Nanjing Food Tour by Public Transport: Local Eats Highlights

Eat your way through two neighborhoods, traveling like a local

A 3-hour food tour of Nanjing's Confucian Temple Area and Laomendong where you taste up to 15 local dishes (pork bun, soup dumplings, rice noodle soup, salty duck, sticky rice sandwich, shaobin, sesame ball and more), while your private guide teaches you how to use the city's public transportation to get around. Available as a morning or evening departure, with hotel pickup and drop-off included.

Step-by-step itinerary

Explore Nanjing local food and culture

• Meet guide at hotel lobby
• Walk to bus or subway station
• Travel to Confucius Temple Area
• Try local foods and shop
• Continue tour to Laomendong
• Learn local history and culture
• Return to hotel with guide

The experience

How do you actually get around Nanjing if you don't have a car? This tour answers that by making public transit part of the experience. You'll meet your guide at your hotel, then walk together to a nearby bus or subway station and ride into the Confucian Temple Area the way locals do. Once there, the real work begins: following your guide through the vendors and shops to find the dishes worth trying. Noodles, dumplings, tofu soup, and a rotating menu of snacks that changes with the season and what's fresh that day. You can browse and shop along the way if something catches your eye.

From the temple area, you'll head to Laomendong, where your guide shares the neighborhood's history and what daily life looks like for Nanjing residents now. The tour wraps with a ride back to your hotel on the same transit system you used to arrive, so by the end you've picked up the rhythm of moving around the city. The whole loop takes three hours. You choose between a morning departure or an evening one, depending on whether you want to eat your way through breakfast and lunch or dinner and late-night snacks.

What’s included

• Hotel pickup and drop-off via public transportation.
• private guide in English or Chinese.
• up to 15 local food tastings including pork bun, soup dumplings, rice noodle soup, salty duck, sticky rice sandwich, shaobin, sesame ball and local desserts.

Options for this experience

2 options

Morning TourGuide in English or Chinese · 10:00Departure is at 10:00 am or at a time you request; pickup is included.

Night TourGuide in English or Chinese · 17:30The tour leaves at 5:30 pm; pickup is included.

You pick the guide language when booking.

You'll see the exact price of each option when you check availability.See dates and prices

Before you book

Days and timesEvery dayDepartures at 10:00 and 17:30

GroupPrivate

Live guideEnglish and Chinese

Meeting point and pickupHotel pickup included.

Cancellation and refundsFree cancellation up to 24 h before the start. After that, no refund.

Prices and times updated today

Good to know

Low physical effort

Operated by Amazing Shanghai Trip

Is this one for you?Choose the morning departure if you want to eat breakfast and lunch with the crowds, or the evening tour if you prefer to explore when vendors are setting up for dinner service. Either way, wear comfortable shoes. You'll be walking between stops and standing while you eat.

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Top questions

What languages is the tour guided in?

Live guide in English and Chinese.

What kind of food will I actually taste on this tour?

You'll try up to 15 items including pork bun, soup dumplings, rice noodle soup, salty duck, sticky rice sandwich, shaobin (Chinese biscuits), sesame balls, and local desserts. Your guide picks the stops based on what's good that day and any dietary needs you mention when you book.

Do I need to know how to use the bus or subway in Nanjing before I go?

No. Your guide teaches you how to navigate public transportation as you go, so you'll learn by doing: boarding at your hotel's nearest station and riding to each food stop. It's part of what makes the tour work.

Is the morning tour different from the night tour?

Both follow the same route through the Confucian Temple Area and Laomendong with the same guide and stops, but the morning tour hits breakfast and lunch vendors while the night tour focuses on dinner and late-night snack spots. Pick whichever meal times fit your schedule.

What's included in the price?

Hotel pickup and drop-off by public transportation, all the food tastings, and your private guide for the full three hours are included. You'll pay for any additional items you want to buy beyond the tour tastings or any personal expenses.