Top 6 places to have afternoon tea in Madrid and Barcelona
Not Gemini, not ChatGPT, nor any other AI 😜. Better to go to Google, and if you want to know where to have afternoon tea in Madrid or the best places to have afternoon tea in Barcelona, just do a search and you’ll end up at this summary where, based on our own experience (great suffering visiting and trying the delicacies of all of them 🤤), we have compiled a ranking of perfect places to have afternoon tea in Spain’s two largest cities.
Homemade pastries, light sandwiches, fresh juices, vegan smoothies, pancakes, cakes, speciality coffee, cereals… Choose whatever takes your fancy, because you’ll find endless possibilities for your afternoon snack.
And yes, EatMyTrip tops both lists because after a hearty breakfast and lunch, our afternoon snacks are the talk of the town… once you’ve finished sampling our signature dishes. What are they? We’ll tell you right now!
Where to have afternoon tea in Madrid: Top 6 according to EatMyTrip
The term ‘merendar’ is very much our own, very Spanish. It is closely linked to children and young people, but also, why not, to us adults, whether we are parents or not, it doesn’t matter. We like to have a snack because we like sweet and savoury things at any time of the day 🤗.
Okay, so you live in the capital and want to know where to go for afternoon tea. Perfect, let’s take a look at our top 6 places to have afternoon tea in Madrid on EatMyTrip.
☑️ EatMyTrip Gran Vía
Who doesn’t get hungry when walking around the heart of Madrid? Amidst all the hustle and bustle, at Calle del Barco 8 you’ll find that magical, comforting place where you can have a snack and take a break.
That’s exactly what you’ll find at Madrid’s best brunch spot, EatMyTrip Gran Vía.
A dreamlike space, decorated with attention to detail, care and great taste ☺️, comfortable and with a snack menu featuring sweet, savoury, vegetarian and vegan options.
Our international cuisine will surprise you with, among other succulent options, Canadian pancakes (with butter and organic toasted maple syrup), American pancakes (with fried egg, flambéed bacon, butter and organic toasted maple syrup) or our green toast (sourdough with green pesto hummus, sautéed tomatoes, sliced avocado, rocket, lime and a mix of sesame seeds and dried peppers).
More bakery-oriented, you should try our vegan chocolate cookies or the classic almond flour carrot cake, all 100% homemade and made with the finest local ingredients.
And accompany it with our speciality coffee, special lattes or 100% natural juices. Where to have afternoon tea in Madrid will never be a dilemma again 😉.
☑️ Pastelería Ascaso
A traditional Aragonese pastry shop from Huesca that fills Madrid’s classic Chamberí neighbourhood with sweet treats. For 130 years, generation after generation, this bakery has delighted its customers with sweet treats that have left their mark on Spain.
Their most famous product: El Pastel Ruso. Their own recipe, guarded as closely as Coca-Cola’s. If you choose it, you’ll enjoy a snack with flavours of hazelnut, almond, egg white, praline foam and Ascaso’s secret touch 🤫.
Chocolates typical of Aragón, assorted panettones, marzipan sweets, sponge cakes, artisan pastries, nougat and more sweet treats to enjoy in Madrid without feeling guilty 😬.
☑️ La Bicicleta Café
We don’t stray far from Chamberí, because if we venture into the gastronomic, cultural and social multi-universe that is the Malasaña neighbourhood, if we’re lucky, we’ll come across a place where good coffee and bicycles (🤔 strange association) are all the rage.
Their most famous product: El Pastel Ruso. Their own recipe, guarded as closely as Coca-Cola’s. If you choose it, you’ll enjoy a snack with flavours of hazelnut, almond, egg white, praline foam and Ascaso’s secret touch 🤫.
If you’re wondering where to have a savoury snack in Madrid rather than a sweet one, we’d suggest you try this place and see what you think. We like their traditional sandwiches (you have to try their Sweet Cabrón with goat’s cheese, caramelised onion, pesto and green sprouts), their savoury toasts such as the truffled turkey (they also have sweet ones) or their open croissants (a mix of sweet and savoury).
To drink, everything and a wide variety. Coffees, fresh juices, premium gins, mixed drinks, cocktails…
And don’t worry, you can come with or without your bicycle 😜.
☑️ El Jardín Secreto
We remain in the same area of the city where afternoon tea becomes a colourful, refreshing and tasty array of possibilities. What do we usually fancy for afternoon tea? In our case, always with a delicious coffee, a fresh juice or a milkshake, and when we’re in the mood for something sweet, chocolate in any form is perfect: crepes, hot chocolate, ice cream…
Well, at El Jardín Secreto they have up to 17 different types of chocolate to choose from for afternoon tea in Madrid 🤤 and just as many options for coffee and tea.
