San Jose Foodie Tour | Costa Rican Culinary Culture
Overview
Available languages
Mobile ticket
- You will experience Costa Rican Culinary Culture at 3 different places.
- You will taste Costa Rican Gastronomy at carefully curated and selected restaurants (Bocas, coffee, natural drinks, cocktails, etc), and learn about culture and history.
- You will learn about the historical aspects of the neighborhood while walking to the next stop.
- Each dish is prepared with fresh products that are grown within the country. (Organic and farm-to-table)
- Our Tico chefs, managers, or guides will explain to you the concept of each local dish transformed into their own signature dish.
1) Specialty coffee workshop (coffee tastings, food, and everything you need to know about coffee).
2) Delicious Costa Rican food tastings at a local restaurant (equals a whole meal).
3) Unique mixology workshop, local spirits.
We work with small groups, and the tours get full easily. If you cannot find availability to book, please contact us; we can create a new tour for groups of 2 or more people.
Additional Info
Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Wheelchair accessible
Minimum drinking age is 18 years
May be operated by a multi-lingual guide
Vegetarian/vegan option is available, please advise at time of booking if required
Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
Operates in all weather conditions, please dress appropriately
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
What To Expect
Paseo Gastronomico La Luz
We will walk to Escalante neighborhood and visit restaurants, coffee shops and bars in this area. The tour starts at 12:00pm: - First stop: 2 medium size starters, a drink and a digestive. - Second stop: 1 starter + main dish + an artisan beer/wine or soft drink + dessert. - Third stop: Coffee workshop + 3 coffee tastings + digestive + an appetizer. - Fourth stop: Mixology workshop by mixologist (World Class Mixologists) + 1 cocktail made with local liqueur. Digestives are small sweet cocktails, it has liqueur.
Barrio Escalante most Iconic Park
What‘s Included
Mixology workshop
English-speaking guide
Private reservations for our Foodies
1 hour coffee workshop - Costa Rican specialty coffee
6-course tasting menu
Additional drinks or meals not mentioned in what's included section.
Gratuities
Hotel pickup and drop-off (available if requested, extra fee)
Options
San Jose Foodie Tour | Costa Rican Culinary Culture
City Tour San Jose Downtown
Duration: 2 hours: Walking time of the city Tour
Downtown San Jose: You will visit the main San Jose downtown attractions, parks, monuments, and historical buildings. Not accessing museums.
Reviews
10 reviews
Total reviews and rating from Viator & Tripadvisor
Excellent tour!
karentI9349DK,,Jan 16, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00I can't say enough good things about Adri! We have taken many food walking tours around the world. But this tour was by far the best. Every stop on our tour was a unique experience.
Great foodie experience
LightPacker527560,,Jan 16, 2024
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Thoroughly enjoyed this tour. The food was wonderful, every plate tantalized our taste buds. Our guide made the tour fun and enjoyable. Highly recommend this tour.
Delightful & delicious evening with even better company :)
angiedV1460ZK,,May 2, 2023
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00The entire food tasting experience was absolutely incredible!! I would highly recommend this to anyone visiting San Jose!! My friend Anna and I joined the tour the very first night we arrived in Costa Rica in early March. We were greeted by the sweetest, friendliest local tour guide, Adriana. She instantly made us feel at home and led a very fun "Spanglish" tour because we wanted to practice our Spanish haha. The food at every location was beyond tasty and the presentation for each dish was so beautifully prepared! We laughed so much, created wonderful new memories, and we didn't want the night to end!! I would highly, highly, highly recommend this experience if you love food, learning about the local culture and history, and exploring new cities!!! Thank you times a million, Adriana!!! Until next time / hasta la proxima!!
Phenomenal evening!!
Voyager51610710156,,Apr 3, 2023
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00The highlight of the trip! Authentic and unique experience that you won't get anywhere else. Adriana is fantastic and we loved the thought and effort put into each dish and experience. Will recommend to everyone who travels to San José!!
Fantastic Foodie Tour
sboland22,,Jun 21, 2022
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00Highly recommend this tour if you have 1/2 a day in San Jose. We booked the Premium Tour with transportation. I was able to confirm with Adriana via text and she sent a car to pick us up. Driver arrived at exact pickup time we were told (2:30). We had a 15-20 minutes drive to the 1st stop, Cabra Negra, where we met our tour guide David. David served as our translator but also a historian, avid bird watcher, and has a degree in forestry so was able to identify plants and trees we saw. He speaks Spanish and English fluently but also speaks Portuguese and French. The coffee tasting at Cabra Negra included 3 different coffees prepared 3 different ways. We had an unexpected snack or homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese. The grilled cheese was the best we had ever eaten - with pesto mixed in with the Swiss cheese. We finished with a coffee cocktail made with cold brew, rum, and 7 up. Next we went to a place for appetizers. I can’t recall name, but food was outstanding. We had 2 types of gallos on homemade tortillas. All ingredients home grown or locally sourced. We also had a house made kombucha and one of their own craft beers. Next, was to 11.47 restaurant for a 3 course dinner. This was a finer dining interpretation of Costa Rican comfort foods. Lastly , we want to Aquizotes for a cocktail … but here the bartender showed us how to make it and then let us behind the bar to make our own! David then dropped us at the hotel after pointing out a few interesting buildings along the route. Trip lasted 7 hours and we were stuffed! The stops are set up to be walking distances but due to heavy rain, David drove us from place to place.
