Barcelona - Spain's second city - is always on the biting edge of fashion, architecture, food, style, music and good times. Barcelona is one of the most dynamic and exciting cities on the western Mediterranean seaboard. Walk its narrow streets and wonderful plazas and discover its magic: stalls full of books, birds and flowers. Explore its new modern squares, designed by leading artists such as Miró and Barceló and every visitor will understand how Barcelona has been transformed into one of the most moderns and active cities in Europe.

Florence, the capital of Tuscany, is one of Italy's most atmospheric and pleasant, retaining a strong resemblance to the small late-medieval center that contributed so much to the cultural and political development of Europe. Art treasures Michelangelo's David Botticelli's Birth of Venus, and Raphael's La Velata draw millions of visitors every year. Throw into the mix fabulous architecture (the Duomo with Brunelleschi's dome, Giotto's campanile, Santa Croce), fine restaurants and earthy trattorie, plus leading designer boutiques and bustling outdoor markets, and the city of the Renaissance becomes quite simply one of the world's must-see sights.

Chic Geneva, the soul of Switzerland's French speaking territory, is home to some of the world's most luxurious and exclusive stores and extravagant restaurants. Filled with parks and promenades, the city becomes a virtual garden in summer. At the heart of the city is the huge Cathédrale St-Pierre, and some of its top-class museums include Musée d'Art et d'Histoire and an impressive gallery of East Asian art. Last but not least, Geneva is home to dozens of international organizations among them the United Nations European headquarters and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

London just isn't what it used to be. It's better! A blend of old and new, pace and buzz alongside peace and tranquility, and an amazingly diverse cultural scene. The sounds of Brit-pop and techno pour out of Victorian pubs; experimental theater is popping up on stages built for Shakespeare's plays; and Brits are even running the couture houses of Dior and Givenchy. In food, fashion, film, music, the visual arts, and just about everything else, London stands at the cutting edge again, just as it did in the 1960s. But rest assured that traditional London survives.

Montecatini Terme is a heaven for those who love spa treatments. The curative powers of the hot springs and steaming vaporous caverns of the Valdinevole west of Pistoia have been renowned for centuries. Wrapped in mud packs, drinking mineral-laden waters, getting radioactive vapors steamed into your face you will forget all about the stress. The Parco dei Termi, a long park of neoclassical temples expanding over the sources of various underground hot springs is the ideal place for relaxation.

Rome is Italy's treasure, packed with masterpieces from more than two millennia of artistic achievement. Modern Rome has one foot in the past, one in the present. Find a cafe at summer twilight and watch the shades of pink turn to gold and copper before night finally falls. That's when another Rome comes alive; restaurants and cafes grow more animated and after dinner you can have a gelato (or an espresso in winter) or stroll by the fountains or through Piazza Navona, and the night is yours.

With sumptuous palaces and romantic waterways, Venice is straight out of an 18th-century Canaletto masterpiece. No matter how many times you have seen it in movies or TV commercials, the real thing is more surreal and dreamlike than you ever imagined. Its landmarks, the Basilica di San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale are exotic mélanges of Byzantine, Gothic, and Renaissance styles. It is full of secrets, ineffably romantic, and - at times - given over entirely to pleasure. You must walk everywhere in Venice and where you cannot walk, you go by water.