Marbella Original Food Tour: Tapas, Wine & Old Town with a Local
Description
Marbella's original tapas food tour — the first of its kind, running since 2018, and still the most reviewed food tour in the city. Plenty of tours have followed. Only one started it. Across 3 hours, your local guide walks you through the Old Town's whitewashed lanes to three traditional taverns the guidebooks miss — the places locals actually eat. Taste award-winning Ensaladilla Rusa at Marbella's oldest tapas bar, hand-carved Iberian bellota ham with Payoyo, Spain's most awarded cheese, the day's fresh catch and salt-cured Cádiz tuna, with a different Andalusian wine at every stop. Between bites, discover Orange Square, hidden plazas and the bronze Dalí sculptures, and the stories behind them. Small groups. Real food. Real history, and more five-star reviews than any other food tour in Marbella. Book the original, and taste the Marbella that locals keep to themselves.
Tour Options
Itinerary
We gather in Marbella's 15th-century Orange Square, by the fountain beside the little Ermita de Santiago chapel. Your local guide sets the scene with the story of the old town — the Casa del Corregidor and the town hall around us — before the tasting begins.
Down one of the old town's narrowest lanes to one of Marbella's oldest tapas bars, pouring since the 1950s. First glass of cava in hand, we taste the award-winning Ensaladilla Rusa and home-made chicken-and-ham croquetas.
A cosy, family-run taberna tucked into a lane just off Orange Square. We hand-carve Iberian bellota ham and set it beside Payoyo — Spain's most awarded cheese, made high in the Sierra de Cadiz from the milk of the native payoya goat — and wash it all down with a crisp, chilled Verdejo. Two mountain flavours, centuries in the making, on one plate.
A gentle walk through the tiled Alameda gardens down to Avenida del Mar, lined with ten bronze Salvador Dali sculptures. Time for photos and the stories behind Marbella's open-air art before the final stop.
Our final stop is a traditional Jerez-style bodega, all dark wood and hanging hams. We round off the evening with a glass of red, mojama de atun — salt-cured red tuna from the Cadiz coast — and gambas al pil-pil sizzling in garlic.
We stroll back through the whitewashed lanes — past the Iglesia de la Encarnacion and remnants of the old Arab walls — to Orange Square where we began, with the guide's personal tips for the rest of your stay.
Highlights
What's included
Traveller Ratings
Important Information
- Wheelchair accessible
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- All areas and surfaces are wheelchair accessible
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Not recommended for travellers with celiac disease
Reviews(176)
Christian was a great tour guide. He was very personable, honest as well as a bit quirky, in a good way! The restaurant choices on the tour gave us a little taste of many different types of Tapas. For the price, it was well worth it as we had three stops along the way with Tapas and a drink at each location. He did a great job finding places that seemed more for locals than for tourists. The company made it easy to communicate from start to finish. I would recommend to everyone.
This was a great and informative tour where all the food stops were out of the way local haunts with real food and good wine.
We enjoyed our tour and the amazing food and wine. Michel was a great tour guide. We would recommend it!
Great to hear you had a good time, and that the food, wine, and Michel all hit the mark! Thanks for the recommendation, it means a lot.
The tapas tour with our guide, Michel, was awesome! Every restaurant we stopped at had delicious tapas paired with cava/wine. Along the walking route, Michel told us about some of the history of Marbella and the surrounding region, and also shared some fun urban legends. Would highly recommend this tour!
That sounds like a fantastic night—we’re really glad you connected with Michel and the experience. He has a great way of mixing history with just the right amount of local folklore (and wine), and it means a lot to know it all came together for you. Thanks for the recommendation—hope the memories stick around long after the last glass was emptied.
Oliver was outstanding! Very enthusiastic, great history knowledge. He made excellent recommendations!
So glad to hear Oliver made your experience a memorable one! His enthusiasm and storytelling are a big part of what brings the tour to life. We’ll be sure he sees your feedback; he’ll love knowing his recommendations hit the mark.
Wonderful tour with lots of food! We enjoyed the guide and the information provided as we walked around the town. We stopped at three restaurants and had several different dishes to try at all of them. There was a glass of Cava at the first stop, white wine at the second, and red wine at the third. We were originally scheduled a different night and they contacted us that we were the only ones on that tour and offered to do the tour or allow us to change nights if we preferred to be with a group. We chose to change nights and were happy to be given that opportunity. I asked if I could get the suggested restaurant guide that was mentioned we would get at the end of the tour early, as moving our tour meant it was on our last night in Marbella, but they did not respond to that request. Otherwise all was wonderful and we enjoyed the guide, the food, and our fellow travelers!
Thank you for the kind words. We’re so glad you enjoyed the tour, the food, and your fellow travelers. Great choice to switch nights; it’s always more fun with a lively group. And we’re truly sorry we missed your request about the restaurant guide. That was our oversight, and we appreciate your understanding. Thanks again for sharing your evening with us!
Super fun. There were only two of us and we were offered the tour, by chance, entirely in our own language. Learned everything, discussed, explained and seen a lot. Visited small bars that you normally are would walk past. The food is different tapas than you would expect and or would have been served in the Netherlands, with the necessary explanations. That's what makes it interesting. Friendly tour operator, neat English. I'd say do it! And enjoy your meal.
Thank you for your lovely words! We’re so glad it turned into such a personal tour for just the two of you. It’s always special when we can share the experience in your own language, and it makes us happy to hear you enjoyed discovering those hidden little bars and trying tapas that felt fresh and different. We really appreciate your recommendation and hope you’ll come back to eat and explore with us again sometime!
The guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. He shared his experiences and the history of Marbella. The restaurants were all excellent and the food and drink he chose were excellent. We can't wait to go back to the restaurants and try some more of their tapas.
Thank you so much for your kind words! We're thrilled to hear you enjoyed the tour and that the guide’s stories and local knowledge added to your experience. It’s always our goal to introduce guests to the true flavors of Marbella, and we're so glad you loved the restaurants and the food selections. We hope you get the chance to return soon and dive even deeper into the tapas scene there's always more to taste!
It was fantastic. The guide was really informative and the food ,wine and history was really 👌. I would recommend this to anyone
Thank you for the lovely review! We're so glad to hear you had a fantastic time and that you enjoyed the mix of food, wine, and local history; it’s exactly what we aim for. If there’s ever anything we could do to turn that 4 into a 5, we’re all ears. Either way, we truly appreciate the recommendation and hope to welcome you back for another delicious adventure soon!
Thought I'd try and get a taste for Marbella by joining this tour. What a fab way to see the town and eat some local food. The guide had loads of knowledge and I definitely recommend this to anyone else wanting to see the sites and eat great tapas. Thank you for a great experience
