Eating paella in Estepona is one of the pending tasks of any visitor that comes to this coastal town. Paella is one of the typical dishes of Spanish gastronomy and is particularly sought after in towns with a fishing tradition like Estepona, where restaurants have premium quality raw materials to cook the best rice dishes.
To start the route to finding the best paella in Estepona, travellers will be able to hire a car with no excess insurance at Malaga airport so they can travel around the different establishments the town has to offer that specialise in this dish. These establishments stretch from the historic quarter to the outskirts, and then holidaymakers will be able to decide for themselves which is the King of paellas of this town on the Costa del Sol.
Table of Contents
Paella in Estepona centre
Estepona’s historic quarter is one of the town’s main points of interest, with white streets, filled with flowers and bustling with life, scattered with terraces and charming corners. Here visitors will be able to find some of the best paella restaurants in Estepona.
Alma de Miguel Restaurant
Alma de Miguel is a restaurant located right in the heart of Estepona with years of experience at the stove. Here, guests will enjoy excellent quality products, with fresh fish and seafood as well as top quality meats. This venue is split into three areas: a charming inside dining area, a courtyard in the middle and a charming Andalusian courtyard.
Highlights among its paellas include red shrimp, meat and black rice with prawns, mussels and aioli. For finer palates, Alma de Miguel’s wine cellar boasts more than 200 national and international wines with denomination of origin, to offer the most complete culinary experience.
Casa Doña Jeronima
With a charming terrace next to the Plaza de las Flores square, Casa Doña Jeronima is a restaurant which is renowned for the quality of its products, offering creative dishes that give its own twist to traditional recipes to create new flavours.
The different rice dishes stand out among its paellas, such as rice with plankton and tuna, and mountain rice for meat lovers, with free range chicken, chorizo and black pudding.
Its quality products, together with a friendly service, make this restaurant one of the best options. However, due to its extensive menu, paellas are usually made to order, so it is advisable to call and book in advance. It is also a great option for trying some of the best tapas in Estepona.
La Cocina
La Cocina offers its guests a charming restaurant both inside and out, with a terrace from which you can watch a beautiful sunset next to Los Remedios church, and a small Andalusian courtyard inside. It doesn’t have a large menu, but it does have delicious produce. In terms of paellas, it opts for the more traditional options, like mixed paella, seafood or brothy rice (arroz caldoso), although its Iberian paella is worth a special mention. In addition, La Cocina boasts a large wine cellar so you can pair each dish.
Las Gitanillas
Las Gitanillas specialises in fresh fish and seafood, with a varied selection of fish that welcomes guests as soon as they arrive at the restaurant. With a long culinary history, Las Gitanillas offers excellent customer service, so guests usually allow themselves to be advised by the team who know their produce well. This paella restaurant in Estepona stands out for its black rice and rice with red shrimps, but also for the Iberian pork shoulder cut and boletus mushrooms.
Paella in the Port of Estepona
The Leisure Port of Estepona is also an unmissable spot for travellers who come to this town, with a plethora of yachts and sailing boats, and a beautiful promenade with bars where you can enjoy a bite to eat or a meal with the best views.
La Alborada Restaurant
After receiving several awards for its seafood paella and arroz a banda rice dish, La Alborada is one of the restaurants where you can enjoy what is possibly the best paella in Estepona. La Alborada specialises in rice, working with premium quality products and cooking its paellas traditionally according to the Valencian recipe. Its speciality is the ‘arroz a banda’ rice dish, with peeled seafood ready to eat, although other highlights include the special paella and rice with lobster.
Rosatti
Possibly one of the most surprising options from this selection. Rosatti is an Italian restaurant specialising in Mediterranean cuisine which combines exquisite risottos and paellas on its menu. The establishment boasts terraces with panoramic views of the Leisure Port, ideal for enjoying its dishes in a privileged setting. It has a small paella menu, with two classics: mixed paella and seafood paella.
Other places to enjoy paella in Estepona
Away from the main tourists areas, Estepona has other great options to enjoy a delicious paella recipe. Although they are a little further out, they are easy to reach by car, and you can see their locations on the map at the end.
Arrocería El Hatillo
For those looking for somewhere that specialises in paellas in Estepona, Arrocería el Hatillo is the best option. Although it is not situated in a tourist area, travelling to this restaurant is worth it as it boasts an extensive menu of all types of rice dishes, so you can try the classic Spanish paellas at the hands of the experts. You will be able to see the location on the map at the end.
Its variety of rich dishes include the ‘arroz a banda’ rice dish, but you can also find other specialities that are more typical of other regions, such as oven cooked rice, Valencian paella, fried rice or ‘fideua’ which is a variant of a rice dish but using thick noodles instead of rice. El Hatillo offers the option of choosing how the rice is served, whether in paella format, brothy (caldoso), dry (seco), creamy (meloso), oven cooked (al horno).
Chiringuito Torre Velerín
Just a few minutes from Estepona, heading towards San Pedro de Alcántara we can find Chiringuito Torre Velerín, situated on the Estepona beach of the same name. This beach bar (chiringuito) specialises in skewered fish and paellas, with an extensive menu of options which, of course, includes brothy seafood rice and mixed paella. To enjoy rice with sea views, guests should order in advance.
Map of Estepona’s best paellas
On this map, paella lovers can find all of the places in Estepona listed in this post so they can visit both those situated in the heart of the town and those that are a little further out.
