Bar culture is crucial for Spain and its people and the vast amount of bar-like establishments in this country will probably surprise you.
In Spain there are over 200,000 bars, this translates to one bar per 200 or 250 people.
Let’s break these establishments down and where you should go if you want the most amount of bars on your next holiday.
Bar culture in Spain is not necessarily referring to drinking alcohol all day, every day. A traditional bar covers all the Spaniards needs, whether that be breakfast, mid-morning, lunch, merienda, pre-dinner drink, dinner and of course, nightlife. They are usually family-friendly venues which will always be packed, especially during the summer season.
The area with most bars in Spain is Andalucia, leading with around 49,000 bars and the area with most bars per resident is the Balearic Islands.
Types of bars in Spain:
- Tapas bar- bars which specialise in tapas
- Cervecerías – Beer bars
- Tabernas- Traditional restaurants/bars
- Bodegas- wine bars
- Sidrerías – cider bars
- Coctelerías- cocktail bars
- Chiringuitos – beach bars
- Pubs – we know these well!
- Casetas- Traditionally family owned bars which are used during feria season
- Discotecas- Night clubs!
If you are looking for a certain bar scene, there are different areas which typically offer different experiences or ‘vibes’.
Madrid: Traditional tavernas, cocktail bars, around Malasaña, Chueca, and La Latina.
Barcelona: Chiringuitos, vermuterias, cervecerias and rooftop bars.
Seville: Historic tapas bars, flamenco venues, and rooftop cocktail bars.
San Sebastián: World-famous pintxos bars.
Granada: Most bars and establishments still serve free tapas with drinks.
Valencia: Beachfront bars and lively nightlife in Ruzafa.
Bilbao: Excellent Basque pintxos bars.
Ibiza: Beach clubs, sunset bars, and internationally famous nightlife.
Málaga & Costa del Sol: Seafront chiringuitos, cocktail bars, and late-night venues.
Benidorm: Popular with tourists for pubs, karaoke, and live music.
And finally, a little game.. Try and guess how many more bars there are in comparison to these places/services.
There are up to 13 times more bars than pharmacies in this country, up to 23 times more than petrol stations, 350 times more than hospitals and 3,000 times more than the number of universities.
Do any of these numbers or stats surprise you? We chatted about this topic on our recent show.
