Barcelona for The Family Explorers: a Friday-to-Monday weekend

A forty-minute harbour boat from the foot of the Columbus column, benches on deck, gulls, cranes and the cable car overhead.

The kitchen here runs all day, so dinner at six is normal: tapas on little plates and bravas the children will fight over.

The park with a boating lake, a mammoth statue to climb and a fountain Gaudí helped build; the lake boats go until dusk.

The 80-metre shark tunnel on a moving walkway, penguins and a floor for small hands; two hours, then the port is outside.

Burgers and juices on the Barceloneta front, terrace tables and no fuss about ketchup on everything; then the nap.

The beach at the end of the day, a swim in summer and sandcastles the rest of the year, showers on the promenade.

The funicular up the hill to the oldest amusement park in Spain: the aeroplane ride of 1928, the view, and a whole morning gone.

The bravas the city argues about, in a Sarrià bar at the bottom of the hill, plus a bikini for the small ones.

The science museum's flooded forest and the Foucault pendulum, open until eight on Sundays; the under-sixes have their own floor.

Book the first slot for the dragon staircase before the crowd, then the free part of the park has paths to run and shade to collapse in.

A ticket that is a bar of chocolate, sculptures of footballers in cocoa, and a workshop on weekends; forty minutes.

Counters for every taste under the wave roof, pasta for the fussy and rice for the rest, two metro stops from the Aerobus.