UPDATED MAR 2020. In my opinion, a walking food tour of Lisbon is a must-do. I had heard other travelers talk about how amazing the food was in Portugal and I wanted to try as much as possible. There was a catch though. I was traveling alone and I didn’t have a big budget to buy a lot of different meals. Hmmm, what to do, what to do? After a little Googling, I jumped on the chance to do this walking food tour. It turned out to be a fantastic experience because I got to go off the beaten path and experience a range of foods from hole in the wall places which is why I’m sharing it here today.
The Best Food Tour Of Lisbon For Off The Beaten Path Deliciousness
Disclaimer
There are affiliate links included in this post. This means at no extra cost to you, I earn a commission if you book through the link.
The basics
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Company: Culinary Backstreets
Tour: Lisbon Awakens: A Culinary Crossroads, Reborn day tour
Length: About 5.5 hours
Cost: $130USD at time of writing
Highlights: Trying a range of food from off the beaten path vendors, local markets,
What to bring:
- Good walking shoes
- Umbrella
- Cash to buy extras from local shops and to tip guide
- Appetite
- Camera – my go-to travel camera is the Sony Alpha a6000 (Amazon has this good bundle
) though the photos in this post are from my iPhone)
) though the photos in this post are from my iPhone)
Make sure you wear comfortable walking shoes for this awesome food tour of Lisbon
Which Culinary Backstreets Lisbon food tour should you take
I took the Lisbon Awakens: A Culinary Crossroads, Reborn tour and this is what I am reviewing in this post.
At the time of writing, there are 4 different food tours offered in Lisbon though. Check out their website and pick the one that suits you best – the seafood one also looks amazing!
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What to expect
Let’s just say you need to arrive hungry and wear loose pants. You’ll get to try a little of everything on this tour as you snack your way around Lisbon.
To give you a rundown, here’s what we ate in a nutshell:
- Coffee and sweet treats at a local cafe
- Cherry liquor tasting at a local corner store
- Explored a local market and sampled fruit, nuts, sardines and beer
- Tried a selection of dishes with wine at a local restaurant
- African rotisserie-style chicken and fries
- Indian food at a local coop
- Cheese tasting accompanied by wine
- Coffee, cake and of course, a famous Pastel de Nata at another cafe
There was only one thing during the whole tour that I didn’t like which was one of the egg-based sweets (I’m not a huge egg fan). Other than that, it was a variety of food that was delicious so I had a happy belly at the end.
Add meaning to your tour
If you want to add some depth to your experience, get a copy of my latest book “Your Vacation, My Office
“.
It profiles people who work in the travel industry around the world and features a Culinary Backstreets tour leader, Celia. You’ll learn what it’s like to work with travelers every day during these tours, what keeps her driven, and take a peek inside her office – the streets of Lisbon.
Perks of the tour – trying a variety of food
One thing I loved about the tour was that we got to try a lot of different foods during the day.
I appreciated it because I never would’ve been able to try this much without the tour.
First of all, I wouldn’t have been able to afford to order it all separately. Secondly, I wouldn’t have found some of these local spots to try – one of them was just a staircase in between buildings that I probably never would’ve found on my own.
At the end of the day, I was grateful to have been able to try such a huge variety in just one day.
Visit local businesses
Perhaps the best part of the tour is the fact that each place was deliberately selected to support local businesses and take you off the beaten path.
We weren’t visiting the top 10 spots on TripAdvisor, we were walking through villages and visiting the hole in the wall gems off the beaten path.
It’s not only a great way to support local businesses in the destination you’re visiting, but also a great way to find amazing food.
My favorite stop of the tour
Speaking of friendly people, I have to share my favorite stop on the tour which was the cherry liquor tasting.
We stepped into a corner store and were greeted by Senior Antonio. This sweet man was excited to see us and, as we sipped our cherry liquor, we got to learn about him as our guide translated his stories.
He is 88 years old and has been working in this store since 1945! It was so nice to meet him, hear his stories and this was the highlight of the tour for me.
I also loved that history was intertwined with the tour.
Each step of the way we were taught about the history of the recipes, the history of importing the ingredients and it was all intertwined with the history of Lisbon.
I LOVED this so much because I love to learn about the places I visit when I travel.
The small group setting
Even though I travel alone most of the time, I try to do one group tour in each place.
During the tour, I shared the experience with two lovely women and a family, all from America. The family had actually done a different tour with Célia earlier in their trip and came back for this one because they enjoyed it so much.
Sharing the tour with the group made it a lot more fun because well, I love to meet people. But it was also interesting to try all these new foods and talk to each other about what we thought of them and what our favorites were.
It was a really fun experience to share with these new travel friends.
Our guide for the day was Célia who was so knowledgeable about all of the foods, history and local area. She shared so much with us, and I couldn’t have asked for a better guide.
Where to stay in Lisbon
I stayed at the Heritage Avenida Liberdade Hotel which was in a great location to get to the meeting point for the tour. I chose to walk so that I could explore the neighborhoods and it took about 30 minutes to get there.
For more information, here’s my full review of where to stay in Lisbon as a solo female traveler.
For more information:
Visit the Culinary Backstreets website
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What are the interesting foods
This is some really good information about food tours. It good to know that it would be smart to pick a tour that has local knowledge of the area you are going to. That does seem like a good thing to be aware when you are going on a trip.
Definitely a great thing to keep in mind!