Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya is one of Spain's great museums housing medieval, 19th and 20th century art from Catalonia. Housed in the impressive Palau Nacional at the foot of Montjuic, its Romanesque collection is reckoned to be the world's finest. There are several frescoes and Gothic works on the lives and deaths of saints - some are not for the fainthearted. It's also noted for its Modernista collection.

In the same area as the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya is Caixa Forum. Originally a factory built in the Art-Nouveau style, it has become one of Barcelona's most lively cultural centres with exhibitions devoted to artists such as Dal, Rodin, Freud, Turner, Fragonard, Hogarth and Cartier-Bresson. It also hosts concerts, lectures and literary events.

The CosmoCaixa science museum lifted the European Museum of the Year Award in 2006 and is packed with fascinating displays for children and adults, all designed to make science interesting and comprehensible. There's fun to be had with interactive exhibits, particularly the Flooded Forest, an incredible recreation of a section of Amazonian rainforest, complete with frogs, turtles, snakes, fish and a steamy heat that is spookily realistic.

Artists who have lived and worked in Barcelona are now celebrated with their own museums, notably Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro and Antoni Tapies. The Museu Picasso is the number one Barcelona museum for his fans. Picasso arrived in Barcelona in 1894 when he was 14 and lived here until he was 23. He studied at the city's art college where his father was a tutor. The museum includes much of his early work housed in five medieval palaces in the Barri Gotic.

Take the funicular up Montjuic and you soon find yourself outside the Fundacio Joan Miro, a splendid purpose-built museum dedicated to the artist. Mir experimented with painting, sculpture, printing, ceramics, theatre and tapestry. Bemused visitors can learn about 'drippism' and the more sceptical may wonder in one gallery if some paintings are simply cracks in the wall. Do step outside where many of Miro's amusing sculptures are on view.

The Fundacio Antoni Tapies is in Eixample in a Domenech, a Montaner-designed building featuring a sculpture on the roof. Tapies was born in Barcelona in 1923 and is probably the greatest Spanish artist to emerge since the 1950s. Tpies started as a surrealist painter but soon become an abstract expressionist, working in a style known as "Arte Povera". In 1953 he began working in mixed media and was one of the first to create serious art in this way, adding clay and marble dust to his paint and incorporating waste paper, string, and rags in his works.

Keeping to contemporary art, the Barcelona Contemporary Art Museum (MACBA) can be found near the northern end of the Ramblas. MACBA focuses on art from 1945, with many temporary exhibitions. The huge, white building, designed by the American Richard Meier opened in 1995. While most museums in the city close on Mondays, MACBA is closed Tuesdays

There are several museums celebrating the history of the city and of Catalonia. The Museu d'Historia de la Ciutat is in the heart of the Barri Gotic. Its collection covers the city's history from Roman times in a beautiful old mansion with central courtyard, the casa Clariana-Padellas. There is a fascinating underground tour along Roman roads, houses, bathrooms, sewers and the old city walls. You can also trace the evolution of Barcelona through plans, sketches and models.

The nearby Capella de Santa Agata offers views of the Barri Gotic from the Torre del Rey Marti while the neighbouring Museu Frederic Mares, just behind the Cathedral, has a massive collection of medieval sculpture housed in an ancient palace with large courtyards and soaring ceilings.

We finish this brief tour down by the port with two intriguing exhibitions. The Maritime Museum is housed in the Drassanes, the medieval shipyards at the seaward end of the Ramblas. Barcelona was one of the great maritime powers trading across the whole Mediterranean basin. There is a copy of a 16th century Royal Galley, old maps, charts and even a virtual dive in a submarine.

In the newly renovated port area of Port Vell is the Museu d'Historia de Catalunya. This excellent museum is in a converted warehouse and it covers Catalan history. The imaginative exhibits include The Birth of a Nation; Our Sea; On the Edge of the Empire; A Steam-powered Nation; The Electric Years; and Defeat and Recovery.

Much of this will be new to visitors from outside Catalonia, so when you step back outside, you will fully appreciate why Barcelona is one of the great cities of Europe.

The first place to stop for a day of museum perusing is Balboa Park where you will find over 15 great museums all in one place. Besides the extensive list of great museums, Balboa Park has over 1400 acres of beautiful gardens and historical buildings so simply walking the park is like visiting a large real life museum, but you will want to step inside these must see museums on your trip to Balboa Park:

Museum of San Diego History: where you will learn the history of San Diego through photographs and cultural artifacts dating back to the 1840s.

San Diego Automotive Museum: where you can stole through several car exhibits that showcase the history of automotive progression.

San Diego Museum of Man: where you can explore the anthropology of mankind with artifacts, folklore, and human remains that tell the story of man.

San Diego Museum of Art: where you can browse the vast collections of fine and contemporary art from Renaissance, Asian, to nineteenth century European painting and sculptures, just to name a few.

If you venture outside of Balboa Park, which I hope you do, you can find a number of other worthy museums in San Digeo. Here are some others you wont want to miss while in town:

Childrens Museum San Diego: where the kids can explore the arts in interactive creative fun zones.

San Diego Chinese Historical Museum: where you will learn about the heritage of Chinese culture through a showcase of artifacts and photos in a building that was once a Chinese mission.

San Diego Aircraft Carrier Museum: where you can track the story of the Navys Midway with over 40 exhibits featuring 21 completely restored aircrafts.

San Diego Maritime Museum: where you will learn the history of US naval advancement and also board and explore real anchored ships.

San Diego is home to many great museums that are all worth seeing for their own reasons, but I hope this narrowed down list gets you started learning and exploring what San Diego entertainment has to offer for museums.

Attractions range from Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum to the lofty British Museum, home of the famed Egyptian Hall and some amazing European sculptors. For a more personal glimpse into the past, a visitor could try the Florence Nightingale Museum, Freud Museum, Sherlock Holmes Museum, or Jack the Ripper Walk, which traces the killer's deadly footsteps. The Victoria and Albert Museum is the jewel of the South Kensington area, which hosts a number of attractions and fine hotels. History buffs will treasure the National Army Museum, National Maritime Museum, and Natural History Museum.

If you like spooky old prisons, you've got the Clink Prison Museum, the Tower of London, and the London Dungeon to explore. The art connoisseur will certainly appreciate the Tate Britain Gallery, Tate Modern Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and the National Gallery. The Design Museum, Clockmaker's Museum, London Toy and Model Museum, and Bramah Museum of Tea and Coffee cater to specialized tastes.

Whatever your preference, there's a first-class London hotel within easy walking distance and numerous tube stations to get a visitor to more distant locations. New booking sites on the Internet allow you to search for a London hotel by neighborhood and proximity to various attractions. A helpful website offers maps, tube station locations, photos, and sightseeing tips to make the most of a trip to London without scouring guidebooks for information. Prices and rankings are important criteria, too, but there's nothing like the convenience of choosing a hotel by location. Your lodging is important, because it becomes a sanctuary for dinner and respite after a long day of exploring the past. In fact, many London hotels are virtual museums all by themselves, offering a glimpse into Victorian and Elizabethan England.

Don't stay too long in that lovely hotel room, because London nightlife beckons. Combine a trip to the West End theater district with a stop at the Theatre Museum near Covent Garden. The possibilities are endless, but your stay in London isn't. So choose a London hotel that allows you to make the most of your time, and keep track of the places you don't visit for your return trip.