47 Best Restaurants in Spain

One of the world's great culinary meccas, award-winning Arzak embodies the prestige, novelty, and science-driven creativity of the Basque culinary zeitgeist. The restaurant and its high-tech food lab—both helmed by founder Juan Mari Arzak's daughter Elena—are in the family's 19th-century home on the outskirts of San Sebastián. The ever-changing dishes (€270 for four courses or €300 for the tasting menu) are downright thrilling for their eye-popping presentations, unexpected flavor combinations, and rare ingredients. The best seats in the house are in the newly renovated upstairs dining room.

This idyllic fourth-generation asador in a centuries-old house draws the crowds with its flawless tortilla de bacalao, txuleta de buey, and local game and fish of all kinds such as besugo a la donostiarra (roast sea bream with garlic-vinegar sauce) and, when in season, becada (Eurasian woodcock) cloaked in meaty wine sauce. Fizzy Txakoi is the standard tipple, but there's also a surprisingly deep list of Champagnes and international bottles to choose from.

Of all the three-Michelin-star temples in Spain, Bittor Arginzoniz's Etxebarri is hands down the most exclusive, since it serves only lunch and reservations are limited. Here, grilling is elevated to an art form, with various types of woods, coals, and handmade tools carefully selected for the preparation of each dish. The obligatory €280 tasting menu (no vegetarian option) generally includes Etxebarri classics like homemade chorizo, smoked caviar, and—if you're lucky—baby elvers. 

The immersive gastro-experience at the envelope-pushing eco-restaurant by renowned Basque chef Eneko Atxa starts with nibbles in the indoor garden, continues on to the kitchen with a quick tour, and culminates in the dining room with a tasting menu featuring out-there, conceptual dishes like \"rose nectar\" and \"representing a landscape: honey and a thousand flowers.\"

Museum restaurants tend to be underwhelming, overpriced tourist traps, but Bistró—with its exuberantly colorful dining room and meticulously prepared modern Basque cuisine served by a knowledgeable waitstaff—is a blissful exception to the rule. Tartares, roast meats, local seasonal vegetables, and top-grade seafood are the building blocks of the three set menus, the most expensive of which is a five-course degustación for a paltry €40.

A Gros stalwart, the ever-bumping Bodega Donostiarra (with a newer offshoot across the street at number 16) is famous for its down-home dishes centered on Basque conservas such as oil-packed anchovies, piparrak (pickled hot peppers), and bonito del norte (albacore). The three find their way into the \"completo,\" a locally famous mini-baguette sandwich that's deliciously tart, juicy, and salty all at once.

Charming and cozy, this centenarian Bilbao institution is essentially a series of nooks and crannies tucked into a fine food, wine, olive oil, cheese, and ham emporium. Leave it to the affable owners to recommend specialties such as txuleton (gigantic T-bone steak), which pairs wonderfully with the house Rioja or any red from the 1,000-bottle-strong wine list.

Don't be put off by the outdated decor of this Parte Vieja icon—the kitchen at Casa Urola is easily one of the city's most adroit, whether you post up at the informal bar or sit down to a multicourse meal. In the dining room, savor appetizers made with hard-to-find regional vegetables like cardoon, borage, and caviar-like de lágrima peas before moving onto entrées like seared squab, presented with a pâté of its own liver, and roasted hake loin, served with white wine and clams. Save room for the signature torrija, custardy fried bread crisped in brown butter and dusted with cinnamon sugar.

This family-run restaurant and B&B in a former 19th-century residence has a crackling fire in winter and a willow-shaded patio in summer. Prix fixes change seasonally and center on well-executed classics like secreto ibérico con crema de hongos (Iberian pork steak with wild mushroom cream) and txangurro a la Donostiarra (baked crab). Rooms fill up fast in August and during public holidays.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more pleasant outdoor lunch in Bilbao than at this chic little pintxo bar with sunlit tables smack on the charming Plaza Nueva. Fried rabas (squid strips), croquetas, and locally made txistorra (smoky chorizo sausage) never come off the menu for good reason.

This inviting white-tablecloth taberna established in 1959 serves soul-satisfying cuisine in a cabinlike dining room decorated with taupe curtains, blond wood chairs, and original artwork. Steak frites is the go-to here with roast turbot coming in a close second.

For pintxos that deftly toe the line between traditional and experimental, there is no better bar than this Parte Vieja cubbyhole renowned for its seared foie gras, braised veal cheeks, and garlicky razor clams a la plancha. Throw a few elbows, order a couple glasses of txakoli, and get ready for pintxo paradise.

Furnished with simple wood tables beneath hams hanging from the rafters, this lively, deceptively simple bar attracts locals and tourists alike for its exceptional pintxos and affordable breakfasts. Don't pass up the deconstructed Galician-style octopus on a bed of mashed potatoes laced with pimentón (paprika) or the appetizer of house-made foie gras with three preserves. For a more exclusive (and pricier) fine-dining experience, reserve a table at the abutting El Taller, and be sure to peruse the gourmet food store stocked with local conservas, cured meats, wines, and cheeses.

While Martin Berasategui, one of San Sebastián's corps of master chefs, no longer runs the day-to-day operations of this Barcelona kitchen (it's in the capable hands of chef Paolo Casagrande) the restaurant continues to be a culinary triumph. Expect an eclectic selection of Basque, Mediterranean, and off-the-map creations, a hefty bill, service that's second-to-none, and fierce perfectionism apparent in every dish. If you're not in the mood for the full tasting menu, this is one of few Michelin stars that also offers an à la carte option.

