Tour Options in Barcelona

Boat Tours

Golondrina harbor boats make short trips around the harbor from the Portal de la Pau, near the Columbus Monument. The fare is EUR 5 for a 40-minute tour. The 90-minute ride in a glass-bottom catamaran that parallels the coast up past Barcelona's Olympic Port to the Fòrum complex at the northeastern end of the Diagonal costs EUR 12. For an interesting amphibian loop, get off at the Fòrum and take the grassy tramway line back for a look at the Diagonal Mar neighborhood and Barcelona's new architecture from the low triangular Fòrum building itself, past the Oscar Tusquets-designed Hotel Princess, Jean Nouvel's Torre Agbar, Ricardo Bofill's Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, the Diposit de les Aigues, to the Ciutadella-Vila Olímpica tram and metro stop behind the zoo.

Depending on the weather, the catamarans leave every hour on the half hour 11:30-5:30 (until 6:30 from Holy Week through September). Regular Golondrina departures are spring and summer (Holy Week-September), daily 11-7; fall and winter, weekends and holidays only, 11-5. It's closed mid-December-early January.

Contact

Golondrina (93/442-3106. www.lasgolondrinas.com).

Bus Tours

From mid-June to mid-October, the Bus Turistic (9:30-7:30 every 30 minutes) runs on a circuit that passes all the important sights. A day's ticket, which you can buy on the bus, costs EUR 9 (EUR 6 half day) and also covers the fare for the Tramvía Blau, funicular, and Montjuïc cable car across the port. The ride starts at the Plaça de Catalunya. Julià Tours and Pullmantur run day and half-day excursions outside the city. The most popular trips are those to Montserrat and the Costa Brava resorts, the latter including a cruise to the Medes Isles.

Contacts

Bus Turistic (93/285-3834. www.tmb.net). Julià Tours (93/317-6454). Pullmantur (93/318-5195).

Walking Tours

The Barcelona Tourist Office (Turisme de Barcelona) hass weekend walking tours of the Gothic Quarter (at 10 AM) for EUR 11. Ruta Gourmet tours take walkers through emblematic points of the city's gastronomic life, with tastings, for EUR 15. The Aula Gastronómica del Mercat de la Boqueria (Cooking Lessons at the Boqueria Market) includes tours of the market with breakfast, cooking classes, and tastings, but they're not in English. Urbancultours has English-language walking tours covering the medieval Jewish quarter and other sights. For Thursday afternoon boat tours of the harbor and the fishermen's quarter (EUR 11), and visits to the daily fish auction (EUR 8), reserve with Consorci El Far de Barcelona.

Contacts

Aula Gastronómica del Mercat de la Boqueria (93/304-0272. www.barcelonaculinaria.com). Consorci El Far de Barcelona (93/217-7457. www.elfar.diba.es). Ruta Gourmet (93/285-3832. www.atrapalo.com). Turisme de Barcelona (93/285-3832. www.barcelonaturisme.com). Urbancultours (93/417-1191).