San Miguel Market: An Insider’s Guide to the Most Famous Market in Madrid
The San Miguel Market is easily the most famous market in Madrid. With beautiful iron beams and glass walls, it is a strikingly beautiful temple to Spanish food!
This market is in the heart of the most historic neighborhood in Madrid, Madrid de los Austrias. It is right next to Plaza Mayor and just a couple blocks away from the Royal Palace. The San Miguel Market serves as Madrid’s most famous food hall where people from all over the world come to taste a huge variety of Spanish foods.
From local wine to traditional tapas, the San Miguel Market is the most popular market in Madrid for visitors looking to taste the flavors of the city!
History of Madrid’s San Miguel Market
Mercado San Miguel gets its name from the Iglesia de San Miguel, an important church in medieval Madrid that burned down in the late 18th century. The open space left by the church became a de facto, open-air market until 1916 when the city built the impressive iron structure we see today.
Mercado San Miguel was originally an important fresh foods market for this neighborhood with fruit and vegetable vendors, fishmongers and butchers. Nowadays those traditional stalls have been replaced by mini restaurants serving up iconic Madrid tapas, drinks and desserts. Rather than a place to do your grocery shopping, the market is now a bustling food hall where visitors can taste a huge variety of Spanish foods and drinks all under one roof.
The San Miguel Market is one of Madrid’s most iconic sites and one of the most popular things to do in Madrid.
Tips for Visiting the San Miguel Market
Go during off-peak hours
Because the San Miguel Market is one of the most famous sites in Madrid, it can be packed at all hours of the day. It opens everyday at 10:00 am and serves food and drinks all day until long after sunset. The doors close at midnight during the week at 1:00 am on Friday and Saturday nights.
The busiest times are usually between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm for lunch and again from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm for dinner.
Come hungry!
San Miguel is less of a market where locals go to buy their fresh produce, fish and meat and more of a food hall with stands selling the greatest hits of Spanish tapas. From paella to calamari sandwiches, Mercado San Miguel offers all of Madrid’s most iconic dishes under one roof. Be sure to come hungry!
There is nothing more quintessentially Madrid than eating a “bocata de calamares” aka a fried calamari sandwich in and around Plaza Mayor!
Be extra careful of pickpockets
Like all major landmarks in European cities, the San Miguel Market can unfortunately be a hotspot for pick pocketers. The market is often packed with people so be sure to keep an eye on all of your belongings while enjoying the food and drinks on offer.
Keep your phone in your front pocket or in a zipped purse and avoid setting it on the counter or bar. Madrid is a very safe city with very little violent crime but, as with all major cities in Europe, we do have the occasional pick pocket.
What to Eat at the San Miguel Market
This map of the San Miguel Market shows our top 10 picks for where to eat in Madrid’s most famous market!
There are more than 30 food stalls to choose from inside the San Miguel market! Here at Walk and Eat we have done the hard work of tasting out which are the best. As with all Spanish bars, each stall has one or two specialties. We’ve recommended not only which stalls to visit but also the specialty tapa and drink to try at each spot.
If you want to get off the beaten path, join us on our De Tapas in Malasaña: Evening Wine and Tapas Tour! You’ll experience a true tapas night out in the hip and historic Malasaña neighborhood. This vibrant area is only a 20-minute stroll north of the San Miguel Market, but feels like a different city! From a family-run charcuterie shop to a hole-in-the-wall wine bar serving incredible local wines, you’ll taste the true flavors of Madrid across 4 delicious tapas stops.
Here’s everything you need to know to build your own San Miguel Market Tapas Tour!
Cheers to market research! Walk and Eat’s Elise and Amy ate (and drank!) their way through all of the stalls in the San Miguel Market to find the very best bites for this article.
Hora del Vermut
Head here for a huge variety of Spanish vermouth (both on tap and craft vermouth from the bottle!). Pair it with one of their colorful pickled skewers and a scoop of Spanish olives.
2. Pinkleton & Co
The best spot for wine lovers! Try a glass of their Dominio de Requena sparkling Cava, a crisp white Txakoli or a local, organic red called Senda from Bodega Las Moradas. For those feeling extra brave, get a glass of Alfonso Oloroso Sherry from Gonzales Byass.
3. Casa de Bacalao
Smoked, salted or pickled, this is the place to go for cured fish! Our favorite is the bacalao al pil pil (cod in a garlicky sauce).
