How many people is we - a couple - or more? We spend considerably more - but we liike a nice dinner each evening (and usually one splurge dinner in each city). And how are you planning on traveling. This won't cover train or car rental.

I should have mentioned, 2 of us. And we are renting a car for the majority of the trip. The daily cost is for meals and drinks. Thanks

Your daily budget depend on many things, but if you keep with the menú del día offered by many restaurants, including some of the better known gastronomic venues, then you can expect to be spending €50 to €60/person/day (($67 to $80 USD at the current exchange rate) for breakfast and lunch or dinner.

Lunch is typically the least expensive time to have your main meal because of the daily menus. Some restaurant do offer the menú del día for dinner, but only a few. You can spend less, but then a meal becomes nothing more than a refueling stop and you end up missing out on some great cuisine.

And no, tapas or pintxos do not a meal make!

Depending on where you're going, you might want to download a copy of Maribel's Guides (www.maribelsguides.com) to see her recommendations for the area.

"tapas and pintxos do not a meal make", seriously, really? From what I have read it has sounded to me like you certainly could have this be the dinner option (we are two females that like food but do have to keep an eye on calories!) We will be in San Sebastian in May and I was thinking how could we possibly enjoy the tapas scene and then eat dinner! So I'm interested to hear what others have to say about this.

For us, and most of our friends, lunch it typically the main meal of the day, a nice leisurely 2 to 3 hours when you have the time. You can take a small beer before lunch along with a couple of pintxos, but not too many.

Pintxos hopping is for later in the day, in the early evening from around 7:30 until whenever. It's a social thing in the Basque country. If you're planning on going to dinner, then a doing a few pintxos with a couple glasses of wine are fine, but following up a couple hours of doing pintxos with dinner can be a killer, it's just far too much food for one day, even if you're doing a lot of walking around. Pintxos bars in San Sebastian-Donostian are not very far apart, only a couple of steps in some cases.

Tapas, by the way, are not something you'll find in the Basque county.

Tapas , especial raciones, can be a great and cheap meal .

We were just in Andalucia, Spain for 8 days and definitely made tapas our meals - often for both lunch and dinner. There was myself, hubby and 19 yo daughter. Often ordered 4-6 tapas depending on the meal and it was perfect. The tapas plates in Southern Spain were definitely a bit bigger than I recalled when we were in Barcelona a few years ago. Not sure how that will compare with San Sebastian.

Menu del día can be purchased for around 8€ the most expensive I have seen is 12€.
Breakfast can be included in the price of your hotel. If not expect to pay around 6€ or go to bar and spend around 4€.
The price of meal in the evening can vary so much. Restaurant usually charge around 25€ but some a lot lower, especially non tourist places.
Note that Tapas are not served everywhere in Spain.
You will also find that locations like Barcelona far more expensive than say the Picos de Europa.

I'd also suggest to keep the menú del día in mind.
It's a cheap way to sample a real meal, and can be a far cry from what is advertised elsewhere as a cheap "tourist menu".
And it's a good way to "force" you to give your feet a rest at least for 1 or 2 hours.
Personally I like it that lunchtime breaks the day in two halves. So I would do my morning sightseeing, have lunch, go back to hotel/pool, chill for another hour, and start the PM half of the day at around 4 or 5.

For tapas I like the regular bars better where you CAN have tapas with your drink. But you are not expected to have 3-4 of them as a dinner replacement as most of the tapas restaurants will expect you to do.
If you have just one with your beer or wine and then move on to next bar you have more fun than getting stuck in just one place to eat lots.

