276 Best Restaurants in Spain

Top-notch coffee and homemade pastries and cakes make this organic café a particularly bustling spot at breakfast. For lunch or a casual dinner, there's a long list of focaccia sandwiches, as well as excellent quiches, pizza served by the slice, and Italian-inspired salads.

An Alicante institution, this inviting exposed-brick and wood-lined restaurant is very popular with locals, who come for the excellent-value tapas, market produce, and freshly caught fish, a tribute to the city’s enduring relationship with the sea.

Attached to the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, this small restaurant offers a range of Mediterranean dishes and sushi best enjoyed on the riverside terrace. Sharing plates include hummus or Vietnamese rolls with Málaga kid goat; highlights on the main menu are carrillada ibérica (stewed Iberian pork), tuna steak, and a long list of sushi. The terrace is also great for summer evening cocktails.

The interior may look a bit bare, but whatever this fish restaurant lacks in warmth it makes up for with the food. It serves simple but high-quality dishes like grilled mullet, dorado baked in salt, prawns with garlic, and monkfish in saffron sauce. The tapas bar, which is more popular with locals than the dining room, offers classic dishes (from €2.50) like migas (fried bread crumbs), beans with jamón serrano (dry-cured Spanish ham), and tortilla del Sacromonte (tortilla with lamb testicles and brains, as traditionally prepared by the Sacromonte Gypsies). Service is friendly.

The Moroccan tapas at this small and bustling venue make a pleasant change from the traditional local fare. Tagine, couscous, and kefta are all menu staples. You’ll find a selection of Middle Eastern dishes as well, also available in vegetarian versions. Choose your complimentary tapa with your first drink and then go for more tapas (from €2) or sharing plates. The plato de degustación (selection of tapas) gives a good overview of the house best.

Catalan chef Oriol Balaguer takes chocolates and croissants to new heights at this ritzy bombonería, whose attractive treats make phenomenal gifts—or afternoon pick-me-ups.

Sunlight streams through the windows of this fashionable corner coffee spot, stuffed with plants, which offers cakes, cookies and vegan pastries, plus tempting nonedibles, such as design magazines and ceramics made in a little first-floor studio.

The name, a pun on para comer algo ("to eat something" with an Andalusian accent), may be only marginally amusing, but the tapas here are no joke, from the classical calamares fritos to the pimientos de Padrón (green peppers, some fiery, from the Galician town of Padrón). Whether at a table, at the counter, or in the private dining room upstairs, this modern space does traditional tapas that reliably hit the spot.

Located on the west side of town, about a 10-minute walk from the center, this modern restaurant specializes in rice dishes; there are 13 on the menu, including the signature baked rice with pork and the squid rice with prawns and chickpeas. Fideuá (similar to paella but made with noodles instead of rice) also features on the menu. There's a good choice of sharing plates of croquettes, cold cuts, and seafood, as well as innovative salads. Sit inside in the elegant dining room or outside on the shady terrace on the plaza. 

Located next to the cathedral, this is one of the best restaurants in town, known for its barbecue and roasted dishes. If you’re not too hungry, enjoy tapas in the bar. For a full meal, move into the formal restaurant or, better still, when it’s warm enough, outside on the pleasant terrace.

Along with traditional pistachio and chocolate gelato, this artisan gelateria creates some truly out-there flavors, like mandarin and jasmine or brioche with toasted butter, as well as seasonal specialties like Panettone. There's also a wide variety of vegan sorbets.

Sweet and savory treats come into their own at this family-owned business in the city center. Top of the specialty list are piononos (sponge bites filled with caramel and custard) and pastela (Moroccan chicken pie). Eat in with a drink at the bar or in the small cafeteria space, or take out to feast on in one of the nearby squares.

The Madrid outpost of a legendary Vitoria-Gasteiz pintxo bar, Perretxico is known for its cocido doughnut—cocido being Spain's famous boiled dinner of chickpeas, various meats, and sausages. These are blended into a paste, stuffed inside a doughnut, and served alongside a demitasse of umami-packed bone broth for dunking, a wink to the classic doughnut-coffee combo.

One of the best Spanish omelets in town (this one has caramelized onions and aioli on the side), prime Spanish meat (you cook your own on sizzling stone slabs), and a good choice of vegetarian options make this small venue worth seeking out. There’s also a range of organic dishes, including local cheeses and wines. Inside, original beams and wine-lined walls make for a relaxing atmosphere, while the tiny outdoor terrace makes a great spot for a little something and a slice of that omelet.

This bar and restaurant, just off Plaza Nueva, is in a 17th-century palace with a stunning patio (complete with original marble columns) and peaceful garden. The menu emphasizes meat dishes such as chuletas de cordero (lamb chops) and the house specialty, braised rabo de toro and giant croquettes known as croquetón. Eat in the lovely downstairs patio or in the elegant restaurant upstairs.

This coffee shop with exposed-brick walls is an adorable breakfast nook worth seeking out for its single-origin brews and well-priced plant-based brunches.

Get your brunch fix here with killer homemade pastries, eggs Benedict, and single-origin coffees. 

