Special-Interest Vacations

The Barcelona Information Office (www.barcelonaturisme.com) provides four detailed walks covering different architectural and artistic aspects of the city (Gòtic, Modernisme, Gourmet, and Picasso). They depart from the Plaça Catalunya, last between 1 1/2 and 2 hours, and cost between 9.50€ and 14€ ($12-$18) per adult.

More personal -- and expensive -- walking trips are arranged by My Favorite Things (tel. 637-265-405; www.myft.net). These cover more off-beat and idiosyncratic aspects of Barcelona and cost up to 30€ ($38) per adult.

For food and wine lovers there's Saboroso (tel. 667-770-492; www.saboroso.com), covering gastronomic gourmet tapas tours and visits to top Catalan vineyards such as Priorat and Penedés.

Eco-Tourism

Barcelona is fortunate in being a fairly short distance from the marvelous coastline of the Costa Brava with its pine-fringed sandy coves and national parks of Les Illes Medes (underwater life) and Aiguamoll de L' Alt Empordá near Rosas (birdlife). As an added bonus there's the inland Pyrenean range with its countless mountain trails and parklands. If you don't want to rent a car to get to these areas you can easily make your way there by local train (cercanías) or bus..

You can find eco-friendly travel tips, statistics, and touring companies and associations -- listed by destination under "Travel Choice" -- at the TIES website, www.ecotourism.org. Ecotravel.com is part online magazine and part eco-directory that lets you search for touring companies in several categories (water-based, land-based, spiritually oriented, and so on). Also check out Conservation International (www.conservation.org) -- which, with National Geographic Traveler, annually presents World Legacy Awards (www.wlaward.org) to those tour operators, businesses, organizations, and places that have made a significant contribution to sustainable tourism.