Guggenheim Bilbao Guided Tour Starting Outside Gehry's Building, Tickets Included

This tour starts at the street: the guide meets the group in front of Frank Gehry's building and works inward from there. Tickets are included and there is no queue for them. From the exterior the guide goes into the permanent collection and the temporary exhibitions, stopping at key works of modern and contemporary art to give the stories and cultural context behind them.

The exterior has plenty to look at before anyone goes in. The museum opened in October 1997 after four years of construction, and its curves are covered in about 33,000 thin titanium sheets that change color with the light. Inside, three levels wrap around the Atrium, linked by curved walkways and glass-and-titanium elevators.

It is a fit for first-time visitors who want a professional guide to put the building and the collection in context, without handling tickets themselves.