With kids, it depends on the day.
Read it as two things layered on one grid. First, Ildefons Cerdà's 1860s plan itself — the chamfered octagonal corners ('xamfrans') were a public-health idea, light and air and sightlines engineered into the city, and walking it you feel that deliberate openness. Second, it's where the Modernista money landed: the Block of Discord, Casa Batlló, La Pedrera and Sant Pau all sit here, and the rainbow-flagged 'Gaixample' around Carrer de Casanova is the centre of the city's LGBTQ+ nightlife. The catch: it's vast and can read as repetitive, traffic-heavy block after block, and the marquee sights here are the expensive ones — so treat it as orientation and a walking canvas, not a single 'fit'.