A morning food tour in Boqueria Market, Barcelona

This post may contain affiliate links to tours and hotels. These help us earn a small commission at no additional charge to you.

I recently visited Barcelona on a solo trip and I planned to eat my way around the city. Whilst researching food tours online I came across ‘Insider Boqueria Market’ with Devour tours, a small group is guided around the famous market to meet the local traders, and sample delicious food and drink for two hours. Being a foodie this sounded like a perfect tour for me! The early start at 8.30am means you get to beat the crowds of tourists for a much more relaxing experience.

I was visiting during Barcelona’s low season (January) so the group size was very small – just myself and one really nice American couple. Laura was our guide and was very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and easy to chat to.

We had a wander around the market and Laura explained a lot of the food items to us. We got to sample loads of my favourite tapas snacks – olives, cheeses and some amazing Iberian ham which made me very happy!

Now Boqueria is quite a touristy market (being located on La Rambla) but that doesn’t stop you from enjoying visiting it, and the quality of the produce is exceptional. Laura recommended some other markets you could visit further out of the city if you are staying a bit longer.

A morning food tour in Boqueria Market, Barcelona | Devour Tours

This was a really fun way to start my 2 days in Barcelona, and if you are staying in the city for a while, I recommend doing this tour at the start of your trip, as you will probably want to return to some of these places again! Here are some photos and more details of the tour:

Table of Contents

Granja M. Viader

This famous café (and one of the oldest milk bars) dates back from 1870. We popped in here to taste their amazing rich Spanish hot chocolate (no churros were available the day we were there though sadly). The café was beautifully decorated and I couldn’t stop taking photos of the gorgeous floor tiles!

Pinotxo Bar

We swung by this really awesome little stall located inside the market which seats about 15 people. The owner Juanito is a super friendly character and happily posed for photos. I think he is a bit of a celebrity as there was a model of him on the shelf and a few press cuttings. Laura ordered us some coffee (much needed due to the early start) and some very delicious chuchos. They are cylindrical-shaped viennoiserie pastries filled with cream, deep fried and then covered in crystallised sugar. Yummy! Apparently this place gets very busy at lunchtime because the food they serve here is excellent.

Cured meats and cheeses

There are numerous meat and cheese stalls located inside the market which is heaven to me! (I cannot get enough of manchego and chorizo). So I was almost bouncing in joy when we got to sample some of the delicious produce. I really wanted to take home one of those massive whole Iberico ham on the bone, maybe next time!

Seafood

I adore seafood (as you can guess by now I’m a big foodie!), so I found wandering around the seafood section of the market so exciting as there was so much variety to look at. I wished I had self catering accommodation so I could have taken some of these delights back to the kitchen and cooked myself lunch!

The rest of the market

We spent the final part of the tour wandering around the rest of the market, admiring the fruits, vegetables, saffron, olives, sandwiches and more! It was such a feast for the eyes.

We ended the tour by getting to choose either a fruit pot or a juice from this extremely beautiful and colourful juice stall and then said goodbye to the rest of the group. I opted for the mango and coconut juice which was sweet and refreshing!

To book this market experience and check out other tours by Devour click here

Boqueria Market address:
Mercat de la Boqueria, Carrer la Rambla, 89, locales 466- 470, 08002 Barcelona, Spain

Barcelona accommodation

There is a huge range of accommodation options in Barcelona which are very affordable and highly rated! Here are some suggestions for all types of budget in Barcelona: