USA » Colorado » Denver

Denver Food Tour: 5 Tastings & LoDo History

★★★★★★★★★★ 4.95 (1,924 reviews) 96% rated it 5 stars

Free cancellationTravelers' pick

1/41

Duration3h

GroupUp to 16

LanguagesEN

Mobile ticketAccepted

Walk Through Denver's Food & Frontier Past in Three Hours

You walk through downtown Denver's oldest neighborhood, stopping at five award-winning restaurants for tastings: AVPN-certified Neapolitan pizza, Colorado green chili, Argentine empanadas, Southwestern fry bread tacos, and Portuguese custard tart. Your guide shares stories about LoDo's Wild West history and the city's transformation from gold-rush settlement to culinary hub. The tour ends at Union Station, and takes three hours total. Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free options are available with advance notice.

Step-by-step itinerary

Start at Marco’s Coal Fired Pizzeria
Walk along historic Larimer Street
Taste empanadas at Lazo Empanadas
Try green chili at The Cherry Cricket
Pass by National Ballpark Museum
Explore Ballpark District streets
Pause at McGregor Square plaza
See The Rally Hotel exterior
Pass historic Windsor Dairy building
Eat fry bread taco at Kachina Cantina
Walk through Dairy Block area
Visit Wynkoop Brewing Company
Enjoy pastel de nata at Ultreia
Stop at Coors Field stadium
Visit Oxford Hotel lobby
End at Denver Union Station

The Experience

You step off the sidewalk near Coors Field and into Marco's Coal Fired Pizzeria, where ovens burn at over 1,000 degrees. The smell hits first—wood smoke and San Marzano tomatoes. Marco's is Denver's only AVPN-certified Neapolitan pizzeria, meaning the dough, sauce, and toppings meet the same standards you'd find in Naples. Your guide walks you through how a Denver pizzeria earned Italy's highest stamp of approval, then you taste the signature pie: fresh mozzarella, blistered crust, that perfect chewy bite. It's the kind of opening that sets the tone—fired-up, bold, and unapologetic about what it is.

From there, the tour moves through LoDo—Lower Downtown—the oldest part of the city, where brick warehouses from the 1880s now house restaurants and bars. Your guide shares the real history as you walk: General William Larimer staked a claim here in 1858, and Larimer Street became the frontier settlement's main commercial corridor. Saloons, hotels, banks, the first post office—it all happened on these streets. You'll pass Coors Field, McGregor Square (opened in 2021, still buzzing with energy), and the Dairy Block, a revitalized micro-district built on the site of the old Windsor Dairy. The walking food tour isn't just about eating; it's about understanding how Denver transformed from a gold-rush settlement into a city that takes its food seriously.

The tastings come in quick succession: ground beef empanadas with housemade chimichurri at Lazo, a family-owned spot serving authentic Argentine recipes. Award-winning Colorado green chili at The Cherry Cricket, a Denver institution since 1945—here, green chili isn't a condiment, it's a cultural identity. At Kachina Cantina on the Dairy Block, you get a roasted pork belly taco on blue corn tortilla with peach morita salsa, a dish that blends Southwestern tradition with modern creativity. The tour includes a stop at Wynkoop Brewing Company, Denver's first craft brewery, founded in 1988 and still housed in a historic brick warehouse. Five tastings across three hours means you're moving, but not rushed—your experienced foodie guide ties each stop to the neighborhood's story, so you're never just eating; you're learning.

The tour closes inside Union Station, Denver's grand Beaux-Arts landmark first opened in 1881 and completely revitalized in 2014. You finish at Ultreia, an Iberian-inspired restaurant tucked into the station, where you taste a pastel de nata—a Portuguese custard tart with flaky pastry and a rich, lightly caramelized filling. It's an indulgent but light finale, and eating it beneath Union Station's soaring ceilings ties the whole journey together: global flavors, local craftsmanship, and a city that's learned to honor both its frontier past and its modern appetite.

What’s included

Your three-hour walking food tour includes five tastings at award-winning Denver restaurants: AVPN-certified Neapolitan pizza with bufala mozzarella and fresh basil, ground beef empanada with housemade chimichurri, award-winning Colorado pork green chili with flour tortilla, roasted pork belly taco on blue corn tortilla with peach morita salsa, and Portuguese egg custard tart with powdered sugar.
An experienced foodie guide leads you through LoDo, sharing stories about Denver's Wild West history, frontier architecture, and the city's transformation into a modern culinary destination.
Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free tastings are available with advance notice.

Good to know

Easy physical levelStroller friendlyPublic transport nearby

Operated by Delicious Denver Food Tours

Is this one for you?Pick this tour if you want to taste Denver's best food without planning five separate restaurant visits, and you're curious about the neighborhood's history as much as its flavors—the guide's stories about LoDo's past are woven into every stop, so you leave understanding the city, not just fed.