Spain – General Travel Tips

1. Food/groceries: Minimarts all over the country sell basics like cheese, cereals, pastas and supplies like toilet paper. For diapers and other productsits best to hit up Carrefours or other larger supermarkets. Finally, Farmacias which are a dime a dozen sell extensive ranges of baby toiletries by Mustela and other brands.

2. Cobblestone: Expect to find much of your walking done on cobblestone streets, even in the big cities. Therefore expect wear and tear on your pram and for heaven’s sake don’t wear heals!

3. Transportation: Taxis are reasonable and trains are easy to use. Buses less so.

4. Weather in summer: Check the weather because summer temperatures can go into the 40s c (over 100 f) and there is no bigger downer than sunstruck baby.

5. English ok: English can be a struggle so brush up on your Spanish or stick to the tourist places.

6. High chairs/kids menus tough to find: I find tapas a hard cuisine to make baby- friendly. Karam ended up eating Spanish omelets and bread for the length of his trip. Similarly, restaurants are small and not very pram- friendly and very few have high chairs. That being said, children are very welcome in most places, even late into the night as the Spanish don’t really dine till after dinner.

7. Tax refund is a pain at barcelona airport. Leave plenty of time if you plan to get your money back.

8. Inter-city train: if you are traveling between cities, consider taking the train. It may not be cheaper but it’s a heck of a lot more convenient. We took the train one way from Madrid to Barcelona and it was one of the best travel experiences I have ever had. First off all travel times are not unreasonable if you factor in having to get to the airport early etc. Secondly the train in Spain is clean and well maintained, showing a movie, and equipped with a bar/cafe and the largest change table I have ever seen. Thirdly, there is space to run around and the baby doesn’t have to be strapped in, which is a relief with a baby as active as Karam who throws a fit at every take-off and landing. Finally, most train stations are in the city and therefore shave hours off your commute time. Plus trains are not delayed as often as flights.

9. Shopping: check out the trendy kid sections at Spanish staples Zara and Desigual.

10. Useful words in Spanish:

* doctor – el medico
* bathroom – el baño
* taxi – taxi
* emergency – la emergencia