Lowest start
The mate tasting
Shortest and cheapest
- Length1 hour
- WherePalermo Soho
- GroupUp to 10
Group price calculator
Is there a free food tour in Buenos Aires, and what paid tours cost?
Palermo food walk in Buenos Aires
★ 5.0 · 8,399 reviews total
4 options compared
Work out the food tour bill
Enter how many are eating and line the fares up together.
- Palermo food walk3.5 hours · for one person from $89
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View - San Telmo street food3.5 hours · for one person from $69
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View - Empanada class3 hours · for one person from $37
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View - Mate tasting1 hour · for one person from $22
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GetYourGuide's starting prices, converted at the ECB reference rate; exact pricing appears when you book.
Searching for a free food tour in Buenos Aires? Here is what the free walks really give you, what a guided tasting costs from, and what you actually pay for at each level.
Editorial team, buenosairesfoodtour.click · Updated November 11, 2026 · Quick read: 8 min
In brief
- Our Palermo walkPriced from $89, it covers 4 restaurants in 3.5 hours.
- Free walksFree walks led by city guides need a sign-up, and include no food.1
- Lowest tastingMate in Palermo Soho: 1 hour with an instructor, from $22.
- Street foodHistory and street bites in San Telmo, priced from $69.
- Going privateA private food tasting tour of the old town starts from $254.
What the Palermo food walk costs, and what the fare covers
The walk this site sells is a small-group tasting tour of Palermo, and its fare starts from $89. That buys 3.5 hours with a guide working in English or Spanish, and never more than 12 guests around you. Across 4 restaurants you are served 8 or more local dishes, and the drinks come with the fare. In other words, the price is not for a snack crawl: it is closer to a long, shared meal spread over several tables.
The listing gives a fair idea of the rhythm: about 180 of its 210 minutes are spent inside the restaurants, and the strolls between them run to roughly 5 blocks. Standard groups set off from Thames street and premium groups from a restaurant on Nicaragua street, both in Palermo, and each walk ends at its final table. The premium version adds a premium restaurant and a traditional steakhouse and meets elsewhere, so check your booking email for the exact corner.
The booking terms make planning easy. Bookings are confirmed instantly and fully refunded if cancelled a day or more before the start. Booking early is low-risk while flights and hotels are still being settled. The walk has 8,399 reviews on Viator behind it, which is a large sample for a food tour in a city with plenty of competitors. Diners who need a meat-free or gluten-free menu should say so in the booking, since the operator sets it up beforehand.
Side by side
Buenos Aires food experiences by price, length and group
| Experience | From | Length | Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Our Palermo walk | $89 | 3.5 hours | Up to 12 |
| Palermo, 5 tastings | $94 | 3.5 hours | Not stated |
| San Telmo street food | $69 | 3.5 hours | Up to 10 |
| San Telmo and La Boca | $80 | 3 hours | Not stated |
| Empanada class | $37 | 3 hours | Up to 8 |
| Mate tasting | $22 | 1 hour | Up to 10 |
| Private tasting | $254 | 2.5 to 5 hours | Private |
From-prices as each listing shows them when this guide was written; they are starting prices, not quotes.
Is there a free food tour in Buenos Aires?
Not in the sense most people hope. A free food tour in Buenos Aires, with tastings paid for by the guide, does not appear among the listings we compared. What does exist are free or tip-based walking tours, and they are a different product. The city tourism board itself runs free guided walks, asking only that you register for a place.1 They are a fine introduction to a neighbourhood, but no food is promised on them.
Private operators sell similar walks for a token booking fee. A Recoleta and Retiro walk reserves your place from $1 for 3 hours with an English-speaking guide. A hop-on hop-off bus ticket that bundles free walking tours and discounts starts from $39. These are sightseeing tools: you walk, you listen, and if you want to eat, you stop and pay for your own food like anyone else.
If eating is the point and your budget is close to zero, build your own tasting day instead. On Sundays the antiques fair takes over Plaza Dorrego in San Telmo, and the old quarter around it is full of places to eat.3,4 Many classic bars and cafes run breakfast promotions, which is the cheapest way to sit in a historic room with coffee and medialunas.5,6 A free walk in the morning and a market lunch afterwards gets you surprisingly far.