If you’re feeling peckish, this beautifully decorated establishment has an outstanding selection of cheeses and Iberian ham, as well as a delicious Spanish option of potato omelette stuffed with Russian salad. What a combination!
Lactose-free and gluten-free options available, meaning everyone is welcome 🙂.
☑️ Cereals Hunter Café
We’ve included it in our top 6 places to have afternoon tea in Madrid because it’s just so cool, period! It’s a very original place to enjoy coffee with cereal or create your own bowl of cereal with different toppings, pieces of fruit, syrup, your favourite type of milk and extras such as yoghurt.
If we want to remember this place forever, where we can enjoy a snack, choose one of their pancakes or Belgian waffles, with a variety of toppings, syrups, cream or ice cream that will make you enjoy yourself like rarely before 😋.
Milkshakes, juices, smoothies, and savoury options such as their four-cheese melt sandwich or the ham and tomato jam sandwich.
☑️ Brown Bear Bakery
Let’s move on to our last recommendation in Madrid for a proper afternoon tea 🤗. Once again, it’s a mix of sweet and savoury with a welcome touch of artistry. And history, because we’re talking about an establishment that has been in the same area for several decades.
For afternoon tea, a combo of cake and country bread toast with extra virgin olive oil and a wide variety of ingredients sounds and tastes heavenly. We recommend the Caprese toast (with fresh mozzarella, tomato, salad and oregano), but also try the Nórdica (smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato and salad), or our own Ibérica (with Serrano ham, semi-cured Manchego cheese, salad and tomato).
More appetising savoury options for afternoon tea at this landmark location in Madrid, such as focaccia, croissants with ham and Edam cheese, or tuna puff pastry pies with homemade sofrito sauce made with onion, tomato, garlic, red pepper and extra virgin olive oil, among other types of pies.
We appreciate that, like us at EatMyTrip, they use artisan breads and homemade cakes and French toast. A delight in every way.
Top 6 places to have a snack in Barcelona
Now let’s move on to the places to have a snack in Barcelona that everyone should visit at least once or several times in their lifetime 😋. Recommendations made from the depths of our palate and our stomach 😅.
☑️ EatMyTrip Eixample
If you’re looking for breakfast and lunch in Barcelona (https://eatmytrip.com/), you already know that at EatMyTrip, you won’t leave hungry 😛, and the gastronomic alternatives for snacking when you’re ravenous won’t let you down either 😂.
In the heart of Barcelona’s Eixample district, a popular leisure centre for fine dining, after-work drinks, romantic evenings and any get-together with friends, EatMyTrip Barcelona is undoubtedly one of the best places to have a snack in Barcelona.
Have you ever had a delicious and filling bowl of quinoa for lunch? Well, you should! Healthy, original and nutritious food, all in one bowl 🥗. Two of our four healthy bowls contain quinoa: the Buddha Bowl (quinoa, tahini sauce, mushrooms, guacamole, cucumber, rocket, spinach, pesto hummus and sun-dried tomatoes, tomato tartare) and the Ganas de Salmón (quinoa, mushrooms with truffle hollandaise sauce, homemade marinated salmon, tomato tartare, 2 poached eggs, spinach and rocket).
Another highly recommended snack option: Açai Energy Bomb, a sweet snack in a smoothie bowl with a mix of organic, sugar-free açai, banana and apple juice, with homemade granola, peanut butter and fresh seasonal fruit. In other words, a snack in Barcelona you won’t forget. We’ll be waiting for you with open arms 🤗!
☑️ Caelum
Tradition and afternoon tea are often closely related when we mention them in the same sentence, and at Caelum, a historic landmark in Barcelona for artisan pastries, they have been serving their customers for almost 30 years with a spirit that you will find in few other places. Ancient recipes and techniques from ecclesiastical artisans from dozens of monasteries in Spain. What could be more delicious than that?
One of those places to have afternoon tea in Barcelona where you will remember perfectly the story behind each product you consume. To drink, a delicious melted chocolate (vegan) or Swiss chocolate, and to eat, to share, we would opt for a variety of tempting monastery sweets or simply try one of the splendid cakes of the day they have.
Their menu is concise but highly specialised. Take a look and enjoy the experience.
☑️ Hotel El Palace – The Great Hall
A traditional (British) afternoon tea couldn’t be left off a list of places to have afternoon tea in Barcelona and Madrid. And what a place it is! None other than the former Ritz Hotel in Barcelona, now the Palace Barcelona, in its majestic Great Hall. Where better to have afternoon tea than here!
