In this guide
💡 The Short Version: For a first food walk, book the Budapest Food Walking Tourad by Carpe Diem Tours: £58.64, 2½ hours, four eateries and three drinks, 4.8 stars from 1,580 reviews. For a walk that starts in the Central Market Hall, Foodapest’s Market to Tavern tourad is 3 hours from £67.99, and costs from EUR 69 (about £59) on its own site. The best-known independent walk, Taste Hungary’s, is 5 hours and EUR 139 direct. Carpe Diem sells one route under three listings, so they are one company’s tour, not three choices. A chimney-cake workshop takes about an hour from £17.30. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices and move with the date.
The tours, tastings and classes, compared
| Experience | Length | GetYourGuide from | Operator’s own price | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food walk, Carpe Diem Toursad | 2½ hours | £58.64 | EUR 69.95 | Four District 7 eateries and three drinks |
| Market to Tavern, Foodapestad | 3 hours | £67.99 | From EUR 69 | Over 12 tastings from the Central Market Hall |
| Market walk, Experiences by Georgead | 3 hours | £66.51 | Not listed | Central Market Hall and 18 to 20 tastings, ending at Ferenciek tere |
| Culinary and wine walk, Taste Hungaryad | 5 hours | £124.60 | EUR 139 | Two markets, 12 tastings and a sommelier’s wine tasting |
| Wine, cheese and charcuterie tasting, Taste Hungaryad | 1½ to 2 hours | £37.76 | EUR 45 | Five wines at the Tasting Table |
| Eight wines in a wine bar, BORTODOORad | 2 hours | £41.52 | Not listed | Eight wines with a charcuterie board |
| Eight wines with tapas, Wine The Gapad | 2 hours | £50.75 | Not listed | Eight wines in a wine bar, hotel pickup listed |
| Etyek countryside wine tour, City & Winead | 4 to 5 hours | £72.24 | Not listed | Two wineries, a two-course meal and transfers |
| Chimney-cake workshopad | 65 minutes | £17.30 to £21.63 | Not listed | Roll and bake your own kürtőskalács |
| Three-cake workshopad | 1 hour | £26.76 to £33.45 | Not listed | Three chimney cakes, in a café in the centre |
| Cooking class with market walk, Foodapestad | 3 to 4 hours | £76.49 | EUR 79 | Market walk, then cook a Hungarian meal |
Walking food tours
The walks are 2½ to 5 hours on foot with a tasting every 15 to 45 minutes. Two start in the Jewish Quarter and two in the Central Market Hall; for the hall’s hours, see where to eat in Budapest.
Carpe Diem Tours: the District 7 food walk
From £58.64 · 4.8 stars from 1,580 reviews · 2½ hours
Budapest Food Walking Tour: Eat, Sip & Explore Like a Localad meets at Kazinczy utca 29 to 31, at the Kazinczy Street Synagogue, and walks District 7, the former Jewish quarter that is now the nightlife district. It stops at four eateries and pours three drinks: street food first, soup and lángos, a deep-fried flatbread, then a sit-down plate of chicken paprikash, braised chicken in a paprika sauce, and somlói, a sponge trifle with custard, with Tokaji sweet wine. It is in English and not suitable for wheelchair users. There are vegetarian options, fewer than on the regular menu, and gluten-free and vegan diets cannot be accommodated. Carpe Diem’s own site, thebudapestfoodtour.com, sells it at EUR 69.95, daily at 12:00 and 17:00, in groups of up to 20.
Carpe Diem lists the same route twice more on GetYourGuide. Guided Food Walking Tour with Drinksad, under the name Tipsy Tours, is from £52.78 (4.7 stars from 582 reviews) and meets in front of the synagogue. Guided Street Food Tour with Local Drinksad is from £50.14 (4.8 stars from 85 reviews). Both describe four eateries and three drinks in District 7. The tour passes the ruin bars; ruin bars in Budapest says what they are, and the Dohány Street Synagogue and Jewish Quarter guide covers the district’s sights.
Foodapest: Market to Tavern
From £67.99 · 4.9 stars from 642 reviews · 3 hours
Budapest: Food Tour Market to Tavern: 12+ Tasters & Winesad, by Foodapest, tastes its way through more than 12 items: cold cuts, pickled fruit and vegetables, a homemade spirit, goulash, lángos, chimney cake and a Hungarian dessert, with a wine tasting. The morning tour leaves at 11:30 as a market walk and an evening version at 17:00 meets at the Mercure Budapest Korona hotel at Kálvin tér. The listing includes hotel pickup and drop-off. Foodapest can cater to vegetarian and vegan guests, although some items cannot be tasted, and cannot accommodate coeliac disease. Its own page lists the Original Food Tour from EUR 69, about £59, Monday to Saturday from the Central Market Hall, in groups of 12 (foodapest.net); the GetYourGuide price is higher.
