9 Fantastic Food Tours You Should Go On This Summer

Food tours are an excellent way of experiencing a city for tourists and locals alike. Most food tours zero in on a specific neighborhood, so you get a taste of hyperlocal cuisine. Guides are usually very knowledgeable, and you can learn a bit of history while you engage in a food scene that is very much alive and present. Your summer travel plans would be incomplete without one. Here are nine fantastic food tours you can go on this season. 

The San Francisco food scene is world famous, so you want to make sure you're in good hands when you decide to chomp your way through this city. Avital Food Tours offers walking tours of four different neighborhoods: North Beach, the Haight, the Mission, and Union Square. Here is some of what you'll taste in each district: wood-fired pizza from the oldest pizza oven on the West Coast (North Beach), a Guinness beer and honey ice cream float (the Haight), and beer-and-a-shot braised chicken and cod taco duo (the Mission). Prices start at $68. 

Milwaukeeans love their bloody marys, which are known to get very creative, as in the case with the bloody mary with a whole fried chicken and bacon-wrapped cheese balls in it at Sobelmans. Get a taste of the city's bloody mary culture on the Bloody Mary Brunch Tour, which Milwaukee Food Tours presents every Sunday. Explore the historic Third Ward, once called the "Bloody Third Ward," in this most suitable way. The tour costs $55.

The Vancouver Food Tour company's Craft Beer 'n Bites Tour explores the Gastown district, which was founded in 1867 by a saloon-keeper. It is the city's oldest neighborhood, and looks it, with cobblestone streets, vintage architecture, and antique streetlights. Today, it has a bustling craft beer scene, and the tour lets you try various beers and pair them with curated gastropub fare. If you're not a fan of beer, go for the more food-heavy Gastown tasting tour or the Modern Chinatown tasting tour. Prices start at $75.

If you feel like immersing yourself in a totally different culture without leaving the continent, all while getting away from the overbearing summer heat and eating phenomenal food, Mexico City is your place. Eat Mexico Food Tours offers various culinary adventures that capture the soul of the city, such as a tour of a Mexico City market followed by a cooking class, a late-night tacos and mezcal tour, and — our favorite — a regional tacos of Mexico tour, which teaches you the difference between tacos from Yucatán, Guerrero, Puebla, Michoacán, and central Mexico through your taste buds. Prices start at $85.

If you're looking for an island getaway this summer, Puerto Rico is a fantastic choice, thanks to its stunning beaches and rich culinary culture. If you're in the capital, go on the Old San Juan Food and Culture Tour, which has a five-star rating (out of 936 reviews) and a Certificate of Excellence on TripAdvisor. Start the tour with single-origin coffee and Mallorca bread, eat at a restaurant where all the ingredients are fresh from a farmers market, make mofongo from scratch, savor some chocolate, and end the tour with craft cocktails. Prices start at $69.

During the Food Truck Bike Tour in our nation's capital, you can tour mobile eateries while being mobile yourself. You will taste various cuisines, from Peruvian to Korean, and get some exercise to boot, all while riding past the majestic sights of Washington, D.C., from Union Station to the White House. Prices start at $65, and include the cost of all food, bottled water, bike rental, and a licensed guide.

Georgia has one of the country's most robust agricultural economies, and it shows in their food. See it for yourself on one of Georgia Food Tours' Agro Cycle Tours, which consists of a 21 to 38 mile bike ride through the country, where you'll visit farms and taste local produce. The next date for the tour is soon, on June 13th, but more will be announced later in the season. The company also offers food tours in Athens and Roswell. Prices start at $42.

Take a food tour of the world — in New York. This food tour, led by Queens resident Jeff Orlick, is where you can eat "plenty of delectable dishes that are easy to eat but difficult to pronounce," such as gurer sandesh (a Bengali sweet) and seco de chivo (Ecuadorian braised goat stew). Queens is one of the most ethnically diverse counties in the United States, and you can taste that for yourself on this casual tour. Orlick offers a midnight street food crawl, too, which is also along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. Prices start at $59. 

North Carolina is really on its game when it comes to globally-minded local fare, most notably in Asheville, Wilmington, and the Triangle region. Taste Carolina Gourmet Food Tours offers itineraries in seven cities, all of which are well-rated on TripAdvisor. A lot of the comments on the site are actually written by locals, who are thrilled that there is so much undiscovered culinary territory in their respective regions. That's how you know these tours are worth it — they expand the minds of the people who already enjoy these cities. Prices start at $50.