About this tour
Learn to cook authentic paella in Alicante's working restaurant kitchen, starting with a guided hunt through Mercado Central for fresh ingredients. You'll build a seafood, meat, or vegetarian paella from the ground up—broth, sofrito, the lot—alongside a local chef and hospitality professional. Share your finished dish with fellow travellers and locals over homemade sangria and tapas, then take the recipes home to recreate it yourself.
Highlights
- Browse Mercado Central with chef, select fresh local ingredients
- Prepare stock and traditional sofrito base from scratch
- Cook paella to your chosen protein preference hands-on
- Learn and make sangria, taste alongside your meal
- Eat in actual local restaurant, not tourist-oriented venue
- Take printed recipes home for future cooking
- Share table with both locals and other travellers
What to expect
The morning or afternoon begins at Mercado Central, where your chef walks you through the stalls, pointing out quality ingredients and introducing you to vendors. You'll buy what you need, then head to the kitchen—a functioning restaurant where locals actually dine. There, you'll roll up your sleeves and build your paella layer by layer: simmering the broth, toasting the rice, layering in sofrito and your protein of choice. Sangria preparation happens alongside. By the end, you're plating up your own paella and sitting down to eat it with others in the room, sharing the experience over wine and local nibbles.
Good to know
The kitchen is housed in a real working restaurant, so noise and activity are part of it. Classes run 3 hours 30 minutes. Wheelchair accessible throughout. Children welcome; under-18s cannot consume alcohol but can participate fully. Public transport nearby. All kit—aprons, equipment, ingredients—provided.
Tour sold and operated by Viator via Viator. Descriptions on this page are original BugBitten summaries written by our team — not copied from the operator. Prices and availability are confirmed at checkout.