The main aisle of the Central Market Hall. Photo: Dd-ang2s, Wikimedia Commons.
Experiences by George: market walk
From £66.51 · 5.0 stars from 54 reviews · 3 hours
Budapest Food Tour: Market Walk, Local Drinks & 20+ Tastingsad starts at the Central Market Hall with a 45-minute market visit, then moves through two bakeries and two restaurants to finish at Ferenciek tere. The operator counts 18 to 20 samples, among them beef goulash, lángos, chimney cake, cold cuts, pickles and a homemade pálinka, a fruit brandy. It says it can accommodate all dietary restrictions, with some stops modified or skipped. The tour is wheelchair accessible and in English.
Taste Hungary: Culinary and Wine Walk
From £124.60 · 4.8 stars from 38 reviews · 5 hours
Budapest Culinary & Wine Walkad is the signature tour of Taste Hungary, which calls it Budapest’s first food tour, started in 2008. It leaves daily at 9:30 from the Central Market Hall and ends near Astoria metro station. It makes at least 12 tasting stops and visits two market halls. A sommelier leads a tasting of three wines at the Tasting Table, and the tour includes a lunch of sausages at the market, goulash or another soup, lángos, pastries, strudel and a ride on a tram. Groups are 2 to 8 people. Taste Hungary’s page says most dietary restrictions can be accommodated, and that the Sunday route does not go inside the Central Market Hall. Its own price is EUR 139, about £118, against £124.60 on GetYourGuide (tastehungary.com). It also sells a four-hour Palace District evening walk and a four-hour Jewish Quarter walk with lunch, each EUR 129, on its own site.
Eating Europe and Secret Food Tours
Eating Europe’s Budapest Food Tour: Local Tastings & Drinksad is 3 hours with four stops in Belváros and the Jewish Quarter, in groups of up to 12. It is on GetYourGuide from £47.00 with 5 reviews; Eating Europe’s own page lists it from EUR 79 (eatingeurope.com). Secret Food Tours sells its Downtown and Óbuda walks on its own site at EUR 89.99 each, 3 to 3½ hours, four stops and up to 12 people (secretfoodtours.com).
Wine tastings
Four tastings are in the city and one is in the countryside. None of the four city tastings admits under-18s.
Taste Hungary’s Tasting Table
From £37.76 · 4.9 stars from 738 reviews · 1½ to 2 hours
Budapest: Wine, Cheese and Charcuterie Tastingad is a sommelier-led tasting of five Hungarian wines with cheese and charcuterie such as Mangalica pork sausage and water-buffalo salami, ending with a Tokaj sweet wine. It is at the Tasting Table, Bródy Sándor utca 9, a five-minute walk from Astoria (M2) and Kálvin tér (M3). GetYourGuide lists 1½ hours; Taste Hungary’s own page lists 2 hours, daily at 15:00, for EUR 45, about £38. The Essentials of Hungarian Wine Tasting Classad, eight wines from 18:00 on most evenings, is from £49.08 (4.8 stars from 190 reviews); Taste Hungary lists it at EUR 60, about £51.
Wine bars
Eight wines at BORTODOORad is from £41.52 (4.9 stars from 374 reviews): a sparkling wine, three whites, a light red and three reds in 2 hours, with a board of Hungarian cheese, meat and bread. Wine The Gap’s tastingad is from £50.75 (4.9 stars from 489 reviews): eight wines including kadarka, a red grape, with tapas from farms outside the city, and hotel pickup and drop-off listed.
Etyek, outside the city
From £72.24 · 4.8 stars from 807 reviews · 4 to 5 hours
Budapest: Half-Day Countryside Wine Tour with Meal, Transferad, by City & Wine, drives to the Etyek wine region from 11 hotel pickup points. You visit two family wineries, taste four wines at each and eat a two-course home-cooked meal. It needs two people to run. Taste Hungary sells full-day private wine tours to Tokaj, Eger, Villány and Somló and Balaton at EUR 498 on its own site.
Vineyards at Etyek in autumn. Photo: Globetrotter19, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Workshops and classes
Chimney-cake workshop
From £17.30 (usually £21.63) · 4.9 stars from 1,498 reviews · 65 minutes
Budapest: Traditional Chimney Cake (kürtőskalács) Workshopad, by Bespoke Adventure Makers, teaches you to roll the dough into strips, wrap it round a wooden spindle and bake it on a rotating grill, then top it with cinnamon sugar, vanilla, cocoa or walnut. The price includes one cake, an apron, coffee or tea and a certificate. The dough is prepared before you arrive. The studio is at Ipar utca 11, about 15 minutes from the centre by public transport. It uses wheat, orange, milk, nuts and coconut in a small shared space, so guests with those allergies are asked not to book, and children need one adult for every four. It is listed as likely to sell out.
