Also called the Alcázar Viejo, the barrio that wins most of the patio prizes every May. Low houses, geraniums, and tabernas that stay local despite the Alcázar next door.
Mesón San Basilio serves Córdoban home cooking around a patio in the Alcázar Viejo quarter, fried aubergines, salmorejo and rabo de toro leading.
Signature: Berenjenas fritas, Salmorejo, Rabo de toro
Order: Berenjenas fritas first, then the rabo de toro.
Tip: It sits in the patios district of San Basilio, so pair lunch here with the whitewashed courtyard streets rather than the Mezquita crowds.
Taberna La Viuda works the San Basilio side of Córdoba with more than thirty plates, cheese-stuffed flamenquín among them, and citrus-cured tuna.
Signature: Flamenquín de queso La Viuda, Atún marinado en cítricos
Order: The flamenquín de queso, the house rewrite of the city's fried classic.
Tip: San Basilio wins most of the patio prizes in May, so book here well ahead during the festival.
Puerta Sevilla fills a 200-year-old San Basilio house in Córdoba, five private rooms and a planted patio serving arroz del señorito and hake costrón.
Signature: Arroz del señorito, Costrón de merluza al queso emmental
Order: Arroz del señorito, then the Texturas de Pedro Ximénez for dessert.
Tip: Ask for the patio rather than a salón; the upstairs rooms are handsome but the courtyard is the point.
Taberna La Viuda works the San Basilio side of Córdoba with more than thirty plates, cheese-stuffed flamenquín among them, and citrus-cured tuna.
Signature: Flamenquín de queso La Viuda, Atún marinado en cítricos
Order: The flamenquín de queso, the house rewrite of the city's fried classic.
Tip: San Basilio wins most of the patio prizes in May, so book here well ahead during the festival.
Churrería Santos Mártires works a kiosk facing the Alcázar in Córdoba and trades in a four-and-a-half-hour window before packing up at midday.
Try: Churros with chocolate
Order: Churros and chocolate, eaten on a bench facing the Alcázar walls.
Tip: The window is 07:30 to 12:00 flat, so this is a stop before the Alcázar rather than after it.
Córdoba opens more than fifty private courtyards to the street for a fortnight every May, a UNESCO-listed festival with neighbourhood bars pouring Montilla-Moriles beside the geraniums.
Tip: San Basilio wins most of the prizes, so book a table in the barrio weeks before you travel.
The Montilla-Moriles regulating council takes over the Avenida del Alcázar for four days each spring, ten bodegas pouring fino through to Pedro Ximénez with free entry to the ground.
Tip: Entry to the ground is free; you buy a glass and tokens once inside rather than a ticket up front.
Taberna La Viuda runs more than thirty tapas and raciones in San Basilio in Córdoba, including a flamenquín stuffed with cheese rather than ham.
Try: Flamenquín de queso
Order: The flamenquín de queso, the house rewrite of the city's fried classic.
Tip: It opens all seven days with a full split service, rare in a barrio where most rooms take a day off.
Ambigú Axerquía is the concert room behind the Teatro de la Axerquía in Córdoba, a 350-capacity space split between stage, bar zone and terrace.
Tip: Punk, rock and heavy dominate the programme; it is five minutes from the centre with easy parking.