Barri de La Ribera, ES
Uncover the joy of Spanish cooking with an interactive experience. Follow a chef around the famous Boqueria market to buy ingredients, then learn how to make traditional paella, sangria, and tapas.
Cancel up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund
English
On this 3-hour activity you’ll join a professional chef on an introductory tour of the world famous Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria, Barcelona's oldest and best food market, dating back to the 13th century.
While telling you about the foods on offer, especially the seafood, and the basics of Spanish and Catalan cuisine, the chef will buy some of the fresh ingredients needed to prepare an authentic paella de marisco, or seafood paella, Spain’s traditional rice dish.
Walk with the chef through the winding streets of The Old Town (central location, right next to Las Ramblas) the most fashionable district of the city. Enter you your private dining room that’s adjacent to the big open kitchen where the chef will prepare the delicious paella de marisco, as you watch the process.
Take the edge off your appetite with some traditional Spanish tapas.
Learn how to make your own pan con tomate, the most typical Catalan tapa, and how to build traditional Basque pintxos or montaditos, the tapas with toothpicks. Then you can enjoy your creations accompanied by some lovely sangría.
While you are eating your homemade pintxos, the chef will cook the paella de marisco. You’ll be into the adjacent open kitchen to stand around the large paellera, the traditional round, shallow pan made of polished steel that the paella de marisco will be prepared in.
As the chef begins to prepare the paella you’ll hear about the history of the dish, the ingredients used, and the steps in the preparation.
With the paella simmering in the kitchen you’ll be invited over to the bar where you’ll learn all there is to know about sangría, the world famous Iberian wine punch that dates back to medieval times. Try your hand at mixing your own sangría.
Once the paella de marisco is finally ready to be enjoyed, you’ll head back to the tables, sit down, and enjoy the feast along with your own freshly mixed sangria.
La Boqueria introduction tour (subject to La Boqueria market opening hours)
Walk through the old town of Barcelona
Tapas
Paella cooking display and interactive instruction
Sangría mixing class
Homemade paella de marisco
Recipes (accessible via QR code)
All food and drinks
Transportation
Tips (optional)
Market tours on Sundays and public holidays
This activity is an interactive paella-making class, where people are given different jobs throughout the experience
A vegetarian option is available, please advise if you require a vegetarian meal upon booking
The market tour is not included on Sundays and public holidays as the market is closed
Great cooking experience with Andrea. He had his dining environment set up very nice with sangría, sodas, wine and charcuterie next to a medieval wall.. So much to drink, we couldn't finish the drinks if we wanted to Hydration was essential because of the lack of air conditioning and non functioning kitchen exhaust. The heat was overwhelming specially if you chose to get hands on cooking with no ventilation inside that room with the heat of the fire of various paelleras cooking. English was not perfect but with repetition and visuals, he made sure everyone understood the class which was a small group of no more than 20 people. The visit to the Boqueria Market included some walking and provided free time to roam around since the visit was to a specific vendor who took some time to prepare (chop and clean) the squid and cuttlefish with its liver. He also got prawns and mussels which we cleaned ourselves in the kitchen. The rest of the paella ingredients were staged in the kitchen.
Kako was an amazing guide!
There were ten of us in total. Since it was the day after the Saint John’s Festival, we didn’t visit the market as described in the activity itinerary. Instead, we went straight to the paella cooking experience. At the beginning, we were served some snacks and sangria. Then we all took part in preparing the paella, which was a lot of fun because everyone got involved. At the end, we enjoyed eating the paella we had made together. It was definitely a worthwhile experience, and I highly recommend it.
This was such a wonderful experience from start to finish! The market tour was lively, informative, and so much fun. We loved getting to walk through the market, learn about the ingredients, and buy fresh fish for the paella. It made the whole cooking class feel so connected to the culture and food of Barcelona. The paella cooking class itself was fantastic. We had so much fun and learned a lot along the way. The chef was engaging, talented, warm, and clearly passionate about sharing both the food and the traditions behind it. This was one of those experiences that felt both educational and joyful. We came away with great memories, a deeper appreciation for Spanish cooking, and a delicious meal. I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting Barcelona!
The activity was amazing! Everyone made the experience very memorable and personable!
Perfect for our group and Milo was fantastic!
Amazing food. Wonderful to learn from a top notch chief. Thank you so much for the great time
Fun!
Fantastic! Our chef was so friendly and gave us so much useful information for our trip as well.