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

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.

First glass of cava in hand, we taste the award-winning Ensaladilla Rusa and home-made chicken-and-ham croquetas.

We hand-carve Iberian bellota ham and set it beside Payoyo — Spain's most awarded cheese, made high in the Sierra de Cadiz 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.

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

We round off the evening with a glass of red, mojama de atun — salt-cured red tuna from the Cadiz coast — and gambas al pil-pil sizzling in garlic.

We stroll back through the whitewashed lanes — past the Iglesia de la Encarnacion 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.