Time at the table
Guided food experiences by length in hours
- Mate tasting1
- Mate in a bar1.5
- Cooking lesson2.5
- Cooking class3
- San Telmo street food3.5
- Our Palermo walk3.5
Hours taken from the listings themselves; a longer slot is not always a bigger meal.
The cheaper ways to taste with a guide
Short tastings are the entry level. A guided mate tasting in Palermo Soho runs for 1 hour, for groups of up to 10, from $22. A mate session in a gaucho-style bar downtown lasts 1.5 hours and starts from $25. Its listing promises 5 yerbas to taste, served with medialunas. Neither is a meal, but both teach you the drink you will see in every park and office in the city.
Cooking classes cost a little more and feed you properly. A San Telmo kitchen teaches empanadas and alfajores over 3 hours to groups of no more than 8, from $37. You make the food and then eat it, which turns the class into lunch or an early dinner. A similar lesson at a Palermo address runs 2.5 hours from $49 and goes ahead rain or shine.
Other cheap options mix sightseeing with food. A small-group city tour with street food, with hotel pickup, lasts 3 to 5 hours from $38. A San Telmo walk of 2 hours, guided in English, starts from $13 and ends in the San Telmo market area. On that walk, eating is up to you once the guide says goodbye, but you finish exactly where the stalls are.
Pick by budget
Which food experience fits your wallet
Say what the money should buy and see which option keeps it sensible.
If My budget is close to nothing
A city free walk, then a market
Sign up for a free city walk, then eat at the Sunday fair in San Telmo.1,3
If I want a full meal with a guide
The Palermo walk
A sit-down tasting spread over 4 restaurants in Palermo, from $89.
If I want history with my food
San Telmo street food
3.5 hours in the old south of the city, from $69.
If I want to cook, not just eat
An empanada class
Fold and bake for 3 hours in San Telmo, from $37, in groups capped at 8.
If We want no strangers at the table
A private tasting
Priced from $254; ask how the fare is counted before paying.
By budget
Sip, stroll or book the whole table
Full meal
The Palermo food walk
Sold on this site
- Length3.5 hours
- Stops4 restaurants
- GroupUp to 12
Most flexible
The private tasting
Your group only
- Length2.5 to 5 hours
- AreaOld town
- GroupPrivate
Mid-priced food walks: what the money buys
The middle of the market is where full tasting walks sit. In San Telmo, a history-led walk that mixes street bites and drinks runs 3.5 hours, keeps the group to 10 or fewer and is priced from $69. It starts on Carlos Calvo street at a bar notable and ends on Avenida San Juan. Its 121 reviews give you plenty to read before you book a seat.
Further south, a tasting route that links San Telmo with La Boca takes 3 hours and is priced from $80. It spends 1 hour tasting inside the San Telmo market, then moves by car towards La Boca and ends near Caminito. Market, barrio and a short drive in one afternoon make a good first-day overview, but the route is listed as unsuitable for wheelchairs.
In Palermo, a walk with 5 tastings lasts 3.5 hours from $94. Its meeting point is Plaza Serrano, by the Palermo sculpture, and its guide speaks English. Our own walk costs a little less and runs just as long, so compare the stop counts and the group size rather than the headline price. A local food tour in Buenos Aires is worth its fare when it seats you where locals eat, not where tour buses park.
Where your money goes
From booking to the last bite
At booking
Book your date
Book the Palermo walk from $89 with instant confirmation.
When booking
Dietary needs
Meat-free and gluten-free menus need a request at booking.
Day before
Free cancellation
Plans changed? Cancel 24 hours ahead and pay nothing.
Getting there
A SUBE card
Subte and buses need a SUBE card with credit loaded.2
On the walk
Food and drinks
Tables at 4 restaurants, with the drinks included.
At the end
An optional tip
Not part of the fare: your call, in cash.
A private food tour in Buenos Aires: what changes
A private food tour in Buenos Aires costs more and buys you control. One private food tasting and old town tour lasts 2.5 to 5 hours, from $254. Its guide speaks English, French, Italian or Spanish, and the meeting point is on Bolivar street. Nobody has reviewed it yet, which means you book on its description alone.
Private listings hide their logic in the details, so read them closely before setting one against a group price. Its record says the number of dishes and drinks depends on the option you choose, and it asks for vegetarian and other dietary needs in advance. Ask whether the price is for each diner or for everyone together, since the gap widens quickly at a family-sized table.