With prior reservation, you can also enjoy sweet or savoury options. Or go for both 🤤. Of course, we will have the typical British scones (small cakes often made with blueberries, cheese, potato or dates), which are very common in Anglo-Saxon afternoon teas, and which, why not, we can try this time, even though we are in Barcelona. Other savoury options at El Palace include chicken and mustard bites on white tramezzino bread, smoked salmon and crème fraîche bites on bagel bread, and hummus, sun-dried tomato and olive bites on tomato bread.
For those with a sweet tooth, there’s Tonka bean brownie, mini raspberry or lemon tartlet, organic jam and lime meringue. These aren’t the only options, mind you, but they are the ones that catch our eye the most at EatMyTrip.
At a British-style tea spot like this one in Barcelona, you’re sure to be delighted by their selection of teas. Black tea, green tea and caffeine-free herbal teas.
📍 C/ Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 668
☑️ La Do
Or la Donutería, whichever you prefer. You already know what you’re going to have for afternoon tea here, right?
Head to the Sant Antoni neighbourhood to discover this little donut haven where, apart from the variety and thousand and one flavours of these round delicacies, learning about how they are made will dispel any preconceptions you may have. They make their doughnuts, carefully cut by hand, in small batches throughout the day; then, they go through three fermentations before being fried until they reach their exact point of artisanal perfection.
One of those places to have a snack in Barcelona where the flavours will change from one day to the next. That’s because at Do, they change the menu very often. They don’t get complacent. You always have to surprise your customers. We like that way of thinking 😉.
12 varieties of doughnuts every day, with surprises to be discovered on site. Doughnuts to die for, such as red berries with cocoa-beet crumbs, raspberry with lime, cocoa with violet blossom, or dulce de leche with almonds, cocoa crumbs and Maldon salt.
☑️ Granja Petitbo
One of those places to have afternoon tea in Barcelona, with a bistro-like atmosphere (an old restored dairy), very pleasant we must say, and with pastries made with great care 😊.
They are committed to fresh, local produce, organic whenever possible. A snack consisting of pancakes, fruit salad, yoghurt with muesli, a chia bowl or toast with butter and jam doesn’t sound too bad, does it? 🤗
Other delicious snack options at this picturesque spot in Barcelona include wholemeal avocado toast, which you can top with organic egg, salmon or bacon, basil hummus or, of course, sweet cakes such as carrot cake, cheesecake or the legendary brownie with macadamia nuts.
International teas such as Caléxico (black tea, bean skin and cocoa, blackberry, hot chocolate, chilli pepper, vanilla and wild saffron), China Mai Feng (Chinese green tea, antioxidant) and Sakura (Japanese Sancha green tea with cherry, blueberry pieces, mallow, rose petals and cornflower) are a real treat. Relaxation and sophistication in equal measure.
They have another shop located on Mallorca Street.
☑️ Hofmann
The last option we bring you for places to have a snack in Barcelona is this excellent bakery, with a noteworthy variety of products (mostly handmade), all of the highest quality. They blend tradition and innovation with great taste and attention to detail.
You can’t leave without trying their fabulous chocolate and orange cake (a sponge cake with a hint of citrus, covered with strips of candied orange and chocolate pearls), their equally amazing zebra cake (a two-layered sponge cake with Madagascar vanilla and cocoa, covered in milk chocolate gianduja and crunchy almonds) or the famous lemon cake (a moist sponge cake with a hint of lemon, covered in milk chocolate gianduja and crunchy almonds). Your mouth is watering already, isn’t it? 🤤.
It’s a sweet universe that’s hard to escape. Ice cream, croissants and other pastries (winner of the Best Artisan Butter Croissant award in 2010), chocolates and dreamy biscuits. Seriously, once you go in, you won’t be able to stop.
📍 Carrer dels Flassaders, 44 / Avinguda de Pau Casals, 5
Conclusions
In Madrid and Barcelona, you can get lost in the beautiful streets, but if we stop to look at the shop windows of all these wonderful places to have a snack, I can tell you that we won’t get very far 😝.
At EatMyTrip, we have worked hard to offer our customers a diverse, healthy, international cuisine full of nuances, in a comfortable atmosphere so that their visit is not just that, a visit, but the beginning of a long friendship.
There are countless options for afternoon tea in Madrid, whether you prefer sweet, savoury or a mix of both… And what can we say about places to have afternoon tea in Barcelona? Avant-garde and traditional cuisine made with local, healthy products, with gluten-free options available. Long live afternoon tea!
