I will be in Madrid for about a week in July, by myself. I would appreciate anyone's experiences about where to eat as a solo traveller. Would especially like to try some tapas!

A great place for tapas is El Lacon, on a tiny street just off Plaza Santa Ana, behind the theatre. The street's called Manuel Fernandez y Gonzalez, though that's a lot of name for so little street and nobody, not even locals seem to know that! There's a great variety of tapas but the problem is that the portions are big. When there's a crowd of you, you can order lots of different dishes and try some of each. But you can't do that when you're alone.
Make sure you get some Patatas Bravas (spicey potatoes) at Las Bravas -.on another little alley off Santa Ana, as it happens, called Alvarez de Gato.
Here's a nifty page, courtesy of Madrid tourist office, all about tapas with maps and pictures.

http://www.esmadrid.com/monograficos/tapas/start.swf

There are also Madrid tapa tours. I'm not well-versed here but typing tapas tours madrid into google brings some up

Shelley, When will you be in Madrid exactly?
There are many places to eat, even cozying up to a bar and taking in tapas solo is cool!
I will be in Madrid the whole month of July and will have a lot of solo time. I'm staying with my in-laws, while my husband stays in California to work. So I will be doing many things alone as well.
If you want company and like international exchange, I would love to meet up for a tapa or two.
Also, there is going to be a MM get together on July 16th if you are there at that time.

Let us know!

Wow thanks for the tips - the patatas bravas sound great! Ladaque the MM get together sounds like great fun, I think I should be in Madrid on the 16th. Have you any recommendations as to must-sees on my trip?

Shelley,

What did you end up doing about solo tapas touring? I will traveling solo (in Madrid and Salamanca) in September and have found that most organized tours charge a flat fee per outing, divided by the number of people in the tour. This is expensive per person if you are alone, and less as more people join you, but how does one meet up with other travelers to make things more economical?

I found a few tour operators who have a fixed price per person, not dependent on the number of touring persons, but might cancel a scheduled tour if there were not enough participants.

Anyone going to be in Madrid on Sept 20-22? I'd like to do a tapas tour, see a flamenco show, walking history tour, etc. You know, all the standard "touristy" things. We can join forces and see more for less!

-Victoria

To bad Victoria for me, I arrive in Madrid Sept 24 and stay for four days.

But I can recommend the Wellington Society Tour, www.wellsoc.org. Its inexpensive, fun and informative. Also it highly recommended by others on the website.

Bill

I can recommend Andres' food and drink walking tour.

www.walksofspain.com

A good way to meet people.

Totally agree!

Andres is great and his tours are awesome!
Thanks to him - I have the best memories about Madrid and incredible food/drink!

I recommend to everyone!

Lena