Madrid doesn’t truly wake up until vermouth is poured. Between late morning and mid-afternoon, locals gather at their favourite bars for a pre-lunch drink, something small to nibble on, and the simple pleasure of conversation.
On this lunchtime experience, you’ll step into one of the city’s most cherished rituals, la hora del vermút. Despite the name, it’s never just an hour.
We begin exactly as Madrileños do, standing at the bar with a vermouth or wine in hand, easing into the rhythm of the city. From there, we stroll through central Madrid, weaving together food, history, and local insight as the streets themselves become part of the experience.
Along the way, you’ll taste famous Spanish ham and cheese while discovering why, in Spain, the pig truly reigns supreme. You’ll enjoy a generous tapas stop featuring some of Madrid’s most beloved dishes, each rooted in tradition and served where locals actually eat. And we finish on a sweet note, leaving you in a classic bar to savour the city’s iconic chocolate con churros.
This is not just a tasting. It’s an introduction to how Madrid lives, gathers, and eats.
If evenings feel too late, if you’re travelling with younger guests, or if you simply prefer your discoveries in daylight, this lunchtime tour offers all the flavour, culture, and connection of our original experience, just at a more relaxed hour.
Award-winning. Authentic. Madrid as it was meant to be tasted.
This tour starts at Noon – from between the 2 metro entrances of Metro Opera in Plaza Izabel II. Our tapas experts will arrive holding a bright yellow Adventurous Appetites flier to easily identify them.
Join us on a vibrant journey through the heart of Madrid, where every street corner tells a story and every bite is a celebration of culture. This immersive experience blends some sightseeing and fascinating anecdotes, with some fantastic food and drink to give you the essential introduction to Madrid, its history, culture and above all its culinary scene. Here’s what you can look forward to:
Historical Landmarks
Walk past some of the most iconic sites that illustrate Madrid’s historical, cultural and political importance, uncovering stories of kings, queens, executions and bullfights amongst many others.
Insider Tips
Gain interesting local insights gleaned from more than 25 years living in the city. Get useful insider advice on what to see, eat and drink during the rest of your stay, which will allow you to find some of the lesser-known gems that the city offers.
Local Flavours
See how the locals do it. Experience Madrid’s tradition of Vermut. Get a crash-course in the famous Iberian ham. Tantalise your taste buds with some of the city’s tastiest tapas and finish with the sweet sensation of hot chocolate and churros.
Local Eateries
We tend to start our culinary journey through Madrid in a century-old bar where you can feel the history echoing around the walls. From there we will change atmosphere and go to a very local spit-and-sawdust establishment with hams dripping off the walls where you will discover the ins and outs of the fascinating world of Spanish ham. Next is a traditional Spanish tavern to experience some of the variety of the city’s authentic tapas scene. At the end we will drop you off in a Madrid classic for some hot chocolate and churros.
It’s more than just food, the idea of this activity is to give you an overview of the main sights of Madrid and send you home with a real and lasting feeling of what the city and its people are all about.
It is true that Madrid is a very carnivorous/fishy place, but we often have vegetarians who come with us and can find plenty of options to try! It is relatively easy to avoid wheat and whilst in some places you may eat more and in others less, we are confident you will be full at the end of the tour!
In Spain it is common to find young children in the bars till very late, however we do not really advise our Original Madrid Tapas tour for young teenagers/children as it involves quite a lot of walking, ends at around midnight and is really based on trying the food and usually alcoholic drinks (but we can offer soft drinks alternatives) in the bars.
If you have younger children our Lunchtime Madrid Tapas Tour with Vermouth might be a better alternative and for our lunchtime tour we have a child rate for 8-13 year olds of 63GBP per child. The tours are not really suitable for under 8s.
We do not have a children’s rate for our evening tour.
We remind clients that the legal drinking age in Spain is 18.
If you feel it would be something that your children would enjoy please ask us and we may be able to offer a private tour.
The actual distance between bars is about 10 minutes’ walk maximum, but this takes considerably longer as we tell you fascinating facts about the streets we pass through.
Our longest walk lasts about 35 mins.
Tapas is generally done standing up leaning against the bar and while we will try to book a table to sit in the last bar, we cannot guarantee seats in the others.
The tour is not suitable for wheelchair users and we do not recommend it for people with walking difficulties.
Our tours tend to book up pretty quickly, so we strongly advise booking as far in advance as possible (there is also a discount for advance booking).
If your group size is larger than 10 people, please contact us using our Tailor-made form.
We are different from other tours where food and drink are preordered and you get the cheapest dishes available as that is where the profit margin is. We really try to tailor every experience to the group. We introduce you to premium tapas that take you beyond the standard patatas bravas, croquetas and calamari sandwich that many operators offer as the “be-all” of Spanish tapas. We have no commercial agreements with the places we visit, and we are not tied to pre-arranged menus. This allows us to remain flexible, authentic, and focused entirely on the quality of the experience.