For many couples the premium version of the Palermo walk is a middle path. It is sold under the same listing as the standard walk, brings in a higher-end restaurant and a classic steakhouse, and is booked with the same free cancellation. If what you want is simply more room to ask questions, a group of 12 at most already gives you that. Keep the private budget for a family celebration or a group with a fixed menu in mind.
Video
A big Buenos Aires food tour
Love Always, M+E on YouTube · Nothing is fetched until you hit play.
Our tourism guides will tell you the secrets of the City. They are free walks, with registration.
Before you pay
Inside the fare, and outside it
In the fare3
- 4 restaurants and at least 8 dishes
- The drinks served with the dishes
- A live guide in English or Spanish
On top3
- Any thank-you tip, left to you
- A SUBE card to reach the start2
- Drinks and meals outside the walk
Tips, cards and cash on a food tour day
A food tour fare covers the food and drink in it, but the day around it costs money too. The first trap is the dollar sign: in Buenos Aires a price written with $ is in Argentine pesos unless the menu says otherwise, and US dollars are written U$S.8 When you see a figure that looks cheap or alarming on a chalkboard, check which currency it means before you react.
Cards are widely accepted in hotels and larger businesses, but some small places take only cash.9 Cash machines work around the clock and accept the major international cards.10 Street money changers who offer a better rate, especially on Calle Florida, are illegal, and the city tells visitors to change money only at regulated institutions.7 Keep small notes handy, since shops are often short of change.11
Tipping your guide is a personal decision, and none of the listings we compared builds a tip into the fare. When a guide has been generous with stories and food, a few notes handed over at the last stop say thanks better than words. Getting to the start is also on you: public transport needs a SUBE card loaded with credit, and both the subte and the buses accept it.2 Palermo starts are easy to reach, but leave time to find the exact corner.
Matching a food experience to your budget
Start with what you want the money to replace. If the tour is your lunch or dinner, compare full walks, since a 3.5-hour tasting with 4 restaurants is a meal in itself. If you only want a taste of culture between other plans, a short mate tasting or a cooking class gives you a story to take home for much less.
Then decide on the neighbourhood. Palermo is the most active food district in the city today, while San Telmo keeps the older cafes and its Sunday fair.12,3 A walk in each on different days is a good way to see both faces of Buenos Aires without paying twice for the same kind of tour. Pick the district first and the tour second, and the shortlist gets short very quickly.
Finally, use the booking terms in your favour. Our shortlisted tours all let you back out without cost up to 24 hours ahead. Book the one you want most as soon as your dates are firm, check the weather the day before, and keep your evening open: in Buenos Aires, dinner usually falls between 20 and 23 h.13
FAQ
Fast answers to common questions.
Is there a free food tour in Buenos Aires?
Not with free food.
Free city walks need only a registration but promise no food; full paid tasting walks begin at $69.1
How much does the Palermo food walk cost?
From $89.
For 3.5 hours you eat across 4 restaurants, with the drinks included.
What is the cheapest guided tasting?
A mate tasting.
An hour of mate with an instructor in Palermo Soho, priced from $22.
Is there a private food tour in Buenos Aires?
Yes.
A private food tasting and old town tour starts from $254 for 2.5 to 5 hours; check how the price is counted.
Can I cancel a food tour booking?
Yes, up to 24 hours before.
Yes. Each of these walks repays the fare if you pull out 24 hours or more before it starts.
Should I pay in pesos or by card?
Do I need to tip the food tour guide?
It is up to you.
The fares we compared do not include a tip; a cash tip at the end is the simple way to thank a good guide.
Is a cooking class cheaper than a food tour?
Usually, yes.
A class of 3 hours where lunch is the empanadas you shaped, from $37.
Sources
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Visitas guiadas ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Primera vez en Buenos Aires ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Imperdibles ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Polos gastronomicos ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · 8am | Breakfast at one of the city's classic cafes ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · 8am | Breakfast at one of the city's classic cafes ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Money ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Money ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Money ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Money ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Money ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Polos gastronomicos ↩
- Buenos Aires City Tourism Board (turismo.buenosaires.gob.ar) · Feriados, horarios, talles y electricidad ↩