Tapas In Barcelona
THE ULTIMATE BARCELONA TAPAS GUIDE
When you think about eating in Spain, there’s two words that come right up to your mind: paella and tapas. We’ve discussed paella in other posts, so let me share with you how to experience tapas like a pro.
Either you seat down at a tapas restaurant for a full meal, or just have a pair of tapas and a drink (vermouth in the afternoon, please), or hop from bar to bar ordering small bites, the tapas world is fascinating but can be overwhelming for the uninitiated.
LET'S START WITH THE BASICS OF TAPAS
Understand what tapas are about and why sometimes they are free (but in Barcelona most of the times they are not), and why having a drink is a synonym of eating at a particular time of the day.
WHAT SHOULD YOU ORDER?
Start discovering what specialties you need to order depending on your specific needs and what are the must-try dishes that Spaniards rave about. Did you know that a Spanish and a Mexican “tortilla” are two very different things? And that “serrano” ham what we put on kids sandwiches but the real treat is a different type of ham?
WHERE TO FIND THE BEST TAPAS
This is where we share our favorite tapas bars in Barcelona. Most of them are rather sit-down tapas restaurants (because Catalans are lazy when it comes to eating and we want a comfortable relaxed tapas meal). But if you don’t mind eating in a stool at a counter, then having tapas at a market bar will definitely be an experience that you’ll remember for a long time… in a good way!
GREAT PRIVATE TAPAS TOURS
Do you prefer to leave it to the pros? There’s plenty of tapas tour options in town, but most of them aren’t 100% private tours: you are mixed up with other travelers in a small group. Which can be fun… or not. And between you and me, in order to make such a tour profitable the guide can’t let you choose whatever you want from the menu: they need to pre-select their choices before hand so you have your hands tied. There’s little alternatives if you don’t like their choices.
Instead, at ForeverBarcelona we don’t include the food in our tours. You pay for the guide’s time, then the guide will be making suggestions based on your preferences but also making sure you have the opportunity to try new things and get outside of your comfort zone… if you choose to. Isn’t that exciting?
AWESOME PRIVATE CITY TOURS WITH A TAPAS LUNCH STOP
Tapas are a super convenient way to eat lunch on tour. This is why in all our full day city tours we stop for lunch at some great tapas restaurant. And while there’s no hoping from bar to bar like we do in our tapas tours above, there’s always enough variety to make it fun and exciting. Our guests often end up going back to those restaurants because they loved them so much!
I hope this Ultimate Tapas Guide will inspire you to try amazing tapas during your stay in Barcelona!
