San Jose Walking Tour: Culture and Cuisine

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: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Los Presentes - The tour begins at the Monumento de los Presentes, where the enduring spirit of the city and its culture amidst numerous changes is introduced. This monument embodies the typical city dwellers, who face the threat of disappearing due to modernization. These figures stand resolute and serious, symbolizing a quiet defiance against…
What's Included
  • Enjoy local ice cream at the Central Market from a shop over 100 years old.
  • Savor Costa Rican-style tamales, wrapped in banana leaves, crafted by local families.
  • Indulge in traditional Caldosa corn chips, Green banana or pejibaye.
  • Try fresh, seasonal fruits at the Borbón Market.
  • The tour is capped at 12 people for a personalized small-group…
What's Not Included
  • Transportation: if you need to quote transportation service, write to us.
  • Alcoholic beverages
Additional Information

Discover the beauty and culture of modern Costa Rican life on this San Jose walking tour. Experience the local food, history, culture, and even the herbal remedies of folk medicine up close. Delight in exotic fruits at the Borbon Market. Take a leisurely walk through the lively Central Market, where you can taste local ice cream from a shop that has…

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
4.8
(1582 Ratings)
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Thomas_k
Nov 6, 2025
Very informative about... - Very informative about local history. The guide was excellent. The Central Market was the best for me and the ice cream was amazing.
Review provided by Viator
Trip450245
Nov 6, 2025
Bites and Sites - Must do tour - Oscar, our guide, was just lovely. Knowledgeable, attentive and excellent english. The group was 10, a perfect number. This is a fabulous introduction to San jose and Costa Rica. Highly recommend.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lenreyab
Nov 1, 2025
Excellent Service and time - Oscar was an exclusive guide. Animated, informative and knowledgeable. He took the thing to explain things on English and though we almost ran out of time he fixed us back to where we could walk to markets after. This is a great your and company. If you go on this tour be sure to bring water and comfortable footwear. Thank you for a great time.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Daytrip06360788226
Nov 1, 2025
The best tour super yummy and it was right on budget! - Oscar was amazing! Super knowledgeable honest and authentic! We did a self guided walking tour prior to this and was not disappointed at all! The exotic fruit, famous ice cream, delicious coffee, yummy tacos juice and tamales were to die for! And the cherry on top was making our own dessert empanadas!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Geraldwz8781ge
Nov 1, 2025
Great tour! - Our tour guide, Sandreas was AMAZING. She guided us through the Farmers Market where me met some very nice vendors and was able to take a taste test of many island fruits and homemade ice cream. After stopping in a few shops, peeked in a museum and famous church; viewed statues; we ended at the Little Coffee Shop, where we sampled tamales and made our own empanadas! All in all, I had a nice time, met some great people and was happy with the tour!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mckinley_w
Oct 29, 2025
Great option for solo... - Great option for solo traveling or with a group. You get to see a lot of different spots and learn about the culture.
Review provided by Viator
T5395falt
Nov 10, 2025
Extremely pleased. - Easy to find, fee was very fair for all we received. Three hours was perfect. The guides were very nice and friendly. Very knowledgeable and didn't make us feel rushed.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Ryanhs1304py
Nov 9, 2025
Felt like a local, age like a king (sort of) - This is honestly the perfect way to explore San Jose! Our guide Oscar was extremely knowledgable, friendly and had a brilliant way of story telling. He took us though the market to try some fruits and ice cream then bought us to a cafe where we had coffee, tamales and made empanadas. Everything was super well organised and with Oscar as our guide we felt like locals. The only downside was the pork in our vegetarian tamale which wasn’t our guides fault but was disappointing as we specifically requested a veg option.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Lucia_w
Nov 7, 2025
San Jose Bites and sights walking food tour - It was nice to visit a few places that we might not have found on our own. The guide was so knowledgeable about Costa Rican history. Trying different fruits that we might never have experienced on our own was a nice touch.
Review provided by Viator
Chelsea_g
Nov 7, 2025
Not really a food tour - I’ve been on a lot of food tours in a lot of countries, and I would not describe this as a food tour. This was an educational walking tour that lasted three hours, and has three stops. The first will take you through the market, you will not sample things at any of the stalls, but you will be taken to a separate area with a tasting room where you will try a few bites of various fruits. There were nine of us and we shared two guavas for example, just to give a perspective on how much food to expect. There were about six or seven bites of fruit total and that was the stop the first hour. You’ll go to another market and walk around for an hour where eventually you will get one spoonful of ice cream. It’s delicious, but definitely not quantity. You’ll walk through the streets looking at churches and old buildings and hearing about the history of San Jose and eventually get to your last stop. There’s a taco with a plantain filling, a tamale with a piece of pork, and a plantain empanada. You’ll also get frog juice (a ginger lemon drink) and coffee at the last stop. I think as a tour, this is fine, but if you go into it expecting to try many things or have more than a few bites, you will be disappointed.
Review provided by Viator
From $35
up to 15 guests
1 - Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).