Photo stories
9 of the best food & drink experiences for your Spain vacation
1. Tapas, Andalucía: Of all of Spain's culinary traditions, the one that stands tallest is the tapa. Whilst tapas can be enjoyed from Madrid to Barcelona and across Andalucía, Seville is its spiritual home.
Tapas can be practically anything, from a chunk of tuna or omelette, to hot meat with sauce served in a miniature clay dish. It just has to come out of the kitchen of a bar on a small plate, basically.
Seville's bars range from the traditional joints, where you need to get your elbows out and holler in your best Spanish to get served, to the bright, breezy and vegan-friendly. You're spoilt for choice really.
Tapas is also a social institution. Most Spaniards will go de tapeo, visiting a few bars to meet with friends before settling into a restaurant. So it's a fun way for us to mingle with the locals...
How to experience it: Come to Seville on a driving vacation, meet our lovely local Davíd and let him share his favorite tapas bars with you. Then head out the next night to go it alone...
2. Olive oil, Andalucía: Next is the humble olive. It might surprise you to learn that Spain produces around 45% of the world's olive oil, of which 75% comes from Andalucía.
That stat makes more sense in the Subbéticas hills near Córdoba, where the landscape is defined by groves. "It smacks you in the face", as one Aussie guest with a knack for clarity put it.
Whilst Spain sends much of the harvest off to Italy and Greece to be passed off as Italian or Greek oil by the world's largest producers, the very best olives stay right here...
Indeed, this year officially the world's nine best olive oils were made in Andalucía, with top spot going to a co-operative from the Subbéticas hills. If you want the best olive oil, you come here.
Enjoying the prized olive oil is best kept simple. Drizzle a bit over some freshly baked bread with fresh tomatoes and a pinch of salt for a proper Andalucían breakfast.
How to experience it: Sample Tim and Claire's own small batch oil as part of a guided tasting session at their farmhouse B&B in the Subbéticas on our Cordoba to Granada Walking Vacation
3. Jamón Ibérico, Andalucía: Andalucía is also the producer of Spain's most prized cured hams. For the best of the best, we must head way out west and up into the Aracena hills...
Tucked away between Seville and the Portuguese border, the open forests and fields of Aracena produce some of the most delicious and most expensive air-cured ham in the world.
Why so? Firstly, the cool dry winds and humid nights of the sierra provide ideal conditions for curing. Secondly, the managed open landscapes of the Dehesa allow plenty of space to roam...
And thirdly, it's diet. The most expensive - jamón de bellota - comes from pigs foraging up to 10 kilos a day of acorns from the oak woodlands, as well as up to 3 kilos of grass and wild fruits.
How to experience it: To learn more, we know a great farm you can visit in Aracena. A simpler approach is just to walk into a good shop or restaurant. You can do both on our Villages of Andalucia Walk.
4. Sherry, Andalucía: The tradition of winemaking in Jerez dates back to Phoenician times. But did you know that it's through an act of British thievery that sherry found international acclaim?
The story goes that in in 1587 Sir Francis Drake hot-footed it back to London with some 3,000 barrels of sherry he stole from the port of Cádiz, as a gift for his adored Queen Elizabeth I.
This 'sack' found its way into the mouths, and hearts, of Londoners when Shakespeare was at his most prolific. The Bard cited sherry in a few of his works, cementing its place in British culture.
Sherry developed a devoted following, bringing English merchants to Jerez to set up shop. Hence why many of the oldest bodegas are clearly not very Spanish: Harveys, Sandeman, Osborne.
How to experience it: There are varieties of sherry to suit all tastes. Call into one of Jerez' oldest bodegas for a tour and to sample the best on our Andalucía Signature Drive
5. 'Mar i muntanya', Catalonia: 'Sea and mountain' - it's not just a description of Catalonia's physical contours, but also its culinary landscape. A sort of Catalan surf n' turf if you will.
Because the mountains are often covered in forests, from them we get rich game, tasty truffles and wild mushrooms, harvested by hand each autumn and served up somewhere special...
Nestled in the forested hills of La Garrotxa are a pair of wonderful farmhouse B&Bs. No one comes to Catalonia with us without staying at one or both and lingering over superb homecooked dinners.
