I was just going to post this and tag you!
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What a timely piece this is! I am heading to the airport in an hour to embark on this trip :)) Cannot wait to give an update and thank you!!
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Unfortunately, for the day we will be in Jerez, english slots at the Bodegas Tradicion are booked out so we booked bodega lustau instead. Nonetheless, given my lack of exposure to sherry, I’m hoping it will be a good experience anyway. Thank you for the kind recommendation and have bookmarked Bodegas Tradicion for future references 
Lustau is also a great tour from a learning about the process perspective. I’m not as fond of their standard offerings but they have some great higher end styles that hopefully you will get a chance to try. If you do a tasting menu and like wine pairings, try a sherry only option if they have it. The one at El Campero is quite good if you do the tasting.
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If you were willing to drive to Axpe for Exteberri but are unable to get a reservation, consider Arrea!, in a small town between SS and Pamplona. They focus on various preservation and slow cooking techniques of wild game, vegetables and spider crab. You select a few base ingredients and they present various parts of the animal or veg/crab cooked or prepared in a range of methods. The 110 euro tasting included three core products (we chose boar, roe deer and wood pigeon), each having 7 separate preaparations after a set of starter bites (around 15). You can also order the sets of seven preparations and other dishes a la carte. https://arrea.eus/en/
To be honest, I enjoyed it more than Etxeberri.
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I cannot wait to read about alwaysfeasting’s adventures in that area.
Lustau is lovely; don’t think about having to make do with “second best.” You might also phone Bodegas Tradicion that morning or day before and see if they can squeeze you in case of cancellation. Do you know if it is a separate tour for English speakers, or a multi-lingual tour with English translation?
In our case it was a separate tour for English speakers at Tradición as well as at Lustau (the tour starting with a glass of amontillado), as well as at Fernando de Castilla. For elevated, very small group tours, these 3 would be my top choices.
We had a private visit, just the two of us, with the owner of Faustino González, where we tasted ALL of his sherries, the whole group, and devoured the plate of charcuterie that came with them, then fell asleep on our way back to Sevilla on the MD train, almost missing our stop!
Make sure that there is food, some nibbles, along with the sherries! At Lustau the snacks are sold (or were sold) separately at the end.
After Lustau we took the short walk to the truly lovely La Carboná, in that gorgeous sherry warehouse with soaring ceilings and enjoyed the dishes of this “sherry chef”, Javier Muñoz. Lustau and La Carboná make a great pairing.
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Lustau was great! If you end up there I hope you have Lola as your guide. Humor like a Manzanilla. It was an informative tour. Definitely worth it. The musty smell of sherry stands out so much to me.
The tasting at the end was ok. Super informal. We only did the tasting of four sherries. The tapas option looked whatever (which seems to be the opinion of @tigerjohn.
Brought back a few bottles. Lola happened to be in the gift shop while we were browsing. I asked if they had any vermouth and she gave me a sample. Good stuff. Just last night we used the aged sherry wine for a salad and the Pedro Ximenez to top the vanilla custard ice cream that we made.
Hmm, that looks more like Tio Pepe than Lustau! We couldn’t get ourselves out early enough for any of the other English-language tours, and the Tio Pepe tour was included with our hotel stay, so that’s the one we did. As it is, we barely made it around the corner from the hotel in time to join the tour.
In my estimation it was underwhelming, That endless trolley ride, and all those signed barrels. 
(OK, Liz Taylor and Mike Todd, that’s a good one.)
I wasn’t much impressed by the tasting. I thought it wasn’t quite fair play to include as one of our tastes that spritz, which bears a strong resemblance to a Rebujito (a drink we fell in love with in Jerez). It wasn’t really a serious wine tasting, it was more like “hope you liked the tour, now everybody sit and enjoy whatever it is we’re pouring today”. So that was disappointing, but I have nothing but our late-rising ways to blame for not seeking out a less superficial experience.
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Ah, so you’re right… Not the first time I’ve confused the two.
I don’t remember a trolley portion of the tour! But it was kinda rainy so maybe that’s why. And yeah, that’s exactly what I meant about the tasting after.
Yes, that was Tío Pepe, González Byass, the most commercial of the Jerez bodega tours. They do now have a hotel.
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An update of my five-day trip in Andalucia!! Had some of the freshest seafood in my life (comparable to Japan) and my belly was full and satisfied the whole trip 
. Special thanks to @Maribel and @erica1 as I basically only referenced your recommendations food-wise while planning and I am sure my experience would not have been as comprehensive if not for your detailed explanations 
- so again, a huge thank you!
