Why Every Trip Should Start With a Food Tour

You land in a new city and check in at the hotel. Now what? I say you head out on a food tour — it’s my favorite way to get to know a new place.

Food tours are not just for foodies. Many incorporate casual street snacks, hidden cafes and simple restaurants frequented by locals. That’s part of the appeal: Food tours can get you off the standard tourist circuit.

With a resident as your guide, you’re likely to find yourself exploring a neighborhood you didn’t know about or popping into a bakery or bar that might have felt intimidating if you’d stumbled across it on your own.

When I lived in India, I booked a food tour to explore Old Delhi. For those who haven’t been there, Old Delhi is a maze of streets teeming with people, bikes, rickshaws and animals. It’s a cacophony of “chai wallas” — people selling steamy spiced chai from roadside stalls, food vendors and the aromatic fug of spices, roasting meat and pollution. In other words, it’s not the easiest place to navigate. But on a food tour, I was shepherded through the tangle to see the world-famous spice market and taste syrupy jalebi from a stall and crispy pakora at a second-floor restaurant overlooking a main intersection.

In Sofia, Bulgaria, I joined a food tour that gave me a handy overview of the best neighborhood eats near my hotel. The fresh yogurt and cheese pastry were delicious, yes, but the tour guide also offered a plethora of historical and cultural tidbits while we snacked our way through the city. Several fellow travelers even made plans to meet up later for dinner.

A few of my favorite things about food tours:

Food tours leave the navigation to a local. No getting lost trying to find that hole-in-the-wall cafe or paying more attention to Google Maps directions than the points of interest around me.
A city sampler helps pinpoint places you might want to revisit on your own. Walking tours of any kind help you get a feel for a new place. A food tour goes a step further, inviting you inside locally owned cafes and restaurants that you can return to later.
Culinary and cultural immersion. Food — the ingredients, the spices, even the way it is served — says so much about a place and the traditions of its people. Learning how and what to order at an izakaya (casual bar) in Tokyo or a cheese shop in London is as much a lesson in a place’s history and culture as it is a mouthwatering experience.
Making new travel friends. Food tour groups tend to be small to avoid overwhelming small dining establishments. What better way to trade stories with fellow travelers than while squeezing into a little gelato shop in Florence or breaking bread together at a bakery in Athens?

Considerations Before Booking

If you’ve never joined a food tour, the first thing to know is that you’re in for a treat! But not all food tours are created equal. Most major cities have an abundance of options available, so keep these things in mind to help narrow down your choices:

Book it for the first day of your trip. Yes, really. A food tour is the perfect way to dip your toes into the local cuisine and culture. Saving it for last means you won’t have a chance to use your knowledge for the rest of the trip.
Decide on your ideal tour length. A five-hour tour might sound like a great bang for your buck, but it’s also a recipe for sore feet. Figure out the ideal tour length for your interests and physical fitness.
The number of stops makes a difference. A three-hour tour with five stops is more laid back than a 90-minute tour with 10.
Dietary restrictions. Don’t assume that every food tour has alternative sips and bites for people with allergies or dietary restrictions. Some do, but it’s not a given unless stated in the tour description.

Booking a Food Tour

Speak to a AAA travel advisor about adding a food tour to your next vacation. AAA travel services are just one of the free perks of your membership.

AAA Trip Canvas offers a selection of food tours with access to AAA travel discounts. From local options in New York City and Boston to Europe food tours in Paris and Greece, exploring the world’s top culinary scenes is easy.

Some tour websites also let you search for food tours by city and filter by dates, group size and even specific dietary needs such as vegetarian or gluten-free stops.

Have you ever been on a food tour? Is there a city you’d like to explore through its cuisine? Tell us in the comments.

Last updated on April 9, 2026 by AAA Staff

Leandra Beabout

Leandra is an American freelance writer based in Japan. She covers travel and health for several online and print publications. When she’s not checking out a new hotel, exploring an unfamiliar town or reading clinical studies for work, you can find her plotting the next adventure or curled up with a thriller and black coffee or white wine.