About 5,000 words in total — worth bookmarking before you read on.

Of all the countries we’ve visited post-pandemic, Spain is probably the best value for the money.

Whether it’s eating, drinking, or just wandering the streets, this country — rich in history and produce — delivers a real sense of happiness at every turn of the trip.

Today’s roundup shares some of the restaurants and hotels from Sevilla and Barcelona.

The piece is split into five sections; the full list is at the very end.

HOTEL

A few comfortable places to stay

Three hotels get a clean, confident recommendation here.

In Barcelona: the Majestic Hotel and Spa Barcelona GL, and Hotel El Palace Barcelona. The former sits right on Passeig de Gràcia with a more classic, aristocratic feel — book a corner room with a small balcony and you’ll get a gorgeous view over the passing crowds below. The latter is quieter, with more modern facilities and layout; you’ll occasionally catch a luxury brand event happening there, and the restaurant downstairs is itself a Michelin restaurant. It’s about a 10-minute walk from Passeig de Gràcia.

Both offer solid value and plenty of comfort for food lovers, but be careful when booking the Majestic not to confuse it with their serviced apartments.

Sevilla’s undisputed number one has to be Hotel Alonso XIII. It’s practically a landmark of southern Spain — commissioned by King Alfonso XIII and opened for his beloved daughter’s wedding. Every detail of the building’s exterior and decor reflects the height of the era’s art and culture, while the hardware and facilities meet modern travelers’ needs, and its location sits right at the edge of Sevilla’s most relaxed old town district. In short, an irreplaceable hotel unique to this beautiful city.

Fine Dining

Spaniards who take cooking seriously

We started booking restaurants two months out, and a friend who’s long lived in Spain talked us down: “Book fewer Michelin places — the street-corner spots have plenty of great food too.”

So for this nearly ten-day trip we only booked three Fine Dining restaurants: Lasarte and Enigma in Barcelona, and Canabota in Sevilla — plus one that sits somewhere between Fine Dining and Tapas, often called Barcelona’s best seafood restaurant, Estimar.

Lasarte

Barcelona Spain

When people think of three-Michelin-star Barcelona, Disfrutar is usually the first name that comes to mind — but Lasarte is just as unmissable.

Lasarte sits on La Rambla, Barcelona’s most famous luxury-brand strip — its credentials speak for themselves. Chef Martín Berasategui was born in Spain’s northern Basque Country, earned his first Michelin star at 25, and is now, at nearly sixty, the chef with the fourth-highest total star count in the world.

From the comfort of the setting to the smoothness of the service, every detail here shows exactly what a three-Michelin-star restaurant should be. There’s a natural ease to the Spanish temperament, and service that’s both disciplined and warm is always the most appealing kind. The dishes, meanwhile, carry an elegance layered with that distinctly Spanish streak of purity.

The menu changes with the seasons — you can never really go wrong with the Tasting Menu. Full write-up here → This Barcelona three-star is about a lot more than just great food!

Estimar

Barcelona Spain

No Spain trip is complete without seafood — when we asked Teacher Guan to recommend a seafood restaurant, Estimar was the first answer.

Compared to your typical seafood restaurant, Estimar takes a more refined approach, with bold use of ingredients. As a first-time visitor from a landlocked region, this meal delivered plenty of new discoveries and experiences.

The Cantabrian anchovy, for instance, is said to be the best anchovy in the world, prized for its intense umami. It arrived shockingly large — the biggest anchovy I’d ever had. Spaniards really do go overboard with salt, though — paired with tomato bread, the searing saltiness was just barely manageable.

Langoustine carpaccio is Estimar’s tribute dish to El Bulli — the langoustine’s chewy sweetness and freshness were captured perfectly, unexpectedly thick, silky, and delicate all at once, a pure joy in every bite. Paired with a crisp bread base for structure — genuinely stunning.

There was also fried baby squid, steamed gooseneck barnacles, sea cucumber tendon, sea urchin paired with red shrimp, and the most unpretentious caviar toast. Every dish looked simple, but the freshness of the ingredients and the overall balance were excellent — this is fishing-village cuisine at its most elevated.

Go if you get the chance — reservations open two weeks out!

Enigma

Barcelona Spain

We also booked another one-Michelin-star in Barcelona, the famous Enigma.

Enigma’s chef is Albert Adrià — his older brother is Ferran Adrià, the five-time head of the world’s number-one restaurant El Bulli and often called the father of molecular gastronomy. The restaurant’s design concept alone took three years to develop, and they only seat 24 guests per service.

With expectations set that high, how could you not look forward to it?

And yet, the whole meal left us… genuinely puzzled.

Not to mention the frequent service mishaps throughout the meal — dropped plates, a spoon that fell into a guest’s bowl, and a 45-minute gap between two courses at one point. The signature seasonal dish, a pigeon gelée wrapped around sea urchin, hit with a wave of fishiness straight to the head. The main courses ran entirely on rabbit, paired separately with crab and foie gras. Honestly, it was the first time in my life I’d tasted a rabbit dish with the gamey flavor preserved quite so thoroughly. (Enough said.)

