From 17 to 27 September, Hotel Tapa Tour returns to Madrid with 29 four- and five-star hotels, nine gastronomic routes and nearly 100 tapas, opening hotel restaurants, bars and terraces to the city.
Hotels can be curious places in a city. Their restaurants may be well known, their rooftop bars visible from the street and their gardens hidden just beyond the lobby, yet for anyone who is not staying overnight, there is not always an obvious reason to walk through the door.
For eleven days this September, a tapa is reason enough.
It is a format built around a simple idea: hotel gastronomy does not have to belong only to hotel guests. Since the event began in 2016, its stated aim has been to break down the barriers between the public and hotel dining, turning restaurants, bars, gardens and terraces into spaces that form part of the city itself.
And rather than asking visitors to commit to a full restaurant meal, Hotel Tapa Tour uses one of Spain’s most familiar ways of eating to provide the introduction.
Nine routes, or no route at all
Madrid’s 2026 edition is divided into nine official routes, bringing together 27 hotels across different parts of the city.
But the routes are suggestions rather than fixed itineraries. Visitors can follow one from beginning to end, combine hotels from different routes or simply choose individual stops according to location or what they want to eat.
For the regular Hotel Tapa Tour, no advance reservation is required: visitors select the tapas they want and pay directly at each hotel. Opening hours vary between participating venues, so these are worth checking before setting out.
That freedom preserves something recognisable about tapeo itself — moving between places, ordering something small and continuing elsewhere — while transferring it from Madrid’s traditional bars into a very different collection of spaces.
This year that connection has another layer. The festival takes place as the Spanish tradition of tapeo seeks recognition as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Participating hotels
Route 1: Palacio de los Duques · VP Plaza España Design · RIU Plaza España
Route 2: The Madrid EDITION · UMusic Hotel Madrid · CoolRooms Palacio de Atocha
Route 3: Casa de las Artes · NH Madrid Nacional · Hard Rock Hotel Madrid
Route 4: The Palace Hotel, Madrid · Mandarin Oriental Ritz, Madrid · Mercer Madrid
Route 5: Four Seasons Hotel Madrid · JW Marriott Hotel Madrid · Gran Hotel Inglés
Route 6: The Principal Madrid · Nômade Temple Madrid · Brach Madrid
Route 7: Hyatt Centric Gran Vía Madrid · Hotel Montera Madrid · Urso Hotel & Spa
Route 8: Hospes Puerta de Alcalá · BLESS Hotel Madrid · VP Madroño
Route 9: InterContinental Madrid · Hyatt Regency Hesperia Madrid · VP Sognio Metropolitano
In-House only: Rosewood Villa Magna · Barceló Torre de Madrid
Also offering In-House experiences: JW Marriott Hotel Madrid · Urso Hotel & Spa
Four ways to approach a tapa
The participating kitchens are not all being asked to produce the same interpretation of a tapa.
Instead, each hotel can offer up to four different creations. The Tapa Nacional is centred on Spanish or local cooking and paired with a D.O. Ribera del Duero wine. The Tapa Fusión moves towards international influences and is paired with D.O. Cava. A Croqueta de Autor comes with beer or vermouth, while the Tapa Dulce is accompanied by a cocktail or alcohol-free alternative.
The result is less a single definition of the tapa than a snapshot of how very different hotel kitchens choose to work within its scale.
At Mercer Madrid, the Tapa Nacional stays close to recognisable Spanish flavours: a Gilda castiza combining olive, piparra pepper, anchovy, boquerón and vermouth vinaigrette. Its fusion counterpart takes hake in another direction, serving it in tempura with beetroot beurre blanc, while dessert becomes an apple Tatin flower. All three are listed at €12.
Four Seasons Hotel Madrid offers two distinct sets of creations across El Patio and ISA Restaurant & Cocktail Bar. At El Patio, Spanish potato salad on a crisp regañá with Cantabrian anchovy is priced at €16, while the crispy plantain with slow-cooked pork ear, brava sauce and pineapple is €14. The morcilla croquette is €16, and the churro with vanilla and hazelnut €15. At ISA, beef tenderloin tartare with shiso is €16, salmon nigiri with cava-infused tomato €18, and the black sesame, yuzu, white miso and toasted rice dessert €20.
At The Principal Madrid, chef Víctor Cuevas turns pork ear into a gyoza served with tripe sauce and lime reduction, while the Tapa Fusión combines Ibérico pork saam with prawn tartare. A Madrid-style cocido appears as a croquette with mint emulsion and piparra peppers, followed by a tonka bean and red berry Paris-Brest. Each of the four proposals is priced at €12.
Nearby, Nômade Temple Madrid pairs Olivier salad with tuna tataki and sourdough for €9, while its tuna tartare on a crisp tortilla with avocado and shiitake vinaigrette is €12. A caramel flan with a Smoke Ritual cocktail completes the selection at €11.
Across the wider programme, the same categories produce very different combinations, bringing together familiar ingredients such as cocido, tripe, pork ear, piquillo peppers, anchovies and croquettes with flavours including kimchi, yuzu, harissa, dashi and leche de tigre.
The format may be small, but the kitchens are not treating it as a limitation.
More than the restaurants
For those who want to go further inside, Hotel Tapa Tour has a second format.
Four hotels host In-House Experiences, which differ from the self-guided routes. These are guided visits led by the hotels themselves, moving through several spaces within the property and combining the tour with signature tapas and selected pairings. Places are limited and advance booking is required.
The four participating hotels are Rosewood Villa Magna, Barceló Torre de Madrid, JW Marriott Hotel Madrid and Urso Hotel & Spa; the latter two also participate in the regular routes.
At Rosewood Villa Magna, the experience moves between Amós, Las Brasas de Castellana, Tarde.O and Flor y Nata. Its four bites include the hotel’s interpretation of a Gilda, a marmitako croquette with vine-wood-smoked bonito, an anchovy, sobao pasiego and fig tartlet, and a citrus tartlet. The experience is offered on selected dates for €55.
JW Marriott’s version runs throughout the festival and moves through La Botica, Sala de Mezclas and JW Garden, with four creations including spicy sea bass with crisp potato and caviar, a beef tenderloin sando and a creamy oxtail croquette with red-wine gel. The listed price is €45.
Here, the hotel itself becomes part of what is being tasted.
Practical information
Hotel Tapa Tour Madrid 2026 runs from 17–27 September. The programme includes 29 four- and five-star hotels, nine routes and nearly 100 tapas.
The organisers give €8–€12 as the average price range, although individual proposals vary by hotel and some are higher. The published programme lists regular tapas from around €8 to €20, with each category presented alongside its corresponding drink pairing.
The self-guided Tour Libre requires no advance reservation, and visitors can follow an official route or create their own. Individual hotels set their own serving hours. In-House Experiences are separately ticketed, have limited capacity and require advance booking.
Hotel Tapa Tour will continue in Barcelona from 5–15 November 2026. From January 2027, a new Permanent Route will also see selected hotels in Madrid and Barcelona offer an exclusive tapa and pairing throughout the year.
