Hi Hayley,
if you are hiring a car you will find some lovely places to go, just up the road are santa susanna and malgrat, you have blanes loret and tossa de mar which is lovely, if you travel further a field you will find some lovely places like calella de parafrugell, wonderful for the kids to paddle safely lovely little resort, have a look at this link click on it you can see a 360 tour of calella de parafrugell and gives you lots of info on other places and webcams

http://www.costabrava-rentals.co.uk/index-php

also this is good to

http://tourism.catalonia.net/ckw/cbrava.html

Rosie

HI Hayley,

I know it won't be easy travelling with the little un's in tow, but the train station is right at the beach in Pineda, with a fantastic service into Barcelona, it takes about 40 minutes on the train and only costs a couple of euros. I wouldn't recommend attempting to drive in Barcelona though, looks as bad as London.

I don't know if you like/agree with zoos, but Barcelona zoo is an absolutely fantastic day out! I wouldn't bother with a car in Pineda, as you can get to all the other neighbouring towns via the train line and they have a fantastic service! Maybe see what you think when you get there?

HTH

Catherine x

Just another thing, not particularly for the kids but for you. My husband and I did a fantastic excursion from Pineda. It took in Gerona and the markets (what a town!), we then went to the Torres chocolate factory, which the kids would love, it has a kids farm outside it and the animals are totally addicted to chocolate. You're not allowed to feed them it but they go bezerk and get all excited when they see you with a bag. It also took in Besalu which is a beautiful medieval village and we visited Lake Banyoles where the olympic rowing is held.

It was a long tiring day but soooooo worth it.

If you do decide to hire a car. You could drive up to Rosas (Bay of Roses) to Aqua Brava which is a fantastic day out. I was there last week with my three year old and there are a couple of fab pools and slides for them. There is also a brilliant pirate ship and its a really good day out. Have a look at their website, its http://www.aquabrava.com

Its also well worth having a wander round a couple of the towns in that area too, Roses and Empuriabrava are both absolutely stunning, I'm sure you'll find some pics on the internet for you search for the names.

HTH

Catherine x

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions.

Regards

Hayley

went to salou with work when i worked for lunn poly, went to port aventura. fantastic day out, some rides for the little ones and there was some great entertainment. well worth a visit and there should if i remember rightly a little train that runs free through the resorts nearby to take you up to the park. enjoy!