While planning your trip to Spain, you may be wondering how much tapas cost, so you can set a budget. The answer isn’t as straightforward as you might think: it depends a lot on the location and the ingredients. We compiled a list based on our experience living in Spain and traveling to different regions.
Free Tapas
Free with every drink
Granada is the most well-known city for this: you buy a drink and they give you a free tapa. The same happens with the second drink, and so on. But there are other cities where you can get this treatment, like: Jaén, Almería and León.
The tapa can be as simple as a couple of slices of cheese or sausage, to more complicated or hot dishes like rice or even shrimp.
Free at certain hours
In some cities, like Oviedo, you would get a free tapa if you order a drink after 7 pm. That could be a small tuna sandwich, a devilled egg, or a ham and cheese puff pastry. Take into account that this is not a widespread custom, like in Granada; it’s something each restaurant or bar decides to offer or not.
You may get some chips or olives before 7 pm, though.
Tapas Under 4 euro – Non-Touristy Places and Villages
If you go to a village or town with few tourists, you’ll find many budget tapas options. That’s because prices reflect the local purchasing power. Depending on the region in Spain, you’ll find different tapas: coastal areas will have more fish and seafood, while inland towns will have more protein-heavy tapas like tortilla de patatas, chorizo, and sausages.
It’s going to be the same in bigger cities, except that you’ll need to go to the outer neighborhoods, where there are no landmarks to visit.
Pintxos
They don’t have tapas in the Basque Country; they have Pintxos / Pinchos. It’s the same in a lot of other places in the North of Spain. These creative small bites cost between 2 and 4 euro depending on the ingredients and the technique. Of course, the more elaborate pintxos from touristy locations will be more expensive.
Tapas cost in major cities
Madrid and Barcelona are the most visited cities in Spain, and are where a lot of Spaniards move for work. That gives restaurants more room to increase prices on tapas. These can cost 4 to 7 euro in outer neighborhoods and 9 to 20 euro, or more, in the city center. And award-winning restaurants will have tapas in degustation menus, which can cost hundreds of euro.
How to find budget tapas
If you want to enjoy tapas on a budget, look for the places where everybody speaks Spanish and people are having a good time. It might not look modern, but that’s how the locals prefer it – “the same as it’s always been” decor. Before going in, you can check Google Reviews and read what people are saying about the food, so you don’t get disappointed.
What is Tapear?
“Tapear” or going for Tapas Crawl should be about getting the best or the favourite tapa in one bar or restaurant, then moving to the next place and ordering the tapa that bar is famous for. And so on, until you’re full.
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