León. Known for it’s gothic architecture, small-town vibes, and beautiful weather is located in northwest Spain. Situated close to Portugal, northern Spain and basque country, and amidst the best wine-growing regions in Spain, this town also has an amazing culinary clture, represented in the amazing tapas bars on offer here. We recently spent an entire weekend in León checking out every tapas bar to design the perfect bar crawl. Read on for our selection.

León Tapas bar crawl

**WHERE**: León, northwest Spain.
**WHY**: The tastiest, cheapest Tapas in all of Spain.
**TIME**: 1 day

WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO

Before you kick off your bar hopping experience in Leon, I’d recommend that you rad our guide to Tapas Culture in Spain, which can be found over here. However, specifically for Leon, you need to know the following;

These bars are cash only. I repeat cash only, and don’t take contactless or debit cards - so take out at least 40 euros before setting off (just in case.)
These bars are favourites with locals, and aren’t tourist hotspots. Thus, the bar staff didn’t speak much English, so have the following phrases ready;
- Puedo tener? (can I have?)
- Un vaso de (a glass of…)
- Vermut (vermouth)
- Vinos Locales (local wine)
- Muchas Gracias (many thanks)
- Que recomendarias? (what would you recommend?)
These bars are standing room only for the most part, and most don’t have any seating at all - so get prepared for a day of standing on your own two feet.
These bars are very, very popular with locals. On weekends they will be utterly packed, and the Spanish have no problem drinking in close confines - so either get prepared to queue, or drink shoulder to shoulder with locals.
These bars are cheap: you shouldn’t be paying more than 2-3 euros for most drinks. Also, the tapas is free. DO NOT PAY FOR TAPAS IN LEON - if you do, you have definitely been ripped off. The tapas is included in the price of the drink, and you will get one tapas for every drink that you order.

STOP 1: Cervantes 10 Gastrobar

(Calle Cervantes, 10)

Our first stop on our extended tapas bar crawl was at Cervantes 10 Gastrobar. Located in Barrio Romantico, and a short walk away from the central historical areas, Cervantes 10 Gastrobar was the perfect launching off point for our bar crawl. Known for it’s amazing selection of vermouth (pronounce it; vermut), we were served up two perfect vermouths on ice (vermut con hielo) and a fantastic fish roe tapas. We paid 4 euros for the privilege. The staff were excellent, attentive, and definitely knew how to whip up a perfect vermouth.

STOP 2: CAMAROTE MADRID

(Calle Cervantes, 8)

Located two doors up from Gastrobar, Camarote Madrid has a far more ‘old-school’ flavour, and was filled with families, elderly couples and bar staff dressed to the nines. This place exuded Spanish class, and we enjoyed a fantastic ‘vino locales,’ with an accompanying omelette. Al for 3 euros for both of us. Absolutely fantastic.

STOP 3: Taberna de Flandes

(Calle Cid, 4)

A veritable hole in the wall, the Flandes Tavern is located about 2 minutes away from Camarote Madrid, and was absolutely packed with locals when we arrived at 2 pm on a Sunday afternoon. the place had an excellent and lengthy wine list. We drank a glass of the local Prieto Pecudo and had the Rabo de Toro, a recipe of oxtail on a piece of bread. Spine-tingling stuff.

STOP 4: Jamon Y Jamon

(Calle Cardilles, 1)

We then headed into the excellent Barrio Humedos, with its twisting alleyways and gorgeous street art. This is my favourite neighbourhood in the city, and it also contained some of the best tapas bars we found in our time in Leon. Your first stop here is Jamon Y Jamon (ham and ham). once you arrive, you’ll see why - the place is bedecked in Spanish Ham (Jamon Iberico). It hangs from the ceilings, sits on the bar, and is constantly shaved into bite size portions by the excellent owners. When we arrived the place was fairly quiet, but we treated ourselves to a glass of wine and a beer, and were served up my favourite tapas of the day, the very simple ham and cheese on bread. Good Lord, thinking about it now - this place was the best. My memory starts to get hazy around this point, but I’m sure that we spent less than 5 euros here.

STOP 5: FLECHAZO

(Calle Cardilles, 2)

One door up from Jamon Y Jamon is the sardine tin of a tapas bar, Flechazo. The staff here are no-nonsense, but will serve up a vermouth and papas frites (potato chips) in light-speed, and will do it for less than 2 euros per person. This place is standing room only, and was an absolute favourite with locals.

STOP 6: LA BICHA

(Plaza San Martin, 6)

We’ve saved up the best for last. This was easily our favourite tapas bar in all of Leon. Located 2 minutes walk from Flechazo, La Bicha is easily the best Tapas Bar in town, verified by how madly popular it was with locals. When we first arrived the tiny bar was completely wall-to-wall packed with locals, forcing us to wait outside for a small gap to appear. We spent a good 2 hours here, sipping on vermouth and vino locales with the owner - who is an absolute champion. Can absolute recommend that you try the morcilla (blood sausage) here. One of my favourite flavours in Spain.

If you have any sustenance or room in your stomach left at this point, we’ve barely scratched the surface for tapas bars in Leon. You could also consider going to Taberna Gaucho, Bar Genarin or Meson Jabugo - all are excellent, and seemed t be favourites with the locals - however, we didn’t have time whilst in town to personally check them out.

Any questions or ideas for other tapas bars to add to the list? Fire away in the comments below!

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