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San Jose Food Tour: Markets, Coffee Workshop & Tastings

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Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/29

Duration3h 30m

GroupUp to 15

LanguagesEN · ES

Mobile ticketAccepted

San Jose’s flavors from markets to coffee rituals in one walk

You’ll wander San Jose’s lively markets tasting fresh fruits, century-old ice cream, and homemade tamales before learning Costa Rican coffee rituals with locals. Expect laughter over new flavors and stories you’ll carry home long after the last sip.

3h 30m

Step-by-step itinerary

Start at Monumento de los Presentes
Discuss city culture and resilience
Explain difficulty finding addresses
Visit Borbón Market for fresh fruits
Explore Central Market and local vendors
Visit historic Cathedral of San José
Tour entrance hall of National Theater
Walk through Spain Park
Learn history at La Laguna Plaza
Enjoy meal and cooking class at Mr. Sloth Coffee Shop

The Experience

I didn’t expect to get lost so quickly — not literally, but in the way you do when the city just sweeps you up. Our guide, Andrea, met us by the Monumento de los Presentes (she called it “the silent rebellion” — I liked that) and right away explained why addresses in San Jose make no sense. It felt like she was letting us in on a local joke. There was this morning buzz everywhere: vendors setting up, buses rumbling past, the air thick with fruit and fried dough smells.

The Borbón Market was first. I’ve never seen so many colors crammed into such tight aisles — mangoes stacked next to giant green bananas, and some fruit I still can’t pronounce. Andrea handed me something called pejibaye; she told me to eat it with mayonnaise (I did, it’s… different). The vendors seemed to know her, nodding or waving as we passed. Someone was slicing pineapple and the juice hit my hand. I wiped it on my jeans without thinking.

Central Market felt older somehow — tiled floors worn smooth, old men playing cards at a counter. We tried ice cream at a shop that’s been there over 100 years; it tasted faintly of cinnamon and something floral I couldn’t place. At one point Andrea stopped to chat with an herbalist about folk remedies for stomach aches (I only caught half of it — my Spanish is terrible), but she translated enough for us to laugh together about “agua de sapo” which is actually ginger lemonade, not frog water like I guessed.

The walking part took us past the cathedral (quiet inside except for footsteps echoing) and then the National Theater — just the entrance hall, but even that felt grand. By then my feet hurt a little but I didn’t care because we ended up at Mr. Sloth Coffee Shop upstairs where a family served tamales wrapped in banana leaves and showed us how to brew café chorreado using what looked like a sock on a stick (it works!). We made plantain empanadas too; mine fell apart but nobody minded. The coffee smelled deep and earthy — that’s what stuck with me most.

What’s included

Your day includes all market tastings—fresh fruits at Borbón Market, century-old ice cream at Central Market—and hands-on cooking of tamales and plantain empanadas at Mr.
Sloth Coffee Shop.
You’ll also enjoy specialty Costa Rican coffee brewed traditionally plus Agua de Sapo lemonade along the way before finishing back in central San Jose with your small group guide leading throughout.

Good to know

Easy physical levelPublic transport nearbyInfants must sit on laps

Operated by San Jose Urban Tours