dallaslawrence

Our kids are in an American Spanish immersion school and we want to give them a summer where they can really immerse in Spanish. We’re looking for a great traditional city to rent a villa where they can go deep on Spanish and where we can take regular weekend trips to fun parts around the country and into France and maybe Italy.  We love wine so a wine region in spain would be fun too. But first and foremost we want an amazing experience for our kids age 8 9 and 13 to experience culture and language. Thank you for any city or region recommendations!

dreamon

Because it will be really hot in the south of Spain in the summer and because you want to venture over the border into France, I suggest a town on the Spanish/French border. I suggest you forget Italy for this trip as you will have enough to do to fill a year, let alone a month in the area. Not Barcelona though, for obvious reasons, and I'm not sure about the Basque language areas.

I think you'll have to make special efforts to forge a connection into the community. It may not happen just by being there. My kids went to a French/English bilingual school and they didn't speak a lot of French with other kids (or even adults) while we were in France, possibly because they were shy and because they didn't meet a lot of kids their age. If we'd been going for their language study, I think we would have made more effort to find community activities. However, just being surrounded by the language (both aural and visual) is wonderful. I remember my 9 year old daughter explaining what the French tour guide was telling another group about Ste Chapelle in Paris, which I found pretty cool.

Traveler_Nick

I'd suggest forget the villa. Rent an apartment in Madrid. It will be hot enough to bake bread. But you'll have the best rail connections around Spain. The best overall air connections. The most "Spanish" area. Not Basque or Catalan. You'll have a whole city to interact with.

A villa to me implies at least a little out of the centre with less interaction with people. That doesn't sound like what you want.

The other option is to forget the out of country trips and pick one of the southern coastal cities embracing the heat. Cartagena for example. If you do this you'll want a car for trips in the general area.

TDudette

Welcome, dallaslawrence, and how wonderful to immerse your children in a language. Barcelona came to my mind but Traveler_Nick made an interesting point about Catalan and Basques languages. That makes me want to ask if your children are studying Castilian or North (?) American Spanish. Can anyone input about the differences, if any? Still, my DH and I found lots to do in Barcelona. We trained from Barcelona to Montpellier, France and enjoyed the vibe there as well.

annhig

Hi Dallaslawrence, what a great idea! Unfortunately I have to disagree with Traveller_Nick - not only will Madrid be hot as hades but also is unlikely to offer many opportunities for your kids to practice their new language skills as english is pretty widely spoken. My choice would be San Sebastian - though the locals are Basque they will not expect you or more importantly your children to speak it, there is a wonderful beach for swimming which the kids will love, and where they may have the chance to interact with local kids, the food is terrific, and there is plenty of scope for excursions to France in one direction, and spanish places like Bilbao in the other.

dreamon

Immersion in a language is about communicating but also just hearing it (and seeing it) all around you. So I'd go somewhere Castilian speaking (assuming that's what they're learning). Hence my comment about Barcelona and the Basque region. And personally, I'd choose a town that is a little smaller as I find people have more time and patience than in a big city like Madrid. Staying somewhere where less English is spoken would be great (if you can work out where that is). Last comment aside, perhaps look at Salamanca, Valencia, Jerez, Cadiz, Ronda or one of the 'white villages' such as Arcos de la Frontera as well as the northern coast.

joannyc

I’d pick somewhere in northwestern Spain during the summer. Not as hot as central and southern Spain. Ovidos, Gijon, Luarca, Santiago de Compostela, Leon? All great towns/cities! Lots of choices!

Traveler_Nick

I've never had trouble being surround by non English speakers in Madrid. Maybe people just didn't want to talk to me

The problem is the OP wants to travel around and that tends to mean either the train or plane. Madrid makes both easier. If hopping around isn't that important I'd also pick some place else. But I think avoiding heat in a Spanish summer is a bit of a challenge not worth the effort. Better to just enjoy the heat.

rialtogrl

Another option is Zaragoza. On the fast train line between Madrid and Barcelona, easy weekend trips to Catalunya, Navarra, the Basque Country and around Aragon, and not so much English is spoken there. It is a beautiful city with a lot going on for kids.

dallaslawrence

thanks so much. The traveling around is not a priority. Getting in a great community where our kids could get deeply immersed in the language is key. We will probably rent a car so we will be fine to drive or a train to explore Spain. Our top priority is a great community where traditional Spanish is the dominant language

mikelg

Well, the Spanish spoken in the Basque Country is absolutely spotless, everybody speaks Spanish. Every region has an accent and that has nothing to do with speaking proper Spanish. The main issue in northen Spain is the weather, it´s not always beach weather but temperatures are fantastic!

Traveler_Nick

Summer for the kids I'd think about one of the beach towns. Plenty of other kids around. Mostly all Spanish families unless you pick one of the expat beach areas.

annhig

<<Well, the Spanish spoken in the Basque Country is absolutely spotless, everybody speaks Spanish. Every region has an accent and that has nothing to do with speaking proper Spanish. The main issue in northen Spain is the weather, it´s not always beach weather but temperatures are fantastic!>>

Thanks for confirming what I thought, mikelg. Â

mjs

I do not speak Spanish but my partner is fluent and basically she heard mostly Spanish spoken during our travels in Basque Country in June. I think San Sebastián would be a nice place to spend a month during the summer. Nice beaches and terrific food. Bordeaux is a 2 hour drive away and the Dordogne 3 hours. Weather cooler than most of Spain in the summer albeit with some rain from time to time. Could even consider a smaller town near by such as Hondarribia