Immerse yourself in this Mediterranean city as you stroll, shop and visit the markets on La Rambla, the city’s most famous boulevard. Football fan? Then the Camp Nou Experience is a must – you’ll get to tour the pitch, commentary box and visitor’s changing rooms at the stadium. Ride the cable car to the top of Montjuïc for elevated views, hit the sands of one of the seven beaches or go beyond the city limits to Montserrat, a monastery atop a hill with a boys’ choir singing mass every day.

Barcelona has a world –class drinking and dining scene where the emphasis is placed on using simple ingredients packed full of flavour and showcasing Catalan cuisine. Do as the locals do and buy bread, cheese and a bottle of wine and head to the park for a picnic and taste your way round the city’s tapas bars. Many places will have a ‘menu del dia’ at lunchtime that’s inexpensive and sure to tide you over until dinner – restaurants often don’t open until 8.30PM!

Come to Barcelona and in no time at all you see the mark that Spanish architect, Antoni Gaudí left on the city from his family un-finished cathedral, the Sagrada Familia and Casa Batlló, an apartment block remodelled by Gaudí in 1900 to Park Güell with its colourful tiled bench. But the city has so much more to discover: see one of the most extensive collections of work by Picasso at the Museu Picasso or visit Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya for a sense of the region’s history and art.