Santa Marta Food Tour: the Public Market (Private)

From $81 USD per person

Santa Marta’s food is the record of everyone who passed through the port: Tayrona indigenous communities, Spanish colonists, the African diaspora, and centuries of Caribbean traders. You will not find that record in a hotel restaurant. It is in the public market, where samarios actually shop and eat, and it takes a guide who knows which vendor has been making the best bollo for thirty years to get you to the right end of it.

Four hours, most of it inside the market and the streets around it. Your driver handles getting there and back, which matters more than it sounds: the market is not somewhere you want to be working out parking with a bag of food in your hand.

Check live availability and prices — or read on for how the tour unfolds.

How the tour works

• Hotel pickup and the drive to the public market (about 2 hours including the first walk). Your guide meets you at your hotel and takes you through downtown Santa Marta to the market: an open-air space full of fruit, herbs, vegetables and everything else the city cooks with.
• The tastings, and back (about 2 hours). Across the market and the surrounding streets of the historic centre you work through what Caribbean coast Colombian cooking actually is. Bollo, the white corn dough wrapped in corn husk. Patacones, green plantain smashed and fried. Ceviche with the right acid balance. Arroz con coco made with fresh coconut rather than the shortcut. Then back to your hotel.

What’s included

• Private guide for the full four hours
• Hotel pickup and drop-off in private transport
• At least five gastronomic experiences, savoury and sweet, plus typical drinks
• All-risk insurance

Not included

• Extra food beyond the included tastings
• Extra purchases

Good to know

• This tour does not offer vegan options. That is a limitation of the food, not an oversight. If you have dietary restrictions or allergies, tell your guide before the tour or note it on the reservation and they will advise what to skip.
• Several dishes contain pork, dairy, wheat and shellfish. With advance notice your guide can plan the stops around it.
• It is a working local market, not a food hall. Informal vendors, constant movement, noise and the ordinary hustle of the city. That is the appeal, but go in expecting it.
• Dress for heat, wear closed comfortable shoes, and bring water.

Frequently asked questions

Will I be full?

At least five tastings across four hours, savoury and sweet, with drinks. Most people do not want dinner afterwards. It is not served as a sit-down meal, so pace yourself.

Is the market safe?

You are with a local guide who works there regularly and a driver waiting at the end. Carry what you need and leave the rest at the hotel, as you would in any busy market anywhere.

I have allergies. Can you work around them?

Tell us at booking, not on the day. Pork, dairy, wheat and shellfish all appear. With notice the guide can change the stops; without it, they can only tell you what to avoid.

What is bollo?

White corn dough wrapped in corn husk and boiled, eaten across the Caribbean coast, usually with cheese or suero. It is the thing most visitors have never had and most locals eat weekly.

Can children do this tour?

Yes, though the market is loud and crowded and the food is not built around mild palates. Tell us their ages when you book and the guide will adjust.

Just need the ride, not the tour?

Our private Santa Marta airport transfer gives you the same vetted driver with no itinerary attached.

Ready? Check your date and lock it in