Some people have become a little snooty about Barcelona of late. They complain that too many tourists go there, and that – worse, still – they’re the wrong kind of tourist. You know the sort – they fly on easyJet, and, shock, horror, seem to be quite happy being taken around on guided tours. Oh, and if they're British, they'll probably get obnoxiously drunk.

But then, Barcelona is one of those cities to which people tend to want to lay personal claim – it’s big enough to offer all the usual metropolitan delights, but small enough to discover for yourself. And when you have found a little corner that you consider your own, it can be a touch annoying to find those sweaty hordes descending upon it with no respect for the fact that you were there first. There’s no escaping the fact that Barcelona has stepped up into the first rank of great European cities; this rise in tourist numbers is no mere blip – they’re here to stay, so we’d all better get used to it.

The growth in Barcelona’s popularity in the last decade or so is partly due to the overwhelming success of the 1992 Olympic Games, and the renovation of the city. But just as important is that Barcelona has its own way of doing things – far cooler than its big sister, Madrid (which all good Catalans will tell you is a very provincial place, despite being the capital city), it has some of the best clubs and bars in Europe and some wild architecture from its favourite son Antoni Gaudí. It also has a more liberal, progressive outlook than many Spanish cities, partly a legacy of its past as the home of the Spanish left during the civil war.

Add some fine food, of the traditional Spanish kind (particularly the seafood in Barceloneta), and the ultra-modern variety (it is home to the kind of designer, scientific food that Ferran Adrià kicked off at his landmark El Bulli restaurant), and you really do have the ideal city. Which is why the crowds keep on coming.