from simply sunbathing on the beaches and taking in the Catalonian architecture and Mediterranean horizons. You can look at the living statues and channel the Manic Street Preachers by walking La Rambla, with or without real intent. Many British tourists head straight for the Picasso Museum, but genius that Picasso was, you'll also find a huge amount of fantastic modern Catalonian art in the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Catalonian Art. If you're in a romantic mood, you can send the kids off to the science museum Cosmocaixa while you and the partner go for a trip round the bizarre Erotic Museum of Barcelona. There are also dozens of religious buildings, including the Sagrada Família, Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece which was started in 1882 and is still in the process of being constructed. It might not be finished, but it's already one of Spain's top tourist attractions!

There's no shortage of accommodation in Barcelona, it's a tourist hotspot and many of the locals speak excellent English and other languages to make visitors feel welcome. Rental apartments are almost certainly the most cost-effective option for a family holiday - as well as being able to choose from a wide range of properties for less than £100 a night for a family of four or five, you get your own space in which you can relax for the duration of your stay, in some of the most historic parts of Barcelona, just minutes away from La Rambla, or round the corner from the lovely Parc Güell, again designed by the famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi. Opting for these kinds of holiday rentals allows you to enjoy a traditional Catalan home rather than the universal conformity of a hotel room, and enables you to explore local grocery shops in far more detail than if you were eating in a hotel every night.