An entertaining and sociable hands-on experience, this shared half-day activity offers you the chance to explore a Spanish market with a local chef and put together one of Spain’s most renowned dishes, a traditional paella. Along the way, you’ll get to learn about the choice of ingredients as well as their origins and uses, and get tips on how to pick the best-quality produce from the vast array on offer. It’s a great introduction to Spanish food culture and an insight into traditional culinary techniques and the importance of food in Spanish family life.
On the day of your tour, you’ll be escorted from your hotel to one of Barcelona’s vibrant local markets, where you’ll meet the rest of your group and your chef for the day.
Your chef will guide you around the market, stopping at stalls along the way to teach you about the different produce on offer and help you select the best ingredients for your dishes.
Once you’ve gathered everything you need for the class, you’ll head back through the winding streets of the Gothic Quarter to the cooking school. The main focus of the course is cooking a large paella, a rice-based dish with a distinctive yellow hue from its use of saffron. Traditionally, paella is made using seafood, but it’s sometimes made with meat, or a combination of the two, when it’s known as paella mixta.
Your chef will reveal a little about the history of the dish and its origins before explaining how to prepare all the ingredients. Tasks are divided up between the group for a relaxed but informative hands-on lesson.
While the paella is cooking, you’ll also learn how to make a number of smaller dishes, as well as a tempting Catalan dessert.
Throughout the course, there’s time to stop and enjoy the fruits of your efforts over a glass of wine.
Start planning your tailor-made trip by contacting one of our Spain specialists
These activities are designed to give you the most authentic experiences around where you're staying. We work with local guides, who use their knowledge and often a resident's eye to show you the main sights and more out-of-the-way attractions. Our specialists can suggest tours and activities that will introduce you to the local ways of life.
Barcelona by bicycle
Take off on two wheels and explore Barcelona by bicycle with the help of a local guide. You’ll discover the waterfront area of Barceloneta, ride along the winding narrow streets of the Gothic Quarter and visit some of the city’s main sights.
Codorníu and Montserrat
Journeying around the Penedès wine region, you’ll discover the home of cava, Spain’s sparkling wine, on this full-day guided tour. Learn about its history and production, and tour the Codorníu estate, before continuing on to Montserrat to see the basilica, one of Spain’s major pilgrimage sites.
Dalí, Figueres and Girona
This full-day private tour from Barcelona takes you to Figueres, Salvador Dalí’s hometown and the site of his surreal museum, as well as the historic city of Girona, with its Romanesque and Gothic buildings and Baroque cathedral.
Gaudí’s Barcelona
The architecture and influence of legendary Modernist Antoni Gaudí are revealed on this guided half-day tour of Barcelona. You’ll visit three of his most renowned projects, rippling Casa Milà, his greenspace Park Güell and the Sagrada Família.
You can enjoy this activity as part of the suggested tours below, or we can weave it into a trip shaped entirely around you.
