Barcelona is undoubtedly one of the best cities in the world for unique architecture and rich culture, and part of that involves the food.

Food culture is so deeply ingrained in the city’s culture, in fact, that it’s managed to make it all look effortless. However, it’s all too easy to fall into tourist traps or to have a delicious meal and want to have it over and over again.

You can solve both of those situations by taking one of the 5 top  Barcelona cooking classes – I’ve gone ahead and reviewed them all, so you don’t have to go hunting. Let’s jump right in!

Be sure to see our reviews of Barcelona Tapas Tours, Barcelona Food Tours and Barcelona Wine Tours.

Best Cooking Classes in Barcelona

	Barcelona Paella Cooking Class with Market Visit, Tapas & Sangria	Barcelona: Paella Cooking Experience & Boqueria Market Tour	Barcelona Paella Cooking Class & Boqueria & Hofmann-Trained Chefs
Meeting Location:	Carrer de Lancaster, 10, Bajo 1a, Ciutat Vella, 08001 Barcelona	Carrer de la Boqueria, 27, 08002 Barcelona	La Rambla, 89, Ciutat Vella, 08002 Barcelona
Tour Length:	3 hours	3 hours	3 hours
Start Time(s):	Between 10:00 AM, & 7:00 PM	10:30 AM, 1:00 PM, 4:00 PM, 6:45 PM	10:00 AM, 11:00 AM, 2:00 PM, 6:00 PM
What’s Included:	La Boqueria Market Tour , Sangria-making workshop, Hands-on paella cooking class with a local chef, Traditional Spanish dessert with instruction, all recipes, sangria, red wine, bottled water, and juice	La Boqueria introduction tour, walk through the old town of Barcelona, Tapas, Paella cooking instruction, Sangría mixing class, Homemade paella de marisco, recipes	Pick up local ingredients at a market, local sangria, wines, lunch, dinner, professional instruction, drinks
	Check Tour Availability	Check Tour Availability	Check Tour Availability

Our 5 Top Picks For The Best Barcelona Cooking Class:

1. Barcelona Paella Cooking Class with Market Visit, Tapas & Sangria
2. Barcelona: Paella Cooking Experience & Boqueria Market Tour
3. Barcelona Paella Cooking Class & Boqueria & Hofmann-Trained Chefs
4. Barcelona Interactive Spanish Cooking Experience
5. Barcelona: Seafood Paella Maestro & Tapas & Sangria

Barcelona Cooking Class Reviews

1. Barcelona Paella Cooking Class with Market Visit, Tapas & Sangria

What to Expect on the Tour

If you were to learn just one dish in Barcelona, the most obvious choice would most definitely be paella – and if you’re going to learn paella, learning it from the pros is the only way to do it.

The Barcelona Paella Cooking Class with Market Visit, Tapas & Sangria takes you to La Boqueria, learning about ingredient sourcing and crucial details many average tours seem to bypass. I

n just a few hours, you’ll cover everything you need to know about these Spanish essentials, and get to enjoy the fruits of your labor!

There are many start times to choose from throughout the afternoon, so you’re sure to be able to find something that works well with the rest of your day’s schedule. Start out by meeting up with your guide and the rest of your small group, diving right into the depths of La Boqueria.

Barcelona’s iconic covered market is located on Las Ramblas, and is one that most tourists skip, as they either don’t understand the significance or value in a true venture through.

What Makes This Tour Great

Here, you’ll be led by your knowledgeable guide, learning all about how to properly select your ingredients, what to look for, and what not to. After collecting all the necessities, head back with your chef to their professional kitchen, and waste no time prepping.

You’ll make your own sangria, which is not only delicious but the perfect way to entertain guests when you’re back home! Sip on your creation as you set into making your paella, available in seafood, chicken, or veggie versions.

With groups capped at a mere 12 participants, you don’t have to struggle to get one-on-one attention from your instructor, and there’s plenty of time for perfecting techniques.

After whipping everything together, you’ll sit down with everyone to eat what you’ve made, have a laugh, and chat about your adventure. Oh, and no need to worry about memorizing everything, because you’ll be sent home with a recipe card for both paella and sangria!

Reserve Tour Now and Pay Later / Free Cancellation Within 24 Hours of Tour Start Time

2. Barcelona: Paella Cooking Experience & Boqueria Market Tour

What to Expect on the Tour

I’ve taken my fair share of cooking classes around the world, and I’ve learned that there’s a big difference from simply following a recipe, and actually learning a cuisine. Sure, it’s impossible to learn

The 3-hour experience also comes with a couple of different start times over the afternoon and evening, ensuring it’s easy to accommodate into your schedule.

Things kick off by meeting your guide and the rest of your small group inside the Travel Bar, getting quickly acquainted before moving to the Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria – or just, “La Boqueria”.

As one of the oldest continuously running food markets in all of Europe – dating back to the 13th century – there’s plenty of history and culture to learn.

What Makes This Tour Great

You won’t just stroll through gawking at the different stalls – you’ll actually learn about Spanish and Catalan ingredients, actively. For example, you’ll learn about what makes a good paella rice, what to avoid, and the essentials.

After gathering what you need, wind through Old Town to the private dining room and open kitchen, following your guide’s instructions to create pan con tomate and Basque pintxos alongside flowing sangria.

Speaking of which, we had what was basically a sangria masterclass, understanding the ins and outs of the medieval Iberian wine punch.

As you listen to your guide narrate the history and technique of the paella de mariscos, you’ll help cook in the paellera (the shallow steel pan used). After cooking everything to completion, everyone will sit down and enjoy the insanely tasty seafood paella with the rest of the group.