Whether or not you make tapas your "dinner" is your choice.
I assume that PPs just wanted to say that it is not common. It would be same as if you made a trip to the US, discovered the breakfast pancakes, and had pancakes all day just because you had 24hr IHOPs. It's not illegal, though slightly different from local customs

Bars are also my favorite choice for breakfasts (unless you are a big fan of big buffets or large portions). Most hotels I stayed at (usually not top end!) had no real coffee but a somewhat watery surrogate. The breakfasts were usually not expensive, though. Again, those were not €150 pN *nice* hotels.
Any bar at the next street corner will serve you the best coffee on the planet for just 1.50 to start the day, with a pastry or toast with jam for another 1.50 to 2.50. And it's more fun to sit at the bar and watch real people dashing off to work after a minute chit-chat with neighbors, get some of the local news, than to be confined to a sterile big breakfast room with just other hotel guests.
Won't take more than 15 minutes, and off you go to your sightseeing.

After having a three course and usually very affordable menu del día for lunch, it is often perfectly fine to just go for some tapas in the evening (pintxos in the Basque country). Often there are free tapas to go with every drink in the bar for some 1.50-2€. Most locals will have a glass and a tapa before moving on to the next place.

A realistic budget pr. person would be:

Breakfast at a local bar, very much recommended over a boring hotel breakfast, 4€.

Three course lunch with drinks included: 10€

Tapas/raciones and some drinks into the night: 15-20€

suec1,

I would recommend to do either pintxos hopping or dinner/lunch. In San Sebastián it's normal to have a couple of drinks and a couple of pintxos or some fabulous jamón ibérico before dinner, but for those not used with it, it's easily way too much food. Make sure that Sunday lunch is a seriuous txikiteo in the Parte vieja. Then the whole world is out pintxos hopping from bar to bar in the Parte vieja/Old town.

I think you'll find it a fun way to eat fantastic food to just move from bar to bar and have whatever you like at each place. Here are some suggested pintxos routes in San Sebastián, but you can't do much wrong here. Any place serving less than great food is out of business in two weeks in food crazy San Sebastián: http://www.todopintxos.com/ruta/ruta.php

Interesting to read this. We'll be in Spain (Madrid & Barcelona) for 2 weeks in October, and I'll have to work out a budget for the trip. We are renting apartments in both cities, so will be set for b/fast. I love to eat good food, but I find that 3 meals a day are often too much when travelling, and I'm assuming we'll find the same in Spain. What I've found works is either lunch or dinner in a proper restaurant, then the other 'meal' can be something light. Tapas sound like a perfect solution in those areas where they're common.

In Seville most of my dinners have been made up of tapas so I think you can have dinner either way.. The Spanish won't mind!

Tapas are as common as it gets in both Barcelona and Madrid as they are in most of the rest of the country.

An intro to tapas in Madrid: http://tapastalk.wordpress.com/tapas-bars/

and Barcelona: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jun/08/top-10-tapas-bars-barcelona

Well we never have tapas for meals. Will sometimes have one with a glass of wine early, then walk around before dinner (tapas maybe 7:30 and dinner at 10).

I must admit that the places we go do not have prices like those listed here. I suppose it depends on how casuale you want to be. We don;t reutinely go to Michelin * places - but we do like nice restaurants for dinner - tablecloths, crystal etc - and do have a full meal. I know there are more casulae places - we often eat lunch there - but can;t get into a main meal in the middle of the day - when we'll be touring around afterward.

There's cheap, and then there's:
Three course lunch with drinks included: 10€
Tapas/raciones and some drinks into the night: 15-20€

I take it we hang out in different neighborhoods, be it Madrid or San Sebastian-Donostia. In Pamplona I can have a great pintxo and excellent glass of wine for less than €3, but would be hard pressed to find anything of quality for the same price in Madrid or Donostia any longer.

A menu del dia for €10 will only get you the poorest cut of meat.

The best deal for breakfast can still be found the La Paz market in the Salamanca district.

Robert you are quite correct there is cheap and then there's.......
In all the years I have lived here I have found price does not necessarily reflect quality. I have had some excellent meals for little money. I have had some expensive meals that have left me hungry.
The OP is also visiting Asturias. That region, like Cantabria and Galicia are some of the cheapest places to eat in Spain. At any level of cuisine.
Just eat where the locals go and not the tourists.

