Taste Madrid: a getaway across the region with wines, tapas and tradition

For travellers seeking experiences linked to the territory, the region also offers a rich and varied range of wine tourism, olive‑oil tourism and products certified with the DOP Vinos de Madrid, the IGP Carne de la Sierra de Guadarrama, Aceite de Madrid, Aceitunas de Campo Real, Producto Certificado de la Comunidad de Madrid and the Indicación Geográfica de Chinchón.

The city of Madrid acts as the gastronomic gateway to the region. Its markets have been transformed into centres for shopping, leisure and dining, where visitors can buy produce, have an aperitif or put together a menu by combining options from different stalls.

The capital offers multiple points of sale for the region’s most traditional products, such as Marcelino Pan y Vino, right in the heart of the Chamberí neighbourhood. Source: MASánchez_Region of Madrid.

This offer is particularly accessible for visitors looking for flexibility: tapas, pinchos, bars, Spanish regional cuisines and international options coexist in an informal format: spaces with Asian, Mexican and Venezuelan cuisine, rice dishes, meats, beers, wines and pastries can be found, among many other options, inside Madrid’s markets.

Restaurants with history and iconic dishes

Madrid preserves a network of century‑old restaurants and taverns that allow travellers to link gastronomy and history. Botín, whose origins date back to 1725, is the oldest restaurant in the world according to the Guinness World Records, and is closely associated with roast suckling pig; Lhardy, from 1839, is a benchmark for tasting cocido madrileño; Casa Alberto, from 1827, maintains an offer of stewed oxtail, meatballs and its own vermouth; and at Casa Labra, from 1860, you can try its legendary cod croquettes.

The restaurant Botín, which opened in 1725, is considered by the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest in the world. Source: Region of Madrid.

Cocido madrileño is undoubtedly one of the most recognisable dishes for visitors; a must‑stop within traditional cuisine that, in addition to the aforementioned Lhardy, can be enjoyed at La Cocina de Frente, La Gran Tasca, Casa Carola, Cruz Blanca, La Daniela and La Bola.

Vinos de Madrid: wineries, museums and territory

Wine tourism adds a rural and cultural dimension to the trip. The Rutas del Vino de Madrid bring together wineries, restaurants, accommodation, museums, wine shops, agencies and associated municipalities. Among the towns included are Navalcarnero, San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Villa del Prado, Villarejo de Salvanés, Colmenar de Oreja, Nuevo Baztán, Villaconejos, El Molar, Cenicientos, Morata de Tajuña, Valdelaguna, Tielmes, Arganda del Rey, Aranjuez and Cadalso de los Vidrios.

Colmenar de Oreja has an impressive network of wineries excavated underground, located mainly beneath the houses in the city centre. Source: Elequipo_Region of Madrid.

But not just wine tasting. It also includes interpretation centres and museums linked to wine, such as the Centro de Interpretación del Vino in Navalcarnero, the Museo del Vino in Villa del Prado, the Centro de Interpretación in Nuevo Baztán and the Museo del Vino in Valdelaguna.

Aceite de Madrid: new olive‑oil tourism experiences

The regional gastronomic offer also includes olive‑oil tourism, with a route through Titulcia, Villaconejos, Villarejo de Salvanés and Perales de Tajuña, where there are oil mills linked to oil with the Denominación de Origen Aceite de Madrid.

The options include visits to oil mills, walks through olive groves, tastings of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) and pairings with gastronomic products from the Region of Madrid and local wines. In Villaconejos, Vinos y Aceites Laguna combines wine‑making and olive‑oil‑making tradition, with visits to vineyards, winery, aging room, oil mill and tastings of white, rosé and red wines.

Local products for touring the region

Madrid’s gastronomy is also based on local products distributed across districts that can be explored by following the rural routes of MadRural, such as meats, beers, cheeses, honey, jams, artisanal sweets, produce from kitchen gardens, oil, wine, chocolate and other products in the Sierra de Guadarrama, Sierra Oeste, Las Vegas & Alcarria Madrileña and Sierra Norte. In all of them, travellers can discover products linked to the territory, from goat’s and sheep’s cheeses to oils, wines with DOP and craft beers.

Lhardy is the most iconic place to have a hot consommé. Source: Sara Soler_Region of Madrid.

All these options are complemented by Villas a fuego lento, which brings together the offer in this area of the 11 Villas de Madrid: Buitrago del Lozoya, Chinchón, Colmenar de Oreja, Manzanares el Real, Navalcarnero, Nuevo Baztán, Patones de Arriba, Rascafría, San Martín de Valdeiglesias, Torrelaguna and Villarejo de Salvanés. With more than 50 gastronomic experiences aimed especially at the colder months, with stews, soups, escabeches, roasts and hearty dishes made with local products, it offers visitors the chance to add a more leisurely, rural dimension to their trip, closely linked to traditional Madrid cuisine.

The Mercado de San Miguel was the first to be converted from a traditional market into a purely gastronomic one. Source: Hugo Fernández_Region of Madrid.

This diversity of options allows travellers to design one‑ or multi‑day getaways around a common thread: eating in urban markets, booking a table in a historic restaurant, trying a cocido, visiting wineries, entering an oil mill, buying local products or touring towns where cuisine is part of the municipality’s identity. Madrid thus presents itself as a solid gastronomic destination, well connected and with an offer that combines city, landscape, tradition and products.