Small-Group Guided Tour of Guggenheim Bilbao, 1.5 Hours, Admission Included

The meeting point is outside, in front of the titanium facade, and the first stretch of this small-group tour stays there. Frank Gehry's building opened in 1997 and is covered in 33,000 thin titanium panels that change color with the light. Underneath is a steel frame that took aerospace engineering tools to build. Admission is skip-the-line, so the group moves from the exterior straight into the galleries.

Two sculptures come before the entrance: Jeff Koons' Puppy, a 12-meter (40-foot) West Highland terrier planted with flowers, and Louise Bourgeois' Maman, a bronze spider made in honor of the artist's mother. Inside, the guide covers the permanent collection and whatever temporary exhibitions are on, with names such as Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Yves Klein, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Cy Twombly in the collection. The longest stop is Richard Serra's The Matter of Time, curved steel sculptures that fill an entire gallery and that visitors walk through.

The tour lasts 1.5 hours. The commentary is built around stories and small details, and it is pitched at people with no art background as well as those who know the field.