Can anyone suggest a local private tour guide in Barcelona?

Hi, <BR>My parents and I were in Barcelona a few months ago and we had a private tour guide named Debbie take us around the city. She was great. She knew so much about the city, it's history, places to visit and restaurants to eat at. She was so much fun and we had the best time with her. I recommend that you contact her. Her e-mail address is [email protected]. <BR>spyngu

I spent a day with her although I found her to be nice, she was not very knowledgable. When looking for a guide, you need to be specific about your expectations. Find out how long the person has been living in the city, language skills, and why they are qualified to be a guide.

We spent most of March on a group tour in Spain with a guide whose name is Dolors (Lola) Cirera. When she's not working with Grand Circle Travel she does free-lance guiding. She's excellent -- a great deal of information about Spain (and Barcelona in particular) and is very personable. She can be contacted by mail at Ignasi Iglesias, 149, 2, 1; 08030 Barcelona, Spain. An alternative is to reach her using her sister's e-mail address: [email protected]. <BR> <BR>We spent three days in Barcelona prior to joining our group and managed quite well on our own. Barcelona has a "BusTouristic" which permits one to follow two different routes, getting on and off at points of interest. With their guidebook which provides general descriptions (in several languages) it's easy to judge whether or not a specific site is worth getting off the bus for and boarding another somewhat later. (Buses run at about a 20-minute interval.) <BR> <BR>Further information is available from: www.barcelonaturisme.com. <BR> <BR>Feel free to contact me using my e-mail address if you'd like more detailed information. Happy travels!

I don't know about "disappointed"'s experience with Debbie, but I can say that we had a great experience with her. We were in Barcelona a few weeks ago and we found her to be VERY knowledgeable about the sites, the history, the culture, the people, the restaurants, the shopping and the language. I'm sorry "disappointed" did not have a good experience with Debbie. I've seen her name with excellent reviews on other travel boards, and I will say, without reservation, that anyone needing a tour guide for Barcelona should contact Debbie at [email protected].

After reading these discussions of a private tour guide for Barcelona, I decided that I was interested, but was a bit concerned because of what 'disappointed' had to say about Debbie ([email protected]). As a result, we emailed Debbie with questions and what we might do on a private tour in Barcelona. We then phoned her from the States for a more interactive discussion. We were impressed by the emailing and phone conversations and booked time with her for March, 2002. We just got back from Spain and the highlight of our trip was Barcelona and the surrounding area. Debbie provided an excellent city tour and then we went to Mount Serrat, a winery, Girona and the Dali Museum (outside of Barcelona). In all of these, Debbie proved to do a truly outsanding job of provide a private tour - more tailored than a large group tour bus and with much more information. At the same time, she was very friendly and really looked out to make sure that we were having a good time and seeing and learning what we wanted. While my wife says that I am overly critical, I really found nothing in the job that debbie did that I would criticize - and a great deal to appreciate. I certainly would recommend her tours to everyone. (from my experience, she gets pretty booked up so you need to schedule as early as possible - she usually responded to me within 24 hours.

Mike, can you give idea on prices or anyone?