1 - Bodeguita Antonio Romero, Bodeguita Romero, Casa Morales
This was my first experience of going to local tapas bars and undoubtedly - the most fun and chaotic experience this trip. My partner and I don’t speak spanish so stress levels peaked starting from: trying to catch the waitor/waitress’s attention, pointing at the menu to order saying ‘this uno, this uno’', asking for attention to pay the bill while everyone behind us were trying to take our seats the moment we leave with intense eye contact, to being worried whether whoever served us would remember what we ordered haha.
Nonetheless, I absolutely loved the local experience and the bar hopping idea. At Bodeguita Antonio Romero, we ordered two piripis and two tapa portions of iberico of some sort. We reached 3 minutes before opening and it was already jam-packed. Luckily, there were two tables left so we quickly seated ourselves!
A great start to the lunch marathon!
We then walked to Bodeguita Romero.
Here, we ordered anchovy in butter (heavenly), pringa (loved the intense roast flavour!), prawn thing that I’ve forgotten its name (very chewy - like a fish cake!), and classic tortilla (this was ok, I saw most other people who ordered the tortilla had a different sauce to us that looked a bit like gravy?).
Moving onto our last stop of this lunch marathon - Casa Morales.
This place was super packed, we waited for at least 20 minutes to get space by the bar table and another 10 minutes for staff to give us attention to order. But we were having a good time anyway drinking beer while waiting so it was good fun.
some sort of beef rice(?) that tasted a lot like jollof but a more tomatoey base; it was simple but I really liked it!
pulpo y patatas - nothing surprising but good tapa to go with beer.
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2 - Barra Baja
I was originally overwhelmed with the wide selection of recs by @Maribel and @erica1, to which I am certain all are very very good restaurants. But Barra Baja was really good and I am so glad I chose this restaurant
We were seated by the kitchen counter so it was very entertaining watching the chef and his sous do all the work for the entire restaurant with such elegance, composture, and efficiency.
Guillardeau Oyster With cucumber and dill vinaigrette
Cured scallop with avocado gazpachuelo
Two-course tartare of white and red shrimp with imperial caviar
Wild clams, with garlic butter and amontillado
Creamy duck rice
Matured beef sirloin (250g)
The oyster, creamy duck rice, and wild clams stood out to me. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the avocado gazpachuelo that went with the scallop as I think it overpowered the subtle sweetness a very fresh scallop would have, and the sirloin was a bit too raw for us as we asked for medium rare but it was served on the rare side so we had to cut the pieces into very small chunks to avoid not being able to chew and swallow (but the deep fried onion slices that went with the sirloin was very well seasoned and airy- I loved it!). If I could only pick one favourite, it would most definetely be the wild clams. We finished a second bread basket wiping out all the sauce left on the plate. I loved the amontillado and butter combination which I had never tried before, and am now very very hungry writing this and reliving that moment.
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3 - El Campero, Barbate
We picked up our rental car, then drove down south for remainder of our trip. We ended up staying at Hipotels Barrosa Palace with access to the beach La Barrosa. The hotel had its renovation one or two yeras ago and is currently a 5* hotel. We got a free upgrade to a suite and the hotel had an amazing view of the sunset - highly recommend especially if anyone is into golf!
After checking in, and enjoying the beach for a while, we drove down to El Campero for dinner.
town of Almadraba tuna
on the house anchovies
toro sashimi x8 slices - excellently quality, loved the fresh wasabi
toro tartare
toro tartare (after mixing) - this was such a generous portion
back of the neck(?) of tuna which the waitor recommended
facera with pine nut sauce - the sauce was a bit too sweet in my opinion, but still very good. first time trying the cut facera and I really liked it!
Stone fish steak grill (our coast) - my goodness. so fresh, succulent, juicy. the only seasoning on the fish was salt but it did the job. 10/10.
I would say this was the most memorable meal of my trip. I have always known that fresh seafood can be just as good, if not even better than meat (I am a big meat lover). I understand this in asian cuisines I’ve been exposed to, but this was the first time I was really able to internalise this concept in person in western dining!! Hoping to bring my parents here next year!
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<<<…and am now very very hungry writing this and reliving that moment…>>>
And now I’m also very hungry and enjoying reliving those moments with you!! So happy that you enjoyed!! Thanks so much for taking the time to write this up, and post those photos!!
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