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Bites and Sights: Walking Food Tour in San Jose, Costa Rica
4.9
1,129 Ratings
San José
Embark on a walking food tour in San Jose to uncover the beauty and culture of contemporary Costa Rican life. Taste local delicacies, explore historical sites, and learn about traditional remedies and exotic plants. Get a true sense of San Jose through its flavors!
Duration:
3 hours, 30 minutes
Cancellation:
1 day
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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.
- Mercado Borbón - The Mercado Borbón is a true sensory experience of sights and smells, and you might catch the daily hand-truck race among the workers. The focus is on produce, though it sells a bit of everything
- Correos de Costa Rica - This is the best to understand, why is hard to find an address on here.
- Metropolitan Church (Catedral Metropolitana) - The Metropolitan Cathedral is the main church in San Jose Costa Rica. This Catholic cathedral stands superbly with neoclassical posture overlooking Central Park and the crowded streets and avenues of the capital city.
- Teatro Nacional Costa Rica - Is include a visit to the entrance hall of Costa Rica’s National Theater. In the heart of San Jose, the National Theatre (Teatro Nacional) remains one of the capital city’s most popular tourist attractions.” The ornate Neo-Classical theatre is considered the finest historic building in San Jose, and is known for its exquisite interior decorated with lavish furnishings and beautiful murals.
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Templo de la Música - La Laguna Plaza was initially called in 1887 because it was erected over a small lake in which the inhabitants of San José of the nineteenth century obtained the mud necessary to make the adobes with which they built their houses. There the New Year holidays were celebrated. The lake, of artificial origin and known as the Villanueva well, was known at least since 1790.
In 1808, the then Spanish governor of the Province of Costa Rica, Tomás de Acosta, had urged the authorities to dry out the place. Around it, there was a ditch, called Las Arias, so some families had begun to settle, forming a neighborhood called La Laguna. Between 1853 and 1856, President Juan Rafael Mora Porras ordered the construction of the National Liquor Factory in the neighborhood, which came to consolidate the housing presence in the area - Parque Espana - With this walking tour we can also enjoy of the beauty of the nature when we visit the Spain park.
- Mr. Sloth Coffee Shop - In this very special place, we will be having several meals and we will have the opportunity to help and participate in making empanadas with ripe plantain and cheese, we will also try a Costa Rican Tamal, cooked by local families and we will try Agua de Sapo. Enjoy our famous caldosa.
What's Included
- Enjoy local ice cream at a 100-year-old shop in The Central Market
- Savor Costa Rican-style tamales wrapped in banana leaves
- Learn to prepare Café Chorreado and Agua de Sapo
- Make sweet plantain empanadas with cheese
- Indulge in traditional Caldosa corn chips
- Try seasonal fruits in the Borbon Market
What's Not Included
- Transportation: if you need to quote transportation service, write to us.
- Alcoholic Beverages
- Gratuities
Additional Information
Unmask the beauty and culture of contemporary Costa Rican life on this San Jose walking tour. You’ll get up close and personal, through local food, history, culture even the herbal remedies of folk medicine. Enjoy exotic, fruits, in the Borbon Market. We’ll take a stroll through the vibrant Central Market, tasting local ice cream,this ice cream shop is over 100 years old. Seeing diverse sites the Cathedral, National Theater, the beautiful Morazan parks will help you get to know the country and its rich history and from this experience, you’ll have another sense taste to get more in tune with San Jose. For the end visit Mr. Sloth Coffee Shop where you will find gourmet coffees and chocolates produced by women, in this special place tasting and learn to prepare Cafe Chorreado, enjoy a local caldosa, tamal cooked by local families and wrapped in a banana leaf, learn how to make plantain empanadas with cheese, try our famous Agua de Sapo make with sugar cañe and lemon.
- Safety Tips, San Jose is a big city like any other, it is a preventive measure to dont wear flashy jewelry.
- Dont eat before the tour.
- The groups are 12 people with a guide.
- We can accommodate vegetarians and other dietary restrictions. Please notify us in advance if you have any dietary requests.
Location
Los Presentes
Calle 4
Between Avenue one and Central Avenue on street 4, we have the Central Bank of Costa Rica, in front of the main entrance we have a Monument with several small green people, this monument is known as the Monument de los Presentes, there is where the we will be waiting to start the tour.
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Customer Ratings
4.9
(1129 Ratings)
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Joshua
Aug 31, 2024
Wonderful tastes - Our guide Jampier is great. Love the fruit tastings. Love the empanadas making and finishing off with coffee tasting. It was very intimate settings. Love it!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Alishal430
Aug 29, 2024
Great! - Such a great experience! We highly recommend!! Angel was so kind and informative food and eats were great we enjoyed it all
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Connie_k
Aug 29, 2024
Great walking experience tour - The tourist guide.
She was amazing, friendly smart and interact with the group very well. I recommend this tour.
Review provided by Viator
Connie_m
Aug 28, 2024
Excellent tour. - Daniel was an excellent guide. We enjoyed his knowledge and insight about everything that we saw. Fruits were delicious and the tamales and empanadas were great. Highly suggest the tour.
Review provided by Viator
Kristen_f
Aug 27, 2024
Enjoyable afternoon - The tour was informative and interesting, Angel was a great guide and I would definitely recommend this tour for anyone visiting San Jose.
Review provided by Viator
Oluwa2bilobal
Aug 27, 2024
The streets of San Jose - The fruit, views, scenery and the experience in general was incredible. The entire tour was friendly enable and refreshing to walk through the streets of San Jose.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Agatha_h
Aug 26, 2024
Nice Tour of Downtown CR - Very nice experience for first time visitor like myself. About two hours of walking with numerous stops and some food tasting along the way. It’s sad to see many local folks trying to sell things illegally to make money. Andres was our guide and she’s very kind and helpful with any questions. There were 8 people in our group. The last stop was at coffee shop owned by tour operator where we made and tried empanadas and sampled more local dishes. The ginger drink was incredibly delicious! Don’t recommend buying souvenirs at this stop as they are very overpriced.
Review provided by Viator
Benjamincd7264qz
Aug 24, 2024
A must try! Excellent! - Wow!
Amazing experience and great price! My guide Dino was excellent and was great at explaining the history and the food. You get to try so much food for such a good price. Also, you visit many places in the city. A must try for sure!!
Thank you for the amazing experience Dino :)
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Susan_l
Aug 24, 2024
Real Tico Culture - Our guide Daniel was amazing. Very informative and nice, he gave us a lot of information about the city and things to do. Definitely is a good tour if you want to be part of the Tico culture.
Review provided by Viator
317peggyc
Aug 23, 2024
Great tour - This was a great way to try local and seasonal fruits and ice cream while visiting the markets. Our guide Oscar was very informative and kept the pace casual. I really enjoyed the time we spent at Mr. Sloth Cafe trying and making the different foods, then the demonstration by Eric of the coffee making process.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