Salted cod has been a staple of the Spanish diet for centuries. At the Casa de Bacalao in the San Miguel Market, they prepare this essential Spanish ingredient in over a dozen ways, all of which are heaped onto two-bite-sized crispy crackers.
These bite-sized tapas of salt cod are one of the best tapas in Madrid’s San Miguel Market!
4. Quesoba
Head here for a great selection of Spanish cheeses. Everything at Quesoba will pair beautifully with that Senda red wine from Madrid we recommend getting at Pinkleton & Co!
5. Morris
Seafood lovers, this is your spot. Try their Galician oysters (6 come in an order) or their “navaja” razor clams.
6. Arzabal Croqueta Cart
You know the croquetas are good if they have their own special cart! Jamon (ham) is the favorite, but the boletus (mushroom) are also superb.
7. Madrí
This restaurant specializes in classic tapas and the best beer in the market. Order a Turia on tap and pair it with crunchy pork belly (Torreznos). Most of the beer on tap in Mercado San Miguel is Estrella Damm, the classic lager of Barcelona. Why it isn’t Madrid’s go-to lager, Mahou, is one of life’s great mysteries!
8. Power Paella
Silly name. Serious paella! We recommend black rice for the adventurous or paella Valenciana which has chicken and green beans. The vegetarian paella is also excellent. Get a Tapa size to share between 2 or a Tapa Power to share among 4 people.
The arroz negro from Power Paella in the San Miguel Market is dyed black with squid ink!
9. Señor Martin
This place is fried fish heaven. The iconic thing to get is a “bocadillo de calamares” aka a calamari sandwich, but all of their “pescaito frito” is fresh and delicious!
10. Rocambolesc
This dessert emporium was created by the pastry chef at the 3-Michelin-Starred restaurant Can Roca. This is ice cream like you’ve never had ice cream before!
Other Markets in Madrid Worth Visiting
While the San Miguel Market is the most famous market in Madrid, it is definitely not the city’s only market worth visiting! Every neighborhood in the city has a traditional market where folks from that neighborhood do their grocery shopping or socializing.
There is no better place to discover what is in season that at a traditional market in Madrid! In the fall, the market stalls are brimming with wild mushrooms, many of which are picked from the mountains just outside the city!
Keep in mind that these markets all keep traditional market hours and are open from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and then reopen in the afternoons from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm Monday through Friday. They are also open Saturdays from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm with some of the markets (San Fernando and Cebada) extending their Saturday hours until 5:00 pm. Here are a few of our favorite markets in Madrid!
Mercado Barceló
Located on the border between the Malasaña and Chueca neighborhoods, the Barceló Market is one of the best markets in Madrid to find fresh products! The first two floors are packed with a staggering variety of fresh fish, organic meats, artisan cheeses, local olives and seasonal fruit and vegetables.
The top floor is home to various restaurants serving both traditional Spanish food (try Bar Barceló!) and international cuisine (Youlari Gastrobar has some of the best Peruvian food in Madrid!).
Join us on our De Mercados: Neighborhood Market and Food Tour to taste your way through the Barceló Market! You’ll meet Roberto, the olive expert; Gemma, the cheesemonger; Carlos, the chef and many other market experts.
From cured Iberian ham to locally grown olives, markets are the best place to discover the flavors of Spain!
Mercado San Fernando
Saturday afternoons are the most fun time to visit the San Fernando Market in the Lavapies neighborhood. This historic market has a large, open space in the center where families and friends from across the city flock for lunch on Saturday between noon and 5:00 pm.
The best thing to do is snag a table in the central area and send delegates from your group to bring back tapas from one of the dozens of food stalls throughout the market. It is a delicious feast in the making!
Mercado de la Cebada
This was one of the two original markets first built in Madrid in the early 1800s. While the original iron structure has now been replaced by a concrete building, Mercado de la Cebada is still one of the best markets in Madrid to visit!
During the week head in here to pick up incredible seasonal produce. Is there anything better than fresh fruit for a travel snack? On Saturdays, Cebada is packed with people from the neighborhood eating and drinking all the delicious fresh fish that the fish mongers prepare right at their stalls!
We kick off our De Historia in La Latina: Madrid Paella, History and Tapas Tour with an aperitivo in the Cebada Market! You’ll meet Pedro, our favorite frutero, and taste his seasonal fruit and famous tomatoes along with a glass of local vermouth.
Markets are the nerve center of each neighborhood in Madrid. Each is completely unique! As you explore our incredible city, we can’t recommend enough visiting the local market to get a true feel for what the neighborhood and the city are all about. They are the perfect places to walk and eat!