My wife and our 2 kids (10 and 12) are all going to Madrid, Spain in July and the last 2 days I wanted to take us all to stay at a beach somewhere in Spain. Any suggestions? I know there are several but I was thinking Barcelona because my son plays and loves soccer and we could see the FC Barcelona stadium. I would prefer a beachfront resort of some kind but any lodging suggestions are welcome. Or is there a better coastal city we should stay at? We probably will just have 2 days FYI. Thanks.

We went to Barcelona a few years ago and spent an afternoon at Camp Nou watching a match. It was a lot of fun. We then took off to taste wine in Priorat and spent two days on the beach on the way back to Barca. We stayed at Le Meridien Ra Beach Hotel which is about an hour outside the city. It was nice, albeit too cold that time of year to swim. There was a boardwalk area just a few steps down the beach that we had dinner at both nights. The food wasn't anything to write home about but the setting was cool.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3037&language=en_US

If you only have two days, there are several hotels on the beach in the city, which is what I would do on limited time and wanting to have beach time and catch some soccer. You can take your pick on those.