Pine-backed coves, big water parks and short flights
🛶Costa Brava
Spain
Updated 1 July 2026
The Costa Brava is the stretch of Catalan coast running from Blanes up to the French border, and it has two personalities that both work brilliantly with children. In the south there are big, cheerful resort towns like Lloret and Tossa with water parks, free kids clubs and hotels built for families on a budget. Further north the coast breaks up into whitewashed fishing villages and tiny coves linked by cliff paths, where a bucket and a snorkel mask are the entire holiday. Flights from most of Europe land at Girona or Barcelona in around two hours, and transfers are short.
26 to 29C
Typical July and August day highs
220 km
Of coastline, coves and cliff paths
40 min
Girona airport to Lloret de Mar
2
Major water parks on the coast
Live prices & availability
Stays near Costa Brava, Spain
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Why it works with kids
- Two big water parks (Water World in Lloret, Aquadiver in Platja d'Aro) plus several hotel aquaparks
- Hundreds of small sheltered coves with calm, clear, shallow water
- Short transfers: Girona airport to Lloret is about forty minutes
- Family food that children actually eat, from pa amb tomaquet to arros
Best areas to stay
- 1Lloret de Mar: the family workhorse, cheap hotels with slides and free kids clubs, noisy at night in August
- 2Tossa de Mar: prettier and calmer, with a walled medieval old town rising straight off the beach
- 3Platja d'Aro and S'Agaro: a long sandy beach, a water park and the coast's smartest hotels
- 4Roses and Empuriabrava: the sheltered northern bay, canals to explore and the gentlest water for toddlers
- 5Calella de Palafrugell and Llafranc: whitewashed villages and coves linked by cliff paths, no slides at all
Our KidProof picks
Hand-picked and scored on the eight things that matter to families.
in Costa Brava
Salles Hotel & Spa Cala del Pi
Large five-star rooms and junior suites, most with a big terrace and a sea view, some with a private jacuzzi outside. The family option is a junior suite with a sofa bed rather than a true second bedroom, so a family of four sleeps in one space: fine for younger children, tight for teenagers. Cots free, and a proper Nespresso and kettle in every room.
in Costa Brava
Hotel Golden Bahia de Tossa & Spa
Well kept family rooms and duplex suites, the duplexes putting the children upstairs and the parents down, which is worth every extra euro on night four. All rooms have a fridge, a safe and a balcony, and cots are free. Some family rooms are a single large space with a partition rather than a separate bedroom, so check the floor plan.
in Costa Brava
Evenia Olympic Resort
Four linked buildings (Garden, Park, Suites and Palace) share the same gardens and pools. The Suites block is the one to ask for with young children: a separate kids bedroom, a sofa bed, a kettle and a small fridge, so bottles and early breakfasts happen in your own room. Cots are free on request, put it in the booking notes.
in Costa Brava
Prestige Goya Park
Low-rise garden buildings with family rooms and a good number of connecting doubles, which is the useful bit: two rooms, one door between them, everybody sleeps. Ask for a ground-floor room opening onto the lawn if you have a crawler. Cots are free and there is a fridge in every room.
in Costa Brava
Silken Park Hotel San Jorge
Terraced rooms stepping down a pine-covered cliff, nearly all with a balcony and a sea view worth the money. Family rooms sleep four with a sofa bed, and there are a handful of two-bedroom suites at the top of the range. Cots are free, and every room has a fridge, which matters when you are carrying milk up from the village.
in Costa Brava
Guitart Central Park Aqua Resort
Apartments rather than hotel rooms, which is exactly why parents come here. Each has a separate bedroom, a sofa bed in the living area and a small kitchen with a fridge, hob and kettle, so you can do porridge at seven and pasta at six without booking a table anywhere.
in Costa Brava
Hotel Sant Roc
A family-run hotel where the rooms are unfussy but the balconies are the point: most look straight down onto the water. There are proper family rooms and a few with two separate sleeping areas, and a small number of connecting pairs. Cots are free, and reception will lend you a bottle warmer and a baby bath if you ask.
in Costa Brava
Hotel Blaucel
Simple, clean, compact rooms, most with a small balcony and a few with a sea glimpse. Family rooms take four with two singles alongside the double, but four people plus suitcases is genuinely tight. Cots are free, high chairs are in the dining room, and the kettle is at reception rather than in the room.
Compare our picks in Costa Brava
| Hotel | Score | Kids club | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Salles Hotel & Spa Cala del Pi | 86 | — | 340€ |
| Hotel Golden Bahia de Tossa & Spa | 83 | ✅ Free kids club | 185€ |
| Evenia Olympic Resort | 81 | ✅ Free kids club | 140€ |
| Prestige Goya Park | 80 | ✅ Free kids club | 155€ |
| Silken Park Hotel San Jorge | 80 | — | 210€ |
| Guitart Central Park Aqua Resort | 78 | ✅ Free kids club | 125€ |
| Hotel Sant Roc | 75 | — | 195€ |
| Hotel Blaucel | 69 | — | 95€ |
Browse Costa Brava by what matters
Family things to do in Costa Brava
Water World, Lloret de Mar
The biggest water park on the coast, with a wave pool, a lazy river and a properly separate toddler zone with shaded mini slides.
Walk a cami de ronda
The old coastguard paths hug the cliffs between villages, ducking through rock tunnels and past hidden coves. The Calella to Llafranc stretch takes twenty five minutes with children.
Dali Theatre-Museum, Figueres
The strangest museum most children will ever visit: a giant egg-topped building full of optical tricks and a car with rain inside it. An hour is plenty.
Boat through the Empuriabrava canals
Europe's largest residential marina has thirty kilometres of canals, and the slow tourist boats are calm enough for a nervous toddler.
Parents also ask
When is the best time to go with children?
June and early September are the sweet spot: the sea is warm, the water parks and kids clubs are running, and the beaches are half as busy as in August. July and August are hot, crowded and expensive, but everything is open.
Is Lloret de Mar too rowdy for a family?
It has two lives. The nightlife strip is concentrated in a few streets near the centre and does get loud in August, but the family hotels sit uphill or towards Fenals, well away from it. Ask for a garden-facing room and you will barely notice.
Are the beaches sandy or pebbly?
Both. The big resort beaches at Lloret, Tossa, Platja d'Aro, Blanes and Roses are proper sand and shelve gently. The small northern coves mix coarse sand with pebbles and rock, so pack water shoes for those.
Do we need a hire car?
Not if you base yourself in Lloret, Tossa, Blanes or Platja d'Aro, where everything is walkable and buses link the towns. A car becomes worth it in the north around Roses and Calella de Palafrugell, where the villages and coves are spread out.
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