Mercado de San Miguel

A wrought-iron 1916 market hall two minutes from Plaza Mayor, now a gourmet food court of standing-room tapas counters — jamón ibérico, oysters, vermouth on tap, and Basque pintxos, all under one glass roof. Touristy, but the quality holds up.

Come outside peak lunch and dinner hours (before 13:00 or after 22:00) to actually find a spot to stand — it gets genuinely packed shoulder-to-shoulder at prime times. Prices run noticeably higher than an equivalent bar two streets over, which is the trade-off for the variety and setting. It's a good first stop for getting a sense of regional Spanish specialities in one place before committing to specific bars elsewhere.