MADRID~TAPAS TOUR ~ Stephen Drake Jones ~ Wellington Society

Ask the hostal/hotel...they will have great suggestioins to vist on your own.

We had a great experience with Carlos of LeTango Tours in Madrid last spring. He will customize his walks to fit your expectations. Our group of 5 did a private tour with him the first night we were in Madrid, and we had a great intro to the city. He took us to a wonderful little tapas place at the end. He's very knowlegable, speaks perfect English, and is just a lot of fun to be with.

We just took RS's book and went for a Tapas crawl on that street he recommends. It's full of locals and we met travelers and locals in all the bars. We had a great time!!! Try the pig ears place. We pigged out there.

I can't comment on that tour, but putting together your own tapas crawl is really easy, free (don't need to pay a guide), and a lot of fun. I don't typically use Rick's restaurant recommendations and go with tripadvisor most of the time, but he has some winners in there for Madrid. Examples: Casa Toni – small, authentic, no English (as far as I could tell), cheap, excellent; Oreja de Oro – for pig's ears; and Museo del Jamón – actually a chain, but they have very cheap tapas and drinks...can't recall exactly, but soda, beer, café con leche are only something like 1€ (maybe 2). I agree that your hotel can recommend some other great places. Don't miss the paella, but be careful not to get it at a fast food type place. They're all over Madrid with ads in front of the restaurant, but their paella is like fast food...inferior. Ask your hotel for a recommendation, and check tripadvisor.

We went with him years ago and he also escorted us on a private tour to Segovia. He was a treat. The tapas tour we did was alot of fun and we ended up with a group from the military. I think they were the FDA group from a military convention in town.
Sue