Food tours in Barcelona and Madrid?

We took the Food Lover Tour in Barcelona in 2024 and were very pleased. It was a small group of friendly people and the guide was excellent at both explaining what we were eating, where we were going and why as well as making sure the group mingled. In the end he even walked a group of us back to the metro to make sure we didn’t get lost. I had considered another company but couldn’t get it on the date we were available.

Thanks Patty! Very helpful!

I just found the first Barcelona tour I investigated - it was The Barcelona Taste. I’m pretty sure I got the recommendations for both off this forum. The Barcelona Taste wasn’t running tours the day we had available.

We had set up 3 food tours with Eating Europe last Oct. including Barcelona and Madrid. Unfortunately they cancelled two of the three tours we booked. One pretty last minute. They offered other dates but we didn’t have other days. The one that did take place was in Madrid.
It was very good.
After our Eating Europe tour was cancelled in Barcelona we were able to set one up with Devour tours. It was a good tour.
We enjoy a food tour and try to book them in each city.

Thanks SA and thanks again Patty!

Everyone travels the way they want; let’s be clear about that.

That said, food tours in heavily visited cities like Barcelona tend to be very, very tourist-oriented, if you know what I mean. They’re often quite far from the everyday food culture you’d actually find in a Barcelonan’s routine, and we do like food, trust me!

Unfortunately, many of the tapas stops on these tours lean toward “exotic” or stylised versions, usually adapted to international tastes rather than grounded in proper Catalan cuisine, which is the real local thing. A lot of show and fanfare, not always backed up by quality or true essence.

Is that an option? Of course it is. If you’re after a fun, curated experience, it can work perfectly.

But if what you really want is to taste genuine local cuisine, the kinds of tapas bars you’re looking for are usually not the ones featured on food tours. Many are the more low-key, neighbourhood places where locals actually go.

DYIng: where to go then?

Literally, there are dozens and dozens of options for every taste and budget. Some you simply stumble upon while strolling the city, others pop up here and there in local guides: the food sections of local newspapers and blogs by homegrown food lovers, whether born and bred in Barcelona or adopted by the city.

One such example of blogs written by long-term foreign residents who truly understand Barcelona’s culinary traditions is https://barcelonafoodexperience.com by Maria (from Finland), nearly 20 years Barcelonan!

Publications like Time Out Barcelona https://www.timeout.com/barcelona are also useful references. In fact, it’s one of the sources many locals rely on to find new places, as it tends to stay pretty faithful to the real spirit of our food and our places to hang out.

#BarcelonaFood #CatalanCuisine #EatLikeALocal #LocalNotTourist #TapasDoneRight #NoTouristTraps #BarcelonaTips #FoodieBarcelona #TasteBarcelona #CatalunyaFood #SlowFoodBarcelona

Eric,

Really appreciate your thoughts as we would usually go off from the tourist area and seek out more local flavor…..that’s how we usually travel. Your advice and suggestions are right on target and ones that we will heed! Again, thanks!

I have run tapas tours in Madrid for the last 25 years and I agree with Enric: Many tapas tours will take you to touristy-oriented, cheap bars. but watch out!, not all of us in the industry are the same!

I love taking food tours all over the world but try to find operators that focus on lesser known areas of the place we’re visiting, non touristy neighborhoods etc. Ive had my eye on this company and welcome thoughts from travelers who’ve directly experienced their tours. https://culinarybackstreets.com/city-guides/madrid.

A good food tour in my experience delves into culinary history, contemporary issues around “classic dishes” and food ways and puts what you’re tasting or eating in context. We’ve had wonderful experience talking to restaurant operators whose families have been operating their restaurant for generations, street food vendors who have entire extended families supporting their operation, and producers who are working to preserve traditional practices. That’s a different experience than reading food blogs, “influencers”, and following local recommendations which also can be helpful in getting ideas of foods to try and places to visit.

I’ve taken 4 tours with Culinary Backstreets (Lisbon, Marseille, Tokyo, and Osaka) and am planning to take one or two of their tours when I visit Athens this fall. The tours I have taken with them have always been away from the main tourist drag and they have all been excellent. They are definitely for people with a strong interest in local food and food culture so they might not appeal to everyone. They offer several tours in Barcelona and one in Madrid. You might check them out to see if they sound interesting.

@OldMadridTapasTour

but watch out!, not all of us in the industry are the same!

Of course, like in any industry, there are those who approach things with real professionalism and stay true to the spirit. Yet, let's be honest, when it's related to tourism, those are in the minority ;)

Thank you all for your suggestions and advice! So very much appreciated!