The one genuinely commendable dish of the entire meal was a ricotta made from a blend of soy milk and almond milk — delicate texture, a gentle fragrance that was thoroughly seductive, showing off the beauty of reassembled worlds.

Life needs a variety of experiences to really make you appreciate truly great food, I suppose.

That said, having gone through it once, I’d recommend spending that time and money on something else instead.

Canabota

Sevilla Spain

A seafood-focused restaurant in Sevilla that loves to play with the life cycles of seafood and Mediterranean-style charcoal grilling. The website only shows a few pretty photos of fish and giant lobster, without much other information — no sample menu either. What you eat depends entirely on the day’s ingredients.

The restaurant keeps a low profile — the only sign of Michelin recognition is a small logo in the website footer. You can generally book a table about a week out. There are two set menus, a Tasting Menu and an Omakase, with not much difference in price or content.

Sevilla isn’t coastal, but the moment you walk into this little spot, you’re hit with a full seafood-restaurant atmosphere — a huge cooler with live blue lobsters still waving their claws, fish and shrimp all vividly fresh-colored, like they lifted the seafood counter straight out of the Encarnación market and dropped it in here.

The whole meal really showcased the natural flavor of each type of seafood — even a small fried fish dish stood out. Full write-up here → An unassuming little spot that turns seafood into something divine.

TAPAS

Every bite is good.

Tapas might be the single most representative dish of Spanish food culture.

Order slowly, eat slowly, sip a drink unhurriedly. It’s a leisurely pace of life that’s genuinely enviable.

Most of the recommended tapas spots in Barcelona need reservations or come with a line, but Sevilla is different — this old town is exactly the kind of place where you can stop for a drink whenever your feet get tired. So I just pinned every tapas bar I was curious about on Google Maps and ate my way through, wherever I happened to end up.

Paco Meralgo

Barcelona Spain

A seafood-and-tapas spot a chef friend put me onto — very popular, so book about 10 days ahead. We made it our first stop after landing in Spain.

While waiting on the food, we started with a plate of freshly sliced ham — good quality, with a nice, satisfying thickness.

The must-order beef tartare came piled on a thin slice of bread — tender meat, really good flavor.

On a local’s recommendation, we tried the buñuelos — a frying technique that originated in Puerto Rico, lighter than the fried foods you typically get in Spanish cuisine. This version was filled with fried cod: the crust was wonderfully crisp, and inside, alongside the milky richness, the fish had a surprisingly fluffy, shredded texture — a great, unexpected pairing with drinks.

There’s a rotating daily seafood selection, and we got lucky with big squid on the day. Grilled just to doneness, still springy when cut, paired with caramelized onion — sweet and savory in just the right balance.

The octopus leg here beat what I’ve had elsewhere in Spain — slightly springy texture, topped with air-dried pork jowl for fragrance, plus a seemingly casual dusting of smoked paprika. This combination looks effortless but is genuinely brilliant — impossible not to be won over.

Whether you get a good seafood rice here really depends on the chef’s mood — we happened to get the cuttlefish-ink rice, and Spain’s punishing saltiness couldn’t hide the sheer joy of rice grains packed full of seafood. A bit of green pepper hidden inside was the perfect finishing touch.

Overall, every dish was solid — the effortless spirit unique to tapas culture hides genuinely delightful cooking. Definitely coming back to work through the rest of the menu next time.

Quimet Quimet

Barcelona Spain

This is absolutely a place worth revisiting again and again — a tiny shop that earned a spot in the Michelin guide with tapas built from tinned seafood.

There was already a line at the door by 6:20, but tables turn over fast since dining is capped at one hour and there aren’t even chairs — everyone eats standing up. Even with ten tables, we only waited half an hour.

Worth noting up front: the wine here is very reasonably priced, with a wide range of choices. Sparkling, red, white, spirits, sweet wine, fortified wine — nearly all available by the glass. Full bottles are displayed on the wall, priced the same as retail, with just a €5 corkage fee to drink in.

Salmón, yogurt y miel trufada sits on a crisp bread base — a simple stack of yogurt, honey, and salmon that’s just brilliant. Huevos rotos comes highly recommended: the poached egg is the star, but it indirectly pushes the artichoke to its full potential, wonderfully soft. Alcachofas queso y caviar is actually built around tinned artichoke as the true star, on a base of slightly sweet tomato sauce and fresh cheese — genuinely interesting the closer you look at it. Chipirones, cebolla y alcachofas is also great, with tinned razor clams delivering a sharp sweet-and-salty flavor.

This is a tiny place absolutely worth the line — it shatters the assumption that tinned food has to feel cheap, using clever combinations to create a joy of drinking-and-eating that exceeds all expectations.

La bartola

Sevilla Spain

Before heading to Sevilla, I asked a friend for restaurant advice, and the answer was: just do tapas. A tapa with a drink, then move on to the next place for another dish, and repeat.

Having a drink in Sevilla is as everyday as a Beijinger having a glass of suanmeitang, and tapas here feel more like the late-night drinking snacks you’d find in Chaoshan.

The value for money here is far better than in Barcelona. Every dish at this little place comes in a small or full portion — take my advice, the small portion is already plenty.

