One of the best ways to see Barcelona, or any city in Spain, is to go on a guided tour. Barcelona has a rich history and culture, and a tour guide can help give a dimension and depth to your understanding of the sites that you can’t glean from the brochures or even the website. After all, many of these tour guides have spent years studying those attractions. They are in one of the best positions to really explain each feature and answer your many questions about it.

Many travel agencies can arrange for a tour to be part of the travel package. You will save money and do away with the inconvenience of having to look for a guide at the last minute. These tours are also included in a very convenient itinerary so you really get to see as much as you can during your stay in Barcelona. There are one-day tours, three-day tours and the more extensive week-long tours. Many of these packages will include a visit to the more popular restaurants, so that even your lunch break can become an exploration of the city’s culture— culinary culture, that is.

There are tours that focus on the arts and architecture, for people who want to see the evolution of the country’s buildings, and be given (in the process) a small taste of the evolution of art history as well. These guides can show how certain features in a building were the mark of a particular ethnic group, or how this or that architect left his own style on the design. Art enthusiasts will also appreciate how the tour guide shows the effects of historical periods like Baroque, Renaissance, and other major art movements.

Food lovers will enjoy wine tasting tours. These are an introduction to the wines of Spain, and will give a description of the regions where the wines are made.

One can also arrange for Barcelona to be part of a larger bike tour of Spain. You can pass through the city while seeing other parts, including the countryside. You can also take a chauffer driven tour, if you’d rather travel in comfort.