Marbella Original Food Tour: Tapas, Wine & Old Town with a Local

Plaza de los Naranjos. We gather in Marbella's 15th-century Orange Square, by the fountain beside the little Ermita de Santiago chapel. Your local guide sets the scene with the story of the old town — the Casa del Corregidor and the town hall around us — before the tasting begins.

Calle San Lázaro. Down one of the old town's narrowest lanes to one of Marbella's oldest tapas bars, pouring since the 1950s. First glass of cava in hand, we taste the award-winning Ensaladilla Rusa and home-made chicken-and-ham croquetas.

Calle Pantaleon. A cosy, family-run taberna tucked into a lane just off Orange Square. We hand-carve Iberian bellota ham and set it beside Payoyo — Spain's most awarded cheese, made high in the Sierra de Cádiz from the milk of the native payoya goat — and wash it all down with a crisp, chilled Verdejo. Two mountain flavours, centuries in the making, on one plate.

parque de la alameda. A gentle walk through the tiled Alameda gardens down to Avenida del Mar, lined with ten bronze Salvador Dalí sculptures. Time for photos and the stories behind Marbella's open-air art before the final stop.

Av Miguel Cano. Our final stop is a traditional Jerez-style bodega, all dark wood and hanging hams. We round off the evening with a glass of red, mojama de atún — salt-cured red tuna from the Cádiz coast — and gambas al pil-pil sizzling in garlic.

Plaza de los Naranjos. We stroll back through the whitewashed lanes — past the Iglesia de la Encarnación and remnants of the old Arab walls — to Orange Square where we began, with the guide's personal tips for the rest of your stay.