Ibiza is one of those places you might want a guide for - because after a few hours there, you’ll probably be too wasted to hunt down cool spots on your own. Enter Ibiza Spotlight’s Ibiza Town Bar Guide. The guide is written by a local promoter who’s got the inside dirt on where to go to drink, flirt, drink, dance, drink, flirt… and drink.

One must-do on any European adventure this summer is a stop at Madrid’s Museo del Prado and Museo Reina Sofia for the Picasso exhibit spread between the two venues between now and September 4, 2006. The exhibit marks the 25th anniversary of the return of Pablo Picasso’s famous Guernica painting (pictured) to Spain from New York’s MOMA, an event that signified the country’s triumph over political unrest. Although Picasso completed the painting in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War, he lent it to the New York museum with the understanding that it would be sent home to Spain when citizens were given democratic rights.

The show features over 100 Picasso works spanning all stages of his career, as well as major works from other artists working at the same time period as Picasso. The Museo del Prado showcases the bulk of the work done by other artists, while the Reina Sofia places more emphasis on Guernica and its legacy. Many of the paintings are on loan from other museums. For some, it is the first time in decades that they have appeared anywhere in Europe.

Even if you’re not usually one for fine art, it’s worth a visit, says TravelPoster pjholman in the blog post Madrid: The New York of Spain:

I´m not a huge art fan, but this museum was awesome. It has all the great Cubism and Surrealism works, like Picasso and Dalí, which makes for a sensory overload.

Picasso Exhibit at Prado and Reina Sofia Museums

Summer travelers abroad take note: Many countries in Europe, as well as those on other continents (e.g. Canada and South Africa), offer VAT (value added tax) refunds to travelers who purchase goods within that country. In a nutshell, VAT is included in the cost of goods. When you buy something, you automatically pay VAT. But tourists are often eligible to receive anywhere from 15 to 25 percent back on the purchases they’ve made. The amount you receive depends a) on the amount of VAT levied on goods in that country and b) how much you spend.

A few quick tips for getting easy VAT Refunds:

- Always ask for a VAT Refund receipt or application when you purchase goods (clothing, jewelry, books, wine, etc.). Sometimes, the establishment will stamp your receipt instead of giving you a form, duplicate receipt or application.

- Before you head to the airport for your return flight, collect all your receipts and your purchases. Pack any items you bought in any easy-to-access part of your luggage. Better yet, pack all your puchases in a separate carry-on. You will often have to show customs officials the purchases along with matching receipts to receive refunds at the airport.

- Do not check bags with purchases in them unless you’ve cleared your VAT refund forms with a customs agent.

- If you choose to carry your purchases with you through security, you will be able to find a VAT refund agent inside the airport terminal. Take your receipts and purchases to the agent for a refund.

- If you can’t or don’t want to deal with VAT Refunds at the airport or before your flight, check with a VAT refund agent to obtain the forms you need to handle the process from home. This will often require mailing receipts and waiting several weeks for refunds and credits to your credit card accounts.

- Remember that all countries have different VAT refund policies and not all vendors participate in VAT refund programs.

- In most cases, you cannot reclaim VAT on goods or services you consumed within another country. For example, if you buy two bottles of wine, drink one and bring the other one home, you can probably only reclaim VAT on the latter. Likewise, don’t count on reclaiming VAT on meals, hotel accommodations or tourist activities. That said, some places do offer tourists refunds on services. Canada, for example, does offer 7-15 percent back on hotel accommodations, depending on the province you visit.

If you return home without anything but your receipts, consider using an online service to handle your VAT refunds. Global Refund handles VAT refunds for 36 countries around the world. Business travelers can use services like Tax Back International to claim refunds on everything from advertising costs to general business expenses.

Canada Tax Refunds

Cool shot of Barcelona’s Olympic Park by TravelPoster yvonne.tan. Looks more like a scene that could have been in Blade Runner than a destination for the world’s greatest athletes.

I don’t usually post about content from the New York Times because I figure many people are already reading it on their own, but this past weekend’s Affordable Europe feature is just too good to ignore. It’s a must-read for anyone headed to Europe this summer - a time when prices are up and the cities are packed with everyone from college backpackers to retirees on group tours. The features are broken down by city, and include tips and advice on lodging, dining, recreation and entertainment in cities from Barcelona to Prague, Paris to Venice.

A few nuggets of wisdom I drew from these stories:

- You’ll usually have to ask for your check at restaurants in Italy, France and Spain. It may seem like the staff is ignoring you, but it’s just normal.

- Museum nuts should either buy multi-venue passes for different cities or research the free admission days/hours at city museums before going.

- In Paris, skip the expensive city tour and hop on the No. 69 public bus for 1.40 euro. The bookends of the bus route are the Eiffel Tower and the Pere Lachaise Cemetary. As you ride, you’ll pass the Louvre, the Marais and Place de la Bastille, among other places.

- In Copenhagen, get around with one of the 2,000 free bikes the city provides from April to November. You put a coin in to release the bikes and get the coin back when you return. I shudder to think what would happen if we had this sort of thing going in a major U.S. city.

NYT’s Affordable Europe

Pretty good story from last weekend’s Washington Post about tipping in the U.S. and abroad called Tipping and Travel: It’s No Easy Equation. Sadly, the chart the paper mentions in the story is not available online, but the point of the story is one that will hit home with frequent international travelers: tipping customs vary widely from place to place, and knowing them makes you a kinder traveler when in foreign lands.

The WaPo chart isn’t available online, but the BBC has a good rundown of international tipping customs called International Tipping Ettiquette.

A good Top 10 list from Sherman’s Travel, this round-up of foodie must-visits includes some places that might surprise you. For example, Hanoi and Vancouver made the top 10, along with no-duh places like New York and Rome. Here they are (in alpha order):

Barcelona
Brussels
Hanoi
Las Vegas
Lyon
New York
San Francisco
Rome
Tokyo
Vancouver

To read why each city made the list, click over to Top 10 Cities For Foodies on MSNBC.com.

What are your favorite foodie cities? I’d have to add New Orleans, Bangkok and even London to my list.

The New York Times has a short article about Bandolero Tours, a company in southern Spain that playfully kidnaps willing tourists and then takes them to a “bandit’s lair,” where they hear stories of infamous Spanish bandits while they feast on local cuisine, watch horse shows and flamenco performances. The tours are only given in Spanish.