San Jose Walking Food Tour: Explore Markets and Gold Museum
4.6
19 Ratings
San José
Embark on a walking food tour in San Jose, exploring vibrant markets and visiting the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum. Discover the city's rich culture through food tastings and learn about its history and traditions. Perfect for first-time visitors!
Duration: 5 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Central Market (Mercado Central) - The San Jose Central Market is an important cultural site in Costa Rica as it is one of the oldest and most representative places of San Jose, the capital city of the country. The market opened in 1880, making it one of the oldest landmarks in Costa Rica as the country declared independence in 1821.
What's Included
  • Lunch included
  • Food and drink samples
  • Visit Central Market
  • Expert Local Guide
  • Pre-Columbian Gold Museum entrance fee
  • Explore Borbon Market
What's Not Included
  • Additional food and drinks
  • Souvenirs and personal shopping
  • Tips/gratuities for your guide
Additional Information

A guided tour through the markets of San Jose transforms an ordinary sight into an enriching cultural experience. Your guide will share the stories behind the items in the market and will help you choose the most interesting things to try. Following a visit to the leading markets in San Jose, you’ll proceed to the Pre-Columbian Gold Museum for a glimpse into the city’s ancient history.

Key points:
Uncover the narratives behind the arts and crafts, natural treatments, and fresh foods at the Borbon and San Jose Central Market
Experience local customs through food with a trip to the best markets
Generous tastings of fruits, empanadas, ceviche and coffee plus museum entry
A valuable introduction to the history and culture of San Jose for those visiting for the first time

Location
Banco Central De Costa Rica Garden
Avenida Central
At the Los Presentes Monument in front of the Central Bank of San Jose, in between Avenue 1 and Avenue Central
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.6
(19 Ratings)
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Amman_a
Mar 25, 2024
Amazing Tour! - Amazing tour of San Jose and enjoyed some delicious food along the way. For the last stop we made empanadas and had some delicious coffee. Highly recommend. Family friendly as well, we brought our 2 year old son and there were no issues.
Review provided by Viator
Razia_z
Mar 16, 2024
Great combo! - This was a great tour. We sampled a large variety of foods which were a meal in themselves. Our guide was really nice and knowledgeable. It was a perfect combination to go to the gold museum and see the downtown too. Costa Rica is wonderful but San Jose is a one or 2 day destination and this tour takes care of the highlights. Highly recommend.
Review provided by Viator
George_b
Jan 26, 2024
Great food and cultural experience - Our guide was very friendly and informative about local culture and history. Enjoyed learning about native foods and coffee, and making our own empanadas! Museum was very interesting. Nice experience!!
Review provided by Viator
Hwangji_l
Nov 11, 2023
Enjoyable trip - I had great time and tried various foods in this tour. Originally, we were supposed to visit Gold Museum. But the museum was closed due to unexpected emergency. The tour guide contacted his boss, so the boss as the 2nd tour guide, took us to the National Museum. We had wonderful time learning in the National Museum.
Review provided by Viator
Shirleyi03
Mar 21, 2023
Bites and Sights plus Gold Museum - This day was excellent. We met up by the green statues, toured the market, had different types of fruit, ate tamales, made an empanada as well as ate famous ice cream. The snacks, the laughs, the information made this tour so enjoyable. The theater was beautiful and the architecture of the church only added to how awesome this tour was. I highly recommend, if I could give more than 5 stars I would!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Michelle
Mar 8, 2023
Excellent Tour Guide with Fabulous Food - We had a wonderful time on this tour, with fabulous food and a very knowledgeable guide! We even make our own empanadas at the end. Super fun and informative!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Cindy_b
Feb 26, 2023
Can’t miss this walking food tour & gold museum while visiting San Jose costa rica - Our guide Ernesto was very friendly knowledgeable and made this tour a lot of fun. There was so much culture and history that was explained, and so many delicious locally grown fruits we sampled. Every shop seemed to know who Ernesto was, and it was very clear that he had made many friends in San Jose over the years. The coffee testing at Mr. sloth’s coffee was extremely educational on how coffee is growing, harvested and manufactured, and the taste was delicious. We learned how to make empenadas which was a lot of fun, provided a cultural experience, and also very delicious. After the walking food tour, the gold museum contained intricately, detailed, miniature pieces of various gold items depicting rank and caste of previous civilizations. It was very fascinating to learn about the Costa Rican culture before modern times. This tour was an enjoyable, and must do must experience tour while visiting San Jose Costa Rica. Ernesto is a top guide, highly recommend asking for him when considering this tour. It is very clear that he loves his country and is proud to be its citizen.
Review provided by Viator
Klara
Feb 2, 2023
Foodie-full tour in San José - Had a great tour around the San José Markets tasting fruits and national dishes in a Costa rican manner. Angel was a great guide through the city. Start the tour with an empty stomach as you are offered plenty of foods and get to make your own empanada in the end.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Olivia
Jan 10, 2024
Title of the tour was misleading - I really enjoyed the food tour but found that the listing was misleading. I thought we were going on a food tour then the museum but we just walked into the lobby.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Clagee
Jan 20, 2024
Nice guide but wouldn’t recommend this tour. - The guide was kind but there was a lot of waiting. We stood around at the vegetable market at least a half hour while he cut fruit (could that be done ahead of time?). The commercial market was a long wait as well. The coffee and empanada store was good.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
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up to 15 guests
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May 2024
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