June 23, 2026 · 5 min read
The Costa Brava with Kids: Easy Days and Dinners Without Drama
I cook for a lot of families through the summer, and I have learned that a holiday with children lives or dies on its rhythm. Get the days gentle and the evenings calm, and everyone, parents included, comes home rested. The Costa Brava is unusually kind in this respect: shallow coves, short walks and beaches where the sea stays warm and tame. Here is how I help families settle into a slower, easier pace, right up to the part where dinner appears and nobody has to lift a finger.
Beaches and coves that suit small legs
When parents ask me where to take young children, I point them first to the gentle beaches. Platja d'Aro is the easy all-rounder, a long stretch of sand with shallow water and everything within reach, the right choice for the days when nobody wants to think too hard. Platja de Pals is wider and breezier, a generous open beach backed by dunes where children can run without you losing sight of them. Both forgive a slow start and a long stay.
For a quieter, prettier day I send families to Llafranc, a calm curve of bay with a small harbour and a promenade that suits a pushchair, ice cream and a paddle in the same gentle outing. The shallow coves along this coast are the real secret: the water stays warm and clear, the slope is forgiving, and a child can splash for hours within arm's reach. Pack less than you think, plan less than you fear, and let the beach do the work.
Days that leave room to breathe
With children, less really is more. The mistake I see most often is overpacking the day, three towns and a castle before lunch, until everyone is hot and out of patience. The coast rewards the opposite. Pick one beach in the morning, one easy walk or one small adventure in the afternoon, and leave wide margins of nothing in between. The flat seafront promenades and short coastal paths here are made for unhurried legs.
Pals is worth one slow afternoon too, its honey-coloured medieval streets quiet enough that children can wander a little ahead while you take it in. Time these outings for the cooler hours, build in a long midday pause back at the villa, and you avoid the meltdown that comes from skipping rest. A relaxed pace is not lazy, it is the whole point. The holiday is for the parents as much as the children.
Dinner without the drama
The hardest hour of a family holiday is often the one before dinner: tired children, hungry adults, and the prospect of getting everyone dressed and out to a restaurant. This is the part I most love to take off parents' hands. I cook in your villa kitchen, so the children stay in their own space, in pyjamas if they like, and dinner comes to the table at the hour that actually suits them rather than the hour a restaurant decides.
For the little ones I keep it simple and reliable. My kids menu is one dish per service, the same for all the children, chosen from nine kid-approved favourites and priced at 25 euros per child. One plate, no negotiation, no fussing over separate orders, and something I know children actually eat. For the leisurely mornings there is also a generous brunch, the kind of spread that lets the day start whenever everyone is ready.
What this really buys you is the evening itself. The children eat early and well, the adults linger over something more grown-up afterwards, and the kitchen is left clean. No coats, no car, no babysitter, no rushing the last course. Just a family at ease in one place, which is, in the end, the holiday everyone actually came for.