Reserve Tour Now and Pay Later / Free Cancellation Within 24 Hours of Tour Start Time

3. Barcelona Paella Cooking Class & Boqueria & Hofmann-Trained Chefs

What to Expect on the Tour

Not every cooking class is the same, and plenty of them just run through the motions, checking off boxes. The Barcelona Paella Cooking Class & Boqueria & Hofmann-Trained Chefs class is certainly anything but that, with a mother-daughter chef duo operating out of a gorgeous, refurbished historic building in the Gothic Quarter.

With arched wooden ceilings and a modern industrial kitchen, it manages to accomplish a certain warmth while retaining the obvious professionalism crucial to the experience.

Start off around noon (or a bit later in the afternoon, depending on what’s available at the time of booking), and meet your guides and the rest of your small group at La Boqueria. This is where the majority of these top Barcelona cooking classes originate, and it makes sense, as the best of the best grab their ingredients here.

However, it’s not just any market – it’s one of the most legendary, longest-operating markets in Europe, with all kinds of stories involved.

What Makes This Tour Great

Our guide did a fantastic job of showing us what we needed to look for, from assessing fresh seafood quality, understanding the right produce we needed, and much more.

Take a brief stroll through the stunning Gothic Quarter to the studio, learning some bits and pieces about the architecture and culture along the way.

Back at the kitchen, you’ll sip on some sweet Cava and munch on some pan con tomate with jamon and artisanal cheese, before following it up with a hands-on sangria workshop.

The paella is available in golden seafood, black ink, or try veggie or meat versions (with advanced notice).

The technique instruction includes the socarra, which is a slightly caramelized rice crust at the bottom of the pan that separates a world-class paella from an average one. After whipping it all up, you’ll sit down together to revel in the delicious feast you’ve all made.

Reserve Tour Now and Pay Later / Free Cancellation Within 24 Hours of Tour Start Time

4. Barcelona Interactive Spanish Cooking Experience

What to Expect on the Tour

When it comes to cooking, the best way to retain technique and recipes is to be fully interactive and hands-on. However, there are still plenty of cooking classes out there that focus more on having you watch and listen than anything else.

For a proper, engaging class that is designed to perfect your skills, check out the Barcelona Interactive Spanish Cooking Experience. This 3-hour tour is the perfect alternative to going out to eat, lasting a bit longer but offering so much more than you’d get just by going to a restaurant.

This is also one of the most flexible in terms of start times, with a morning, lunch, mid-afternoon, and dinner class offered! Select the one that works best for your schedule, and plan your eating accordingly.

Just keep in mind that your visit to La Boqueria is also dependent on the time you select and whether or not it works with the market’s hours of operation. Just like with the other tours, you’ll head to La Boqueria to select your ingredients alongside your guide, with educational commentary throughout.

Head back to your base in the El Born district, taking a quick walk over while learning a bit about general Barcelona history and culture. Arrive at the professional teaching kitchen, which comes with an open kitchen, workshop bar, and restaurant-style seating.

What Makes This Tour Great

Learn to make (and enjoy) pintxos, seafood paella, and go through a hands-on sangria workshop in just one session. The pintxos of course come first, offering a bit of Spanish flavor combo introductions before the more technically demanding paella takes center stage.

The sangria workshop was my personal favorite, though that could’ve been because I had a few glasses of it. Then, it’s time to dive into the paella-making process, learning each step from scratch, with your instructor there every step of the way.

If you’re not a seafood fan, there is an alternative, too. After everything, enjoy your meal with the rest of your group, and look forward to receiving your set of recipes and cooking tips to take with you wherever you go!

Reserve Tour Now and Pay Later / Free Cancellation Within 24 Hours of Tour Start Time

5. Barcelona: Seafood Paella Maestro & Tapas & Sangria

What to Expect on the Tour

If you’re on the hunt for the best Barcelona cooking class for families or kids, look no further. The Barcelona: Seafood Paaella Maestro & Tapas & Sangria experience is the complete excursion, covering Spanish icons that everyone seems to know and love.

However, just because they’re popular food choices doesn’t mean they’re all up to the same standard of quality. Here, you can expect to learn to make world-class tapas, paella, and sangria, all with the guidance of a local professional chef.

I also find that learning to make paella is so perfectly communal, just like the dish itself has been defined – traditionally made by groups, enjoyed together, and used as a social act just as much as one that satisfies the stomach.

Whether you’re just looking to perfect your Spanish cooking skills or would like to make some friends while traveling, I can’t recommend this tour enough!

What Makes This Tour Great

You can expect a few different start times to choose from, making it that much more convenient. Meet your guide and the rest of your small group in the Sarria neighborhood, rather than going to La Boqueria as the other cooking classes do.

It’s also why this tour is an hour shorter than the others, diving straight into prepping and cooking the seafood paella.

Even though you won’t be going to the market on this excursion, you’ll still learn about proper ingredient selection, the sofrito base, rice timing, and heat management in order to achieve a nice socarrat.

Nibble on some pan con tomate and stir up some sangria before sitting down to enjoy your delicious meal!

Reserve Tour Now and Pay Later / Free Cancellation Within 24 Hours of Tour Start Time

Allison Sheardy

Allison Sheardy came to wine as a second career in 2016 and has truly found her calling. She has created a niche for herself working in unique wine regions around the United States (Texas Hill Country, historic Livermore, CA, & Minnesota), where she specializes in hospitality for boutique, family-owned wineries. Allison is equally passionate about wine education. As such, she has earned her WSET Diploma in Wines and completed the French Wine Scholar program. Allison is currently pursuing her Master of Wine and teaches WSET levels 1-3.