Cuenca Table Food Tour with 15+ Tastings
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Cuenca Table Food Tour with 15+ Tastings
(2)
Add to Wishlist
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Show all photos
US$58.46 per guest
Adult x1
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Available Tomorrow
Free cancellation (24 hours notice)
For each guest that attends this experience, byFood will donate
10 meals
10 meals
Summary
Experience Details
What You’ll Experience
Where to Meet
Reviews
Duration
4 hours
Number of Guests
1 - 8 guests
Language
English
Digital Ticket
Mobile or paper ticket accepted
For each guest that attends this experience, byFood will donate
10 meals
10 meals
Experience Details
Most visitors come to Cuenca for its colonial architecture, cathedral domes, and UNESCO-listed streets. We'll show you the side of the city that locals experience every day - its markets. This small group food tour visits three of Cuenca's most beloved mercados, where generations of cooks, and vendors have helped shape the city's culinary identity.
Along the way, we'll sample 15+ tastings ranging from traditional Andean corn dishes and slow-roasted pork to coastal specialities, market snacks, and local sweets.
We'll ride Cuenca's tram between neighbourhoods, discover dishes that rarely appear on tourist menus, and learn how indigenous, Spanish, and regional influences combined to create one of Ecuador's most distinctive food cultures. From bustling market halls to family-run stalls, this is the Cuenca that exists beyond the guidebooks.
With a maximum of just 8 guests, we'll explore the city through its food, stories, and traditions in a way that most visitors never experience.
What You Get
Moveable feast with 8-9 stops around the markets and streets of Cuenca
Bottled water included
Max 8 exclusive guests, smallest group size in Cuenca (private tour or 9+ available)
Alcoholic drinks
Pick up and drop off from hotel excluded
Good To Know
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants are required to sit on an adult’s lap
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- Not recommended for pregnant travelers
What You’ll Experience
1
Cuenca
Nestled high in Ecuador's Andean highlands, it's a place where indigenous traditions, Spanish influences, and generations of market cooks have combined to create one of the country's most distinctive food cultures.
Your feasting tour of 15+ tastings explores three of Cuenca's most beloved mercados, alongside street vendors, bakeries, and local institutions. We'll uncover the flavours, stories, and traditions that most tourists never encounter.
Before we get started, your tour reflects the local cuisine and the limitations of market vendors means we unfortunately cannot cater for every dietary restriction. Here's an honest appraisal for the tour so no-one is disappointed:
- Possible for mild peanut / tree nut and no seafood diets, though guests will have 2-3 fewer tastings due to limited alternatives at some stops.
- Unsuitable for vegetarians, vegans, pescatarians, no pork and halal diets, celiac disease, lactose intolerance, and severe allergies.
15 minutesAdmission Ticket Free
2
Mercado 9 de Octubre
We waste no time diving into the culinary action at Mercado 9 de Octubre, one of Cuenca's most cherished food markets. Here, breakfast and lunch traditions collide in a symphony of sizzling griddles and steaming pots. Fresh tortillas de trigo con queso emerge golden from hot pans, while sweetcorn is transformed into delicate tortillas de choclo, a dish with roots stretching back to the Andean civilizations that cultivated maize thousands of years ago. Alongside buttery cream biscuits known as galletas de manteca con nata, we'll sip morocho, a thick spiced drink made from cracked corn, milk, and cinnamon that has warmed Ecuadorians for generations.
1 hourAdmission Ticket Free
3
Cuenca
Next, we board Cuenca's modern tram and glide through a city where centuries-old churches stand alongside contemporary life. It's a reminder that Cuenca has always balanced tradition with change. Back on the streets, we stop at a local vendor where some of Ecuador's greatest comfort foods await. Papas con cuero combines potatoes, pork skin, and a rich peanut sauce into a dish that's far more delicious than it has any right to be. Nearby, bolón de queso transforms green plantains into a dense, cheese-filled ball that's become a staple breakfast throughout coastal Ecuador. We also sample corviche, a crisp cassava fritter stuffed with seasoned fish, whose origins trace back to Ecuador's Pacific coast.
45 minutesAdmission Ticket Free
4
Mercado 3 de Noviembre
At Mercado 3 de Noviembre, the aromas become impossible to ignore. This market is famed throughout the city for dishes that have achieved near legendary status among locals.
We'll sample encebollado, Ecuador's beloved tuna soup, often described as the country's unofficial national dish. Originally a fisherman's breakfast from the coast, it's now eaten at every hour of the day. Alongside it comes succulent hornado, slow-roasted pork cooked until the meat becomes impossibly tender beneath crackling skin. A freshly fried empanada de viento, so named because it's mostly air when it leaves the fryer, arrives dusted with sugar and provides one of Ecuador's most beloved snacks.
45 minutesAdmission Ticket Free
5
Mercado 10 De Agosto
Our final market stop is Mercado 10 de Agosto, a place where traditional Cuencano cooking continues much as it has for generations. Corn is king here. We'll try mote pillo, a comforting combination of hominy corn and scrambled eggs that has become one of Cuenca's signature dishes. Nearby, mote sucio combines hominy with pork fat, proving once again that simple ingredients often produce the most memorable flavours. These dishes tell the story of the Andes, where maize has been a dietary cornerstone for thousands of years.
45 minutesAdmission Ticket Free
6
Cuenca
As the afternoon winds down, we make a few final stops that perfectly capture Cuenca's sweeter side. We'll sip refreshing agua de pitima, a traditional herbal drink long valued for its aromatic qualities, before sampling baked coconut sweets and flaky quince-filled empanadas that have graced local bakery counters for generations.
There's more to this Cuenca food tour than the dishes themselves. It's a discovery and understanding of the markets, traditions, and everyday food culture that define life in the Ecuadorian Andes. Whilst it's possible to wander these markets alone, you'd be hard-pushed to uncover these stories, flavours, and local favourites without your tastemaker guides.
30 minutesAdmission Ticket Free
Meeting & Pickup
Meeting PointCentro de Compras 9 De Octubre, Gaspar Sangurima, Cuenca Azuay, Ecuador, EC
Open in Google MapsThe meeting point outside the entrance of the Centro De Compras 9 De Octubre shopping mall is accessible by taxi from most of the city's central hotels. Uber is available in Cuenca and a safe and convenient way to reach the meeting point from your hotel.
End PointCalderon Park, Mariscal Sucre, Cuenca Azuay, Ecuador, EC
Open in Google MapsThe tour concludes at the centrally located Calderon Park. The tour duration is approximately 3.5 to 4 hours depending on the pace of the group.
Cancellation Policy
Cancel your booking at least 24 hours before the experience start time to receive a full refund.
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Reviews
5.0
based on 2 reviews
A must-do in Cuenca!
September 05, 2026
Best food tour ever!!! They tell you to come hungry for a reason … the quality and quantity of all the delectable foods on this tour is beyond! My super-friendly guide Silvia shared her deep knowle...read more
Food Tour in Cuenca, Ecuador
August 30, 2026
Enjoyed every minute of it. Host was exceptional. Ate good and learned alot about Cuenca's rich history of food.
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