At this buzzy fire-focused restaurant on the ground floor of the Kursaal—the newest passion project by Mugaritz chef Andoni Luis Aduriz—expect pitch-perfect, pared-down modern Basque cuisine with clever international flourishes.

At the intersection of soulful Basque cooking and special-occasion alta gastronomía lies this white-tablecloth restaurant where you can have both—in the form of flame-licked dayboat seafood (lobster, turbot, line-caught red mullet, and so on), cozy braises, and seasonal vegetables like borage, artichokes, and some of the most umami piquillo peppers you'll ever taste.

Consistently delicious, shockingly affordable, and unapologetically old-school, Pentxo is the sort of restaurant bilbaínos like to keep to themselves. Whether you pop in for a pintxo at the bar (the flash-fried antxoas rellenas, or stuffed anchovies, are a must) or for breakfast or for a €22 prix-fixe lunch (with standout seafood), you'll leave wishing you could be a regular.

Hidden in the lush, hilly countryside southwest of Tolosa—and many miles off the tourist track—is this idyllic agroturismo comprised of a restaurant and five-room bed-and-breakfast housed in a traditional caserío (Basque farmhouse) perched on a hilltop. After snapping a few pics of the jaw-dropping views, tuck into a soul-satisfying Basque feast of roast local chicken, stewed game meats, or fresh fish.

This traditional sagardotegi 7 km (4 miles) south of San Sebastián is where top chefs like Juan Mari Arzak and Martín Berasategui like to ring in cider season with a resounding ¡txotx! (\"cheers\" in Basque). Off the tourist track, Zelaia invites guests into its barrel-lined warehouses to chow down on an à la carte menu of bacalao-centric dishes, thick-cut steaks, and—for dessert—local cheeses with quince preserves and walnuts (vegetarian options are available).

The Txapartegi brothers—Mikel, Kepa, and Gorka—are the decorated chefs behind this restaurant in an elegantly restored house with a sunny terrace. Count on seasonally rotated combinations of carefully chosen ingredients, from fish and duck to vegetables.

The sagardotegi experience is a must in the Basque Country, but if you can't swing a trip to one of the huge cider houses in the countryside, Arriaga is a fine urban stand-in. Expect unlimited sidra al txotx (cider drawn straight from the barrel), sausage stewed in apple cider, codfish omelets, txuleta de buey, and Idiazabal cheese with quince preserves. Reserving a table is a good idea, especially on weekends.

With a wood-paneled dining room awash with antiques, this family operation is a longtime local favorite for top-quality fish and meats cooked over coals. In the open kitchen, wild lubina (sea bass), rodaballo (turbot), and other regional delicacies from land and sea cook to crackly perfection.

The narrow stone rooms of a defunct banana warehouse are now one of the finest spots for modern Basque dining. There's an affordable weekend tasting menu that hinges on what's in season, though dishes like seared txuleton and hake in white wine sauce with clams never come off the menu for a reason.

A little-known culinary gem on the ground floor of the 15th-century Torre de Anda, this down-home wine and cheese bar with three high-top tables is always stocked with smoky Idiazabal, limited-production Rioja Alavesa wines, and tart gildas.

Eleven km (7 miles) south of Mundaka and 1 km (½ mile) northwest of Gernika, you'll find this restaurant in an idyllic 18th-century caserío, or traditional Basque farmhouse. Garlands of red peppers and garlic hang from wooden beams in the cathedral-like dining area, where loyal guests tuck into hearty yet refined fish and meats cooked over a wood-fire grill.

The kitchen is open until midnight in this unfussy Casco Viejo pintxo spot. The industrial design—think tables with a green polyethylene finish and exposed pipes—belies a comfort-food-heavy menu with star dishes like octopus brochettes and juicy grilled steaks.

Hiding in the basement of a timber building in the heart of the Parte Vieja, this restaurant—where world-renowned chef Martín Berasategui cut his teeth—toes the line between traditional and contemporary Basque cuisine. A recent menu included slow-roasted piquillo peppers, tiny de lágrima peas topped with a poached egg and shaved black trufffles, and brûléed torrijas (Spanish \"French\" toast).

Stop here for Basque and Navarran comfort food served in an old stone house on the river. Start with any of the local vegetable specialties, such as tender asparagus spears swimming in tangy vinaigrette, before digging into heftier mains like monkfish-stuffed piquillo peppers and (seasonally) roast squab and milk-fed lamb.

In the center of Playa del Inglés, this modern Basque restaurant has made a name for itself for its well-priced classic cuisine. Interiors are a bit passé (a bit like a wedding reception hall), but there are two pleasant terraces outside. The wine list, with more than 40 bottles from Spain, is worth a look, and cocktails are served daily 7 pm to 2:30 am.

With rustic red-tile floors, bare brick walls, and ancient beams and coats of arms, this 15th-century inn turns out classical Castilian and Basque specialties reflective of the region. Try the cochinillo lechal (roast suckling pig) or any of the monkfish preparations. The wine cellar is a gold mine. To reserve a tasting menu, priced at around €60, be sure to call at least two days ahead.