Madrid Tapa Walking Maps

Tapas in Spain can be almost anything in the world. Still, they are usually a small piece of food -think the size of a small appetizer or snack – that is traditionally served with an alcoholic drink but sometimes soda as well.

The legend goes that the Castilian King Alfonso X was traveling on a windy day. He stopped for food and a glass of wine, and the waiter was worried that sand would blow into his drink, so he covered it with ham. The King loved it so he asked for another glass with a “tapa” and so “tapa”, born from the word “tapar”, means cover.  

Another legend is that the doctor of the same King prescribed him to drink wine and eat small bites of food when he was sick, so then the King made it a law in Spain that a small tapa had to be served with every drink.

Usual tapas time in Madrid: from 13:00 to 15:00 and from 20:00 to 22:00.  

In principle, because of how it started, a tapa is something that you eat with one hand, a cocktail stick, a fork, or a spoon, allowing you to hold a drink in the other. This style of eating creates a kind of harmony between liquid and solid.

You can have one or 2 portions of tapas as an appetizer or enjoy a whole meal of dishes. They can be eaten standing at the bar, sitting on a stool, or at a low table.

As for whether to try one in each bar or several from the same place, the prestigious food critic Cristino Álvarez has noted that, "Traditionally, one portion of tapas was eaten at each bar, and the bar was chosen for the quality of one kind of tapas or another. Sitting at a table to eat 4 portions of tapas in the same bar was more for the tourists, but the custom was adopted by many locals, who weren't so fond of constantly being on the move."

Map 1:   Start at Mercado San Miguel

Map 2:   Start at La Latina Station

Maps 3,4,5:  Starting at Sol