Walking along the streets of Barcelona and taking in the sights is one of the best ways to explore this idyllic city. Alternatively, tourists can also take a boat ride to gain another unique experience of the city.

While tourists can purchase a map and arrange their own walking tours, they run the risk of getting lost and losing time trying to find their way around. The better option, therefore, is to take the services of walking tour companies, which hire qualified tour guides who can not only direct tourists through the city, but can also provide valuable information regarding its history and architecture. A few of the excellent walking tour companies in Barcelona are Viator Tours, Barcelona Tourist Authority, Antoni Gaudi foot Tours and Walking Planet.

No tourist can take in the entire city in just one tour by foot, owing to which walking tour companies have devised different types of tours based on area, attractions of the city and themes. There are, sightseeing walking tours, tours to specific areas of the city and tours designed on specific themes such as food walking tours, wine tasting tours and photo tours by foot. Tourists are even free to consult a walking tour company and design a walking tour to suit their tastes, budget, interests and requirements.

Taking boat tours is one of the most romantic ways of viewing the city’s attractions. Usually, boats depart from Portal de la Pau in summer, and adventurous visitors can purchase a one-way ticket and walk the 4 kilometre distance back instead of returning by boat.

Barcelona has several boat tour companies that offer different tours via types of boats such as speedboats, catamarans, motor boats and others on hire. Tourists can rent any boat they are comfortable with and enjoy a boat ride on their own, which will give them an opportunity to experience the city of Barcelona in a unique manner.

Alternatively, visitors can sign up for a luxury boating cruise featuring dinner, musical shows, parties and entrainment. Many boat tour companies offer boat tour services in Barcelona and tourists should make it a point to find out whether the boating service can really give them what they want before purchasing a ticket for a boating tour. For instance, Les Golondrines arranges long and short boating trips and one of its special features is the availability of catamarans with an under-the-water view.

London is the capital of both England and the United Kingdom. It’s one of the world’s most popular cities and thousands of visitors enjoy the delights it has to offer every single day of the week. Many tourists opt for taking an open top bus tour of the city, which offers the advantage of being able to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time. But although you will see many of the main tourist attractions by taking one of these tours, you will miss a lot of the detail. It’s this fact that makes the alternative extremely popular – and that’s a walking tour.

Walking tours are also ideal if you are after something a little bit different, as they generally cover areas that are off the beaten track. Instead of seeing places like Buckingham Palace, you might end up seeing some rather unsavoury places around the area of Whitechapel, for example, if you take the world famous Jack the Ripper tour.

Another popular series of walks are the ghost walks, which take in various areas of London and show you a side of the city that cannot be seen by daylight. Perhaps you too will see a ghost while taking part in one of these walks?

The best way to make the most of these walks is to book onto more than one tour where you’ll be able to cover a lot of ground, but if you don’t fancy taking part in a pre-made London tour, then seeing the city on foot can also be done alone, as it is very hard to get lost in London, even if you don’t have a map. Everything is well signposted and if you are in any doubt you can follow the signs to the nearest Underground station and find directions from there. You will also enjoy the burst of exercise and the unique point of view it gives you. It’s much better to enjoy a breath of fresh air than to be packed tightly into a Tube train for any length of time.

You might think that if you are going to walk around London you will need a lot of time to be able to make the most of it. This isn’t necessarily the case however – you can simply choose a specific area you have an interest in and explore the local streets and sights without venturing too far afield.

Walking also allows you to go at your own pace. You don’t have to catch buses at certain times, or wait for Tube trains that are running late. You can simply wander around and stop whenever the fancy takes you – to sample the delights of a traditional London pub perhaps?

Taking the opportunity to walk around London is arguably the best way to see this fantastic city, while there are plenty of hotels in London that you can stay in if you really want to make an occasion of it and stay overnight.