i think it depends a lot on your cats. i've tried the squirt bottle thing, but my cats are bold and fearless and consider the water a fair price to pay. i've tried tape. that helped a little, but then you have tape all over your tables and that prevents you from using it just as much as it prevents the cats. and then they got brave and started ignoring it. my aunt seems to be able to train her cats easily, and thinks i must be doing something horribly wrong. i think it just depends on the cats.
most of the methods of keeping cats off things, also keep you from using them/make your house look bad. so i've settled for not putting things out that i think the cats might like. they have free rein of my tables and counters, but as long as there's nothing interesting on them, they dont care all that much. they do sit on my coffee table, but i can deal with that.