The secret is out about this tiny, century-plus-old tapas bar, which has become so overrun with visitors in recent years that locals have mostly started steering clear. Nevertheless, it's an atmospheric place, and the innovative tapas—largely made using conservas (foods from cans or jars) and served as bite-size open-sandwiches called montaditos—are well worth the visit. You can’t reserve a table, so arrive early (around noon or at 6 pm when it reopens) to snag a spot.

After browsing the art collection at the Lázaro Galdiano, walk north a block to reach this charming café suited to both working and schmoozing. There are sandwiches, chia bowls, smoothies, and pastries on the menu, in addition to teas and the usual coffee drinks. The handful of wooden tables fill up fast at brunch on weekends.

Local cooking meets Moroccan cuisine in one of the best fusion menus in the province at this venue with small dining spaces and an Arabian theme. White prawns, tuna croquettes (fig and goat cheese salad), and wild boar with quince sit perfectly next to pastela (game pie), lamb tajine, and chicken dishes. Make your dessert Moroccan with mint tea and traditional sweets. 

As the name suggests, this cozy restaurant offers art in cooking, and its take on typical local dishes is one of the best in Málaga province. The menu is seasonal with an emphasis on local produce; it might include a selection of porras (thick, cold soup) and choto malagueño (kid goat in spicy sauce). Don't miss the delicious desserts, including the local bienmesabe (made from honey, egg yolks, and almonds, it translates to "it tastes good to me"). Next door Arte de Tapas does excellent, inexpensive tapas.

Tucked into the elbow of a narrow street near the main church square, this restaurant serves up superb local dishes, including alcachofas salteadas con jamón y langostinos (braised artichokes with ham and shrimps), tartar de salchichón de Málaga (cured sausage), and berenjenas con miel (eggplant with sugar cane syrup). The three-course daily menu with a half bottle of wine (€19.50) offers a wide range of choices. The interior is warm and rustic, with lots of dark wood and beamed ceilings. The tapas bar comes with a tempting display of light bites (from €4), and the wine selection is well conceived and extensive.

Tucked away in the far corner of Placeta de Manuel Ribé, Barcelona’s award-winning coffee roaster has opened its very own cafe. Floor-to-ceiling windows create an open, airy atmosphere that draws coffee-lovers through its doors. Roasts rotate monthly. 

Not your average ice-cream parlor, this theatrical to-go spot is the brainchild of master confectioner Jordi Roca, of El Celler de Can Roca fame. Exquisite helados, fanciful toppings, and popsicles in the shape of Girona's famous climbing bear are just some of the treats you'll find here. Expect long lines.

An attractive wood-and-stone cider-house replica, Sagardi piles the counter with a dazzling variety of cold Basque-style pintxos served on toothpicks; even better, though, are the hot offerings from the kitchen. The restaurant in back serves Basque delicacies like codfish omelets and txuletas de buey (beef steaks) grilled over coals. The other Sagardi branch at Carrer Muntaner 70–72 is equally good. The outdoor patio gets hectic in the high season but is quite lovely if you can find an empty spot.

This ultra-trendy butcher-shop-themed restaurant spurred the revival of Calle de Ponzano as Madrid's most exciting tapas street. Feast on eye-catching, impeccably prepared market-driven dishes like carpaccio-truffle roll-ups and grilled octopus slathered in chimichurri. Should this location be packed to the gills, make a beeline for sister restaurant SDD2 tucked behind the Gran Vía thoroughfare (Calle de la Virgen de los Peligros 8).

Locals know that this nondescript salón de juegos (literally "gambling hall") slings some of the city's best potato omelets, flipped nonstop from 8 am to midnight. The basic potato-and-onion rendition, gloriously gooey in the center, will set you back just a couple euros; more deluxe versions (with crab, jamón ibérico, etc.) are a tad pricier. Minors are not allowed entry, but the staff will happily wrap food to go.

Nearly a secret, this quintessential Basque spot has big wooden tables and a monumental bar filled with cazuelitas (small earthenware dishes) and tapas of all kinds. It is in the center of town but tucked away downstairs.

Right on Sarrià’s main square, this popular, informal eatery serves an eclectic menu of tapas and main dishes, from cocas (Catalan-style focaccia) with Ibérico ham and brie to hummus, quesadillas, and hamburgers piled high with four cheeses, all in generous, affordable portions. Weather permitting, grab a table out on the Plaça, in full view of the village’s 10th-century church. 

This restaurant has a loyal following among locals and visitors with its stunning location—the terrace has far-reaching views over the village and to the Strait of Gibraltar (don’t miss the griffon vultures soaring the thermals above you)—and delicious food. Local produce takes center stage, and you can try Casares cheese, suckling goat, and lamb as well as locally sourced tropical fruits and fresh fish from the coast. Highlights on the menu include croquetas de pringá con infusion de hierbabuena (meat croquettes infused with mint), paletilla de chivo (leg of kid goat), and ensalada de remolacha asada y queso de oveja (baked beet salad with cheese).