Córdoba Tapas Tours & Montilla Wine
Córdoba’s food is Andalusian at its richest: salmorejo thick with tomato and jamón, flamenquín, oxtail stew, fried aubergine drizzled with cane honey, and the Montilla-Moriles wines that are like sherry the city made its own. Compare the top-rated tapas tours below, then read our notes.
Formats: tapas tours through the tabernas of the old town and the Judería; gourmet tapas evenings; market-and-cook classes; wine-and-tapas tastings pairing Montilla-Moriles.
What you will taste: salmorejo cordobés, flamenquín, rabo de toro, berenjenas con miel, jamón, salmorejo’s cousin the mazamorra, and a copa of fino or Pedro Ximénez from Montilla.
Price and time: roughly 50 to 110 dollars for two to three hours, food and drinks included.
Córdoba’s dishes
The city’s signature is salmorejo, a thick, cold tomato cream richer than Seville’s gazpacho, topped with chopped egg and jamón. Around it: flamenquín, a rolled and fried pork-and-ham fritter; rabo de toro, slow-braised oxtail; and berenjenas con miel, fried aubergine drizzled with miel de caña, cane syrup, a Moorish sweet-savoury inheritance. The tabernas of the old town and the Judería, the medieval Jewish quarter around the Mezquita, are where you eat them, and a tapas tour threads the good ones.
The wine: Montilla-Moriles
Córdoba’s wine country, Montilla-Moriles, lies about forty kilometres south and makes wines in the sherry style, fino, amontillado, oloroso and sweet Pedro Ximénez, but from the Pedro Ximénez grape ripened so fully in the sun that the wines reach their strength naturally, without the fortification sherry needs. Many tapas tours include a tasting, and the pairing with salmorejo and jamón is the point.
When to come
Spring is Córdoba’s moment, when the patios open for the May festival and the courtyards fill with flowers; summer is very hot, so the tapeo is a night activity. Read our tapas guide for the wider picture.
Frequently asked questions
What is salmorejo?
Córdoba’s thick cold tomato cream, made with bread and oil and topped with egg and jamón; richer than gazpacho and the dish to order first.
What is Montilla-Moriles wine?
Sherry-style wines from south of Córdoba, made from Pedro Ximénez that ripens enough to reach full strength without fortification. Fino to try dry, PX to try sweet.
Are tapas free in Córdoba?
No; that is a Granada custom. In Córdoba you order and pay, in the tabernas around the Mezquita.
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.