The architecture & ancient beauty of Barcelona. (Clipart.com)

Q: In October, we will be going on our first Mediterranean cruise. Our cruise will end in Barcelona, Spain. We will have one night in Barcelona on the ship. After disembarking in the morning, we would like to stay one extra night in Barcelona before flying home. Can you suggest any reasonably priced hotels?

-- L. GRIEVE, TORONTO

A: Fall is a wonderful time in Barcelona. The crowds are smaller and the Mediterranean climate will be averaging a blissful 21 C.

The rule of thumb for affordable accommodations is usually to find properties outside the city centre. But recently I checked out an online resource that I highly recommend.

Barcelona Tourism (barcelona turisme.com) has an online accommodations directory that allows you to plug in price preference, date of visit, bed type, etc. When I clicked on the lowest accommodation rate (0-100 Euros), the site returned eight pages of properties to choose from. In addition, the properties listed all have ratings from tripadvisor.com, an online community forum of travellers who offer reviews on properties and attractions.

For example, the three-star Hotel Rialto is located in the heart of Barcelona and gets a three out of five rating with a listing price of 69.53 euros (about $107).

In the Del Born district of Barcelona, easily accessible by public transit and across the street from Parc of Ciutadella, the one-star Hotel Triunfo also gets a three out five rating and has the same listed price -- 69.53 Euros. For more hotel information, consult the travel agent who booked your cruise.

Q: If we fly into Zurich, Switzerland, how close would we be from the Austrian ski region? And is it a place where you can spend a weekend?

-- T. INNAS, WHITBY

A: Austria's ski hub certainly warrants a weekend stay. For expediency sake I would fly into Zurich, not Vienna, as the Austrian capital is 600 km east of its famous ski resort region. If you land in Zurich (about a seven hour flight from Toronto) Lech Zurs in Vorarlberg, Austria, is only a two hour drive away.

Until 1895, Lech -- a Roman word for river -- was a farming village. Then the high-mountain road called the Flexen Pass changed all that. Opened in 1897, the Flexen Pass paved the way for the Ski Club Arlberg (skiclubarlberg.at), which opened to much fanfare in 1901.

On the development side, things in Lech remain pretty much as they have been for the last 100 years -- no big chain stores, no big apartments blocks, pure isolation. Gerhard Walter, director of Lech Zurs Tourism, even boasts that the latest development in his town is the heated chair lifts that arrived in 1995. See vorarlberg.travel.

ILONA@MYCOMPASS.CA