The standout was the chilled tomato soup, topped with chopped egg and bacon — the first sip can be a bit of an acid shock, but you won’t be able to stop after that. The octopus leg was also excellent, with just the right chew and a lovely charred flavor. And the potatoes and asparagus that came with the steak — Spain’s produce really is something else, I have to say.

This is a spot that captures Sevilla’s easygoing, relaxed spirit — well worth a visit.

La Teresas

Sevilla Spain

Sevilla is a sun-drenched city, but the days we were there happened to bring rain. Maybe it’s in Sevilla’s nature to make you want to while away the hours here regardless. When you can’t wander outside, might as well go drink and daydream instead!

La Teresas came recommended by a local friend too. This 150-year-old spot occupies three storefronts on a street corner, and it was still packed even at 3 in the afternoon.

This is the kind of little place that makes you happy just looking at the facade — small outdoor tables and heaters, packed with people drinking and chatting. Inside, the walls are covered in old paintings, and the ceiling is hung with ham legs — from green-label to 5J, they practically function as the restaurant’s own decor.

A drink in the afternoon, a tapa on the side. Daydreaming, watching the rain through the glass — this place is almost too comfortable.

El Librero

Tapas Y

Quesos

Sevilla Spain

El Librero sits right next door to La Teresas, one of the rare restaurants in Sevilla’s old town that opens at nine, specializing in tapas and seafood rice. The doorway curtain is small, but the moment you step in you’re greeted by a massive cheese cabinet — and the aroma hits you right away.

We simply ordered one tapa — Atún encebollados, only four euros — plus a glass of house white.

The oil-cured tuna arrives just barely cooked through, falling apart at the lightest touch. It has a bit of that shredded-fish texture while staying moist, not dry at all, genuinely fragrant — paired with caramelized onion and local potatoes. This tiny plate might not win any beauty contests, but it hits every note: sweet, salty, savory, soft, tender. Can’t help but say it again — Spanish potatoes really are delicious.

This place makes the perfect pit stop on your map while wandering the streets of Sevilla.

WINE BAR

A few good places to drink

The wine paired with tapas tends to be everyday table wine — if you want something more interesting, you need to seek out a proper Wine Bar. We asked friends for recommendations before the trip and found a few spots pouring genuinely good glasses.

La Vinya

del Senyor

Barcelona Spain

A Wine Bar we stumbled onto by accident, right by Barcelona’s cathedral — never expected to find such a hidden gem right in the middle of the tourist area.

The by-the-glass list is huge, spanning a wide range of prices and styles — genuinely great value paired with a bold selection.

There were a few wines that were hard to resist. Take ALEMANY I CORRIO Sot Lefriece 2021 — stunning freshness, delicate texture, great balance. There was also a 2019 Pingus by the glass, exploding with floral and fruit aromas. They also had a lovely rosé, intoxicatingly aromatic, plus one very clean natural wine.

Honestly, every wine on the list has its own charm (if Beijing had a wine bar like this, I’d go every single day).

Vila Vinetica

Barcelona Spain

A shop that’s part wine store, part bar, part classroom — basically anything-works-with-wine.

There are two branches in Barcelona in total; the one in the old town has more of a proper drinking atmosphere.

Honestly, sitting down to eat here isn’t great value, but drinking is genuinely interesting — a good second stop after dinner. The wine selection is constantly, randomly rotating — over the course of two glasses, the by-the-glass lineup at the bar had already changed twice.

The wines they pour are bold and fun, a textbook combination of serious wine merchant and casual bar — recommended for wine lovers to explore early on in a trip.

Vinus & Brindis

Barcelona Spain

A small bar away from the city center. Recommended by a local sommelier friend, it’s built around a wine shop plus a handful of natural wines by the glass.

The owner is clearly a serious wine lover himself, and the bottles you discover here tend to have more personality across the board. There was a white Garnacha made by a 21-year-old winemaker, a very internationally-styled Mencía, and some wines the owner makes himself — not every style will be to everyone’s taste, but the quality across the board was solid, and each bottle had real character.

Natural wine fans should bookmark this one.

MARKET

Mercat de Saint Antoni

It seems every traveler these days has discovered the little secret that a market visit is a must abroad — Boqueria is already overrun with tourists at this point, so a local friend recommended Saint Antoni instead. It’s a market rebuilt inside an old building — classic on the outside, but brand-new and spotless once you step in.

The market itself isn’t huge — ham, olives, fresh meat, seafood, fruit, deli goods — basically everything on a Spanish dinner table can be found here, with more of an everyday-local feel. There aren’t as many places to eat here as at Boqueria, just a few simple cafés for a sandwich.

Overall, wandering through this clean, bright market to get a feel for the daily rhythm of Spanish life is genuinely worthwhile.

BTW, there’s a great Basque cake shop near Saint Antoni called Tartas Pastor — an easy stroll after the market. It’s an unassuming little Basque-cake specialist, with cakes from 4 to 6 inches and dozens of flavors — even the plain cheese one comes in several variations.

Their signature is rich, deeply milky flavor with a subtle, well-hidden acidity — a 4-inch cake to take out is just the right amount.

Where’s the next trip going to take us?