Robert2533
You could of course have a great menu del día for 10€ almost everywhere in Spain. Most locals will not pay more than that.

Next time in Donostia/San Sebastián, you should visit the nice and local feel Antiguo district. Several fine and affordable places along Calle Matia.

Thank you all so much. We too love to eat where the locals do. Also I love the menu del dia option.

Again thanks and I will keep pouring over all of the suggestions etc that are on this great site.

PS We love that Asturias is so beautiful and not yet overrun with tourists. It's a great place to have family!

My idea of a great menu del dia is the €25 all inclusive menu at Kokotxa in the old quarter, Michelin star and all. La Kitchen (Madrid) for €17 is bad.

I can eat at a soup kitchen in Marrakech for less than €1, but why would I. Yes, you can "dine" on a menu del dia for €10, and it would seem sufficient if that's what you are use to, but if you've checked the prices in the market lately, you'll see what things cost: Ventresca de Atun €49,50/Kilo, Atun Rojo €39,80/Kilo, Almeja Babosa €24,20/Kilo Cozuinas €25,20/Kilo, Calamar Potera and Gambas 15,80/Kilo, Cigala, €24,30/Kilo and Coquinas €25,20/kilo.

I don't travel thousands of miles to dine on cheap cuts of meat or fish. I can do that at home.

Since I keep notes on my meals when traveling, I can offer these prices on restaurants in Madrid.

These totals are for restaurants that are quite upscale, in that there are tablecloths, crystal, and most important, very good food! Although they may be listed in Michelin (I have no idea) they are not "fancy" places. All dinners included inexpensive local wine. All dinners are for 2 people, and are comprised of several courses. All are in Madrid and prices are from 2010. Desserts were not ordered.

Dinner at a well-regarded seafood restaurant=137 euro

Dinner at a well-regarded gastro-bar; table service=70 euro

Dinner at a well-regarded restaurant with meat as main courses=67 euro


Light meals/snacks:

Two cups of hot chocolate and one shared order churros at San Gines=7.90 euro

Bocadillo of squid with glass of non-alcoholic mosto at bar=5.30 euro

I can certainly eat tapas instead of a dinner, but be aware that those tapas can add up; a tapas meal night not be less pricey than a sit down meal.


My only additional comment is that one can find a very good restaurant price/value ratio in Spain, provided one chooses wisely. I found the food to be outstanding in most instances.

Well I certainly enjoy good food but I am not a gourmet, however on one trip I was traveling with my adult daughter and we were in Nice for her birthday. So we thought we would splurge and try a Michelin starred restaurant for the celebration. Early in the day we walked by the restaurant to try to view the menu - we peeked in the large glass window and what did we see???? a small dog wandering on top of the tables snarfing up orts from the previous night's dinner. We have yet to try a Michelin starred restaurant but have enjoyed many good meals - some quite cheap, others in more refined establishments!

Thank you to the poster who linked the pinxtos routes in SS - I only wish we were going to be there a few days longer!

Sorry..the prices I gave above are from 2011, not 2010.

I think tastes and expectations vary so widely that there is no one answer.

While PP mentioned the prices for high-end seafood, there are still many other, much less pricey local fish available which still taste very good.
Especially at small harbor restaurants in smaller towns where the catch of the day is indeed the catch of the day from the fisherman next door (and not the tuna flewn in from the Canaries).

And the Spanish cuisine has many regional variations and offers many more delicious options than just seafood and high-end steaks, for those with a bit less euros to spend each day. Even a potaje/ stew for under €10 in a rural village can be the best meal of your vacation.

While high-end restaurants sure will offer great food for an adequate price, it does not hurt IMO to leave some room for experimenting outside the range of Top 10 restaurants in Madrid or Barcelona or Donostia.

But as tastes fortunately differ, anyone can find his/her perfect restaurant.