From the Costa Brava we get some of Spain's finest seafood, best enjoyed as fresh as it comes in fishing harbors and coves, sea salt fragrancing the air and boats bobbing gently in the water.
How to experience it: Simple, come to Catalonia with us. All our trips have brilliant eating and drinking opportunities weaved throughout, be it a walking vacation or a relaxed driving trip. Your choice.
6. Pintxos, Basque County: In the Basque Country and Navarre, tapas are now pintxos. Many people believe that pintxos are just a tapa with a toothpick through them, but it's simply not true.
Granted, there are a lot of toothpicks. These keep the snack on the bread, and often help a waiter count how many a customer has eaten. But pintxos are more elaborate than their Spanish cousins.
In the cradles of pintxos, such as San Sebastián and Pamplona, their production has become an art form, with bars competing amongst themselves for ever more sophisticated and delicious creations.
The traditional drink to accompany pintxos will depend on the region. In the Basque country it might be Txakolí, the young wine, or you might prefer a simple caña - a smaller serving of beer.
How to experience it: As with tapas, the classic way of enjoying pintxos is to wander from bar to bar. Again, we like to give you a helping local hand, for example on our Basque Country Signature Drive.
7. Cider, Basque Country & Asturias. In Spain, if you have grapes, you make wine. If you have apples, you make cider. Since there aren't any vines in these parts, they make cider, and they make it well.
Cider is a way of life and a symbol of regional identity. People grow apples and make their own. In Asturias the average person drinks 54 litres a year, though a certain amount does end up on the floor...
Straight from the barrel, sidra natural is unpalatable. The reason why you'll see it poured from ridiculous heights is not just to look cool, but to aerate the cider and transform it into something special.
Ask a Basque where Spain's best cider comes from and they'll say the Basque Country. Ask an Asturian and they'll say Asturias. Ask us, and we'll say just enjoy whatever's fresh out the barrel.
How to experience it: Take a look at our Northern Spain Signature Drive, which can include a hearty visit to a cider barn and a chance to sample the local cheese. Talking of which...
8. Gamoneu cheese, Picos de Europa: There is an unofficial number of 150 varieties of cheese in Spain, of which 42 are from Asturias, home to much of the Picos de Europa.
Most prized of all them is Gamoneu - a slightly blue, nutty cheese made with the mix of milks from cows, sheep and goats. It is smoked in huts before maturing in natural caves for at least two months.
Cheesemaking dates back at least 5,000 years in the Picos. It’s a little-changed culture based on a semi-nomadic life that follows the seasonal growth of the grass up and down the mountain.
But it's a slow labour of love, less fashionable and profitable than ever. These days there are only five families making Gamoneu in the mountains, so it's a craft we take pride in sharing with you.
How to experience it: Come and meet Covadonga, one of those still toiling away in the art of cheesemaking. You can visit on our Northern Spain Signature Drive which includes the Picos de Europa.
9. Wine, La Rioja. We started with one great Spanish institution, so let's finish with another. La Rioja is wine and wine is the landscape, the way of life, the economy and the heritage.
With the Pyrenees to the north and the high plateau to the south, Mediterranean and Atlantic climates blend to help produce some of the best medium body wines in the world.
These wines will probably never taste better than when you savor the big oaky, plum and vanilla notes of a ruby-red Rioja at source, sunny vines rolling off to the mountains as they have for centuries.
Bodegas here range from the ultra-modern Marqués de Riscal, to our partner Marina and her more humble, heartfelt ode to the tradition of small-scale family winemaking.
One of our favorites is Luis Cañas, evolved through the generations to create top quality wines. Rather than erecting flashy buildings, they built a pioneering home for up to 40 workers on the estate.
How to experience it: On our Bilbao, San Sebastián & Rioja Signature Drive, you sleep in an architectural masterpiece and then stroll across to the Luis Cañas Bodega next door for a celebratory tasting session.
There are so many memorable food and drink experiences to enjoy in Spain. So it's worth repeating that all of our Spain trips are rooted in local flavors - just let us know which one catches your eye.
