The Guinness-certified oldest continuously operating restaurant in the world. Hemingway sent his characters here. The wood oven from 1725 is still lit every morning.
Quick Facts
| ADDRESS | Calle de los Cuchilleros 17, 28005 Madrid |
| NEIGHBOURHOOD | La Latina, just below Plaza Mayor |
| HOURS | Lunch 13:00–16:00 daily; dinner 20:00–24:00 daily |
| PRICE | €45–65 per person; cochinillo asado approx. €30 |
| RESERVATIONS | +34 913 66 42 17 / botin.es |
| CUISINE | Castilian, traditional Madrid |
| GOOD FOR | Special occasion, group dinner, history pilgrimage |
| NOTABLE | Guinness World Records: oldest continuously operating restaurant in the world (since 1725); referenced in Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises |
Three centuries in a single dining room
Botín opened in 1725 on the corner of Cuchilleros, a narrow stepped lane that drops down from Plaza Mayor towards the Calle Segovia. The wood-fired oven that roasts the cochinillo asado is the original — it has not been let to go out, by tradition, since the restaurant opened. The ground floor still has the same beamed ceiling, the same stone walls, the same iron staircase that Goya is said to have washed dishes under as a young man, before becoming a court painter.
What to order
Cochinillo asado — the suckling pig roasted in the wood oven, served quartered with crackling skin so thin it can be cut with the edge of a plate (this is a real trick the waiters perform). The cordero asado, milk-fed lamb roasted the same way. The sopa castellana, a garlic soup with bread and a poached egg, that warms a winter lunch in a way no other dish does. Drink Ribera del Duero or Rioja crianza; the house list is conservative and well-priced for a restaurant of this profile.
The Hemingway question
Yes, this is the Botín that Hemingway uses as the closing scene of The Sun Also Rises: “We lunched up-stairs at Botín’s. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta.” The upstairs room he describes still exists. It is not a marketing line on the wall — it is the actual room. Read the passage, then come and sit in it.
Honest verdict
Botín is full of tourists every night and the prices reflect what it is. Even so: the cochinillo is genuinely excellent, the room is the room, and very few restaurants in Europe can offer three centuries of continuous service. Come for lunch, order cochinillo, sit upstairs, drink Rioja, accept the tourists are part of the experience.
Practical
How to book: Online at botin.es. Lunch books up two weeks in advance for weekends.
How to get there: Metro Sol or La Latina — both 6-minute walks.
If you only have one visit: Lunch, upstairs room, cochinillo, Ribera del Duero crianza.
Found a correction or an update?
Email us at hello@spainfoodguide.com — we keep our entries current.
Run a restaurant in Spain you think we should know?
Get featured →