Private Guggenheim Bilbao Tour at Your Chosen Start Time, 1.5 Hours, Rear Staircase

The start time is set by the visitor, which is the main thing that separates this private tour from the fixed-departure ones. The guide meets the party at the museum's rear staircase and leads a 1.5-hour walk through the main exhibition spaces, ending back at the same spot.

Gehry's building, opened in 1997, is the thread of the story: the guide explains how it pulled Bilbao's image away from its industrial past. Along the way the stops include key contemporary works, among them Antonio Saura's Crucifixion and a piece by Yves Klein, and the stories behind Louise Bourgeois' spider Maman and Jeff Koons' Puppy, which has become a symbol of the city.

The sculptures have material to work with. Maman, from 1999, is bronze, marble and stainless steel and stands almost nine meters tall. Puppy, from 1992, is a stainless steel terrier planted with flowers. Behind them is a building that went up between October 1993 and October 1997 on a former port site in a bend of the Nervión, clad in about 33,000 thin titanium sheets.

Because the guide is dedicated to one party, the route and the pace follow the group's interests.