If you are a Foodie or if just want to get more local "flavor" take this tour!
denisew892,,Mar 1, 2022
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00This tour was amazing! I really can't say which part was the best. From arranging our tour on short notice (well done, Ariana), to our tour guide Oscar (felt more like a friend taking us around than a tour guide), to the amazing places we went (coffee, vegan and farm-to-table gourmet), everything was perfect. The highlights are: the most unexpected was the coffee tasting at Cabra Negra, who even knew that coffee could taste like lemon? Interesting and delicious. Then, vegan ceviche (with mango) at Arbol de Seda was so flavorful, we could eat it every day. Next, a truly remarkable dinner at 11.47 Restaurante, complete with wine pairings. And, to top it all off, we ended the night making our own personal cocktails, with the expert direction of bartender Valerie, at La Cova (a clandestine/speakeasy bar, which is located in the back of Agüizotes) from the local cacique (sugar cane-based liquor), along with our own ideas. Mine was cacique, 3 large slices of fresh cucumber, a fragrant slice of dehydrated lime and tonic water. It was so delicious, I brought 3 bottles of cacique home so everyone could share. On a final note, my husband and I would never have been able to find these restaurants and bars on our own, so that alone was worth the price of the tour, but when you consider that you get an in-depth coffee tasting and a delicious rum and coffee drink, several vegan dishes, a 4 course farm-to-table experience with 2 perfectly paired glasses of wine, and a signature cocktail, plus the services of a guide and interpreter to navigate the whole way around the cool area of Barrio Escalanate, this tour may be the best value in San Jose.
A Foodies Dream!
D9018XTmelissam,,Nov 21, 2021
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00We were only in San Jose for a short two days, and I am so happy that we spent one of those precious days on this incredible food tour! We just started our Costa Rica trip, but I already know this tour will be one of the main highlights of our trip! We had Oscar as our tour guide and he was so informative and fun to talk to. I told him at the end of our tour that it felt like we were eating with a friend, we all just got along so well! I would HIGHLY recommend him to anyone taking this tour. My boyfriend is from France and I am from California, so Oscar being trilingual was super interesting! We did the tour in English due to my lack of French, but it’s very uncommon to find someone who can do a tour in 3 languages!! We didn’t know what to expect going into the tour as it was booked through our travel agent. And boy was it the nicest surprise! We got to try some incredible local food, 6 dishes plus a dessert, lots of good wine, fresh fruit drinks, and a full tasting of some delicious Costa Rica coffee. I hadn’t heard much of Costa Rican food before, but after tasting all this incredible food today I feel like it should definitely be more known! Oscar was very helpful with translating anything in Spanish for us, and also just incredibly informative in general about all the local food and why it’s important in Costa Rica. We learned so much throughout our day. One of my favorite parts of the day was going to a cafe to test out local Costa Rica coffee and learn how exactly to prepare it on the finest level! So much attention to detail and expertise goes into making the perfect cup of coffee. It was so great to try out all the different roasts, we even got a lot of bags to take home - couldn’t resist! I can confidently say that without this tour I would have no idea about this fine gastronomy restaurants or this neighborhood in general. I am sure most tourists have no idea about this area and would completely miss out on some of the best food Costa Rica has to offer. All in all, if I had any friends of family visiting San Jose I would 100% recommend this food tour! Such a great local experience, with local tour guides. I wish we could do it all again tomorrow!
FANTASTIC Farm to Table Tour
sashaniela,,Apr 13, 2020
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00This tour blew us away, it was FANTASTIC! Adriana (tour guide/owner) was extremely responsive, very friendly and went above and beyond to guarantee I was able to enjoy the day at each stop with all of my food allergies. My group had a blast trying foods we’ve never encountered in the USA before. We LOVED all of the amazing fresh artisan food! Such creativity and detail was put into every single thing we had: vegetarian ceviche, pejibaye balls, chayote, grilled meats/fish, coffee, dessert of grilled plantain with turmeric ice cream with beer caramel, beers and wine just to name a few! Foodie Tours of Costa Rica have done their homework to discover unique, diverse, off the beaten track places to really highlight the farm to table food scene of San Jose. Walking to each restaurant was cool to see the neighborhood or stop to have Adriana point out different plants or vegetables along the way. We would absolutely recommend this tour again and again. I look forward to seeing Adriana the next time I’m in Costa Rica! Pura Vida!
A great way to see San Jose through local's eyes
Huw O,,Jan 14, 2019
- Review from Tripadvisor
5.00If you pay too much attention to the guidebooks you might conclude that San Jose doesn't have as much of interest as other parts of Costa Rica. The locals are starting to find ways to get the opposite point across now - that San Jose is actually interesting, fun and sophisticated. I joined Adriana on an evening tour to a few smaller, more boutiquey restaurants that I suspect are going to give Costa Rican cuisine a much higher profile in the coming years. She's a great host, fun, informative, but poised - she knows when to give detail and when to let you have a "foodie moment". She's also on first name terms with anyone who is anyone on the San Jose food scene, which means doors open, introductions are made and you can find yourself discussing the latest food trends with a chef who would have Michelin stars if they worked in Europe. If you find yourself with some spare time here then this is *the* tour to do in the capital.
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Operated by Foodie Tours Costa Rica