A second workshop, Hungarian Chimney Cake Workshop in the City Centread, is from £26.76 (4.8 stars from 1,601 reviews) and takes an hour. You make, bake and season three cakes at the Kató Néni Finomságai café at Október 6. utca 6, and take home the recipe and a certificate. It is not suitable for children under 5 or people with mobility impairments.
Hungarian cooking class with a market walk
From £76.49 · 5.0 stars from 186 reviews · 3 to 4 hours
Budapest: Hungarian Cooking Class with Historic Market Walkad, by Foodapest, opens with a pálinka and, on the market option, a visit to the Central Market Hall to taste and buy ingredients. You then cook a main course and a dessert in an apartment-style kitchen nearby, with cold cuts, pickles and wine, and sit down to eat what you made. An evening version skips the market. The price includes a recipe booklet. Foodapest cannot accommodate coeliac disease. Its own page lists the class at EUR 79, about £67, for 4 hours from the Central Market Hall; the GetYourGuide price is higher.
Budapest Cooking Class, run by Ágnes, sells private classes in a home on its own site: a three-course menu that you choose, taught in English in 3 to 4 hours, with wine, pálinka and coffee. It costs EUR 170 a head for two people, EUR 145 for three or four, EUR 135 for five or six and EUR 125 for seven or eight. Paying in cash on the day avoids the booking fee (budapestcookingclass.com).
How to choose
- One walk, the most reviews: Carpe Diem’s District 7 walk, 2½ hours.
- A walk that starts in the market: Foodapest’s 3-hour tour, or Experiences by George’s, which ends at Ferenciek tere.
- The most tastings and the longest day: Taste Hungary’s 5-hour walk.
- The cheapest food walk: Carpe Diem’s street food listing, from £50.14, the same route as the dearer listing.
- Wine without the food: the Tasting Table’s five-wine tasting, from £37.76.
- Wine in the countryside: the Etyek tour, with transfers and a meal.
- No tour, just a sweet: the chimney-cake workshop, about an hour.
- A dietary need: tell the operator when you book; they differ in what they can change.
For restaurants rather than a tour, where to eat in Budapest names the places by how many sources cite them and says which to book, and the Eger day trip goes to the wine cellars of the Valley of the Beautiful Women. For the Christmas season, Budapest Christmas markets lists the walks and cruises with mulled wine. To fit a tour into a trip, 3 days in Budapest and Budapest in one day are built round the bookings, what to book before you go to Budapest lists the sights that need tickets, and best time to visit Budapest gives the weather by month, and where to stay in Budapest compares the areas. For drinks on the water, Danube river cruises covers the boats that run, and Budapest public transport has the tram and metro fares to the meeting points.
Common questions
How much is a food tour in Budapest?
From £58.64 for a 2½-hour walk through the Jewish Quarter, £67.99 for a 3-hour walk from the Central Market Hall and £124.60 for a 5-hour market and wine walk. These are GetYourGuide's lowest 'from' prices for one adult and they move with the date. Operators that sell on their own sites charge EUR 69 to EUR 139 for the same walks.
Which Budapest food tour has the most reviews?
The Budapest Food Walking Tour by Carpe Diem Tours, with 1,580 reviews and 4.8 stars on GetYourGuide, from £58.64 for 2½ hours, four eateries and three drinks. Carpe Diem sells the same route under two more listings, with 582 and 85 reviews. The chimney-cake workshops have more reviews (1,498 and 1,601), but each is a class of an hour, not a meal.
Is Taste Hungary on GetYourGuide?
Yes, with its signature 5-hour Budapest Culinary & Wine Walk at £124.60 and two wine tastings. Taste Hungary's own site charges EUR 139 for the walk, EUR 45 for the afternoon tasting and EUR 60 for the evening one, and sells full-day private wine tours to Tokaj, Eger and Villány on its own site.
Can I take a Hungarian cooking class in Budapest?
Yes. Foodapest's class, from £76.49 with 186 reviews and 5.0 stars, is a market walk at the Central Market Hall followed by cooking a Hungarian meal in an apartment, or an evening class without the market. Budapest Cooking Class runs private classes in a home, at EUR 170 a head for two people and EUR 125 for seven or eight.
Are there food tours for vegetarians or people with allergies in Budapest?
Tell the operator when you book. Carpe Diem Tours has vegetarian options but cannot accommodate gluten-free or vegan diets, and Foodapest can cater to vegetarians and vegans but not to coeliac disease. Taste Hungary says most dietary restrictions can be accommodated, and the chimney-cake workshop asks guests allergic to wheat, orange, milk, nuts or coconut not to book.
