Chile stretches 4,300 km along South America's Pacific coast, offering stunning diversity from the Atacama Desert in the north to Patagonian glaciers in the south. Experience world-class wine regions, vibrant cities like Santiago and Valparaíso, and breathtaking natural wonders including Torres del Paine National Park.
Top food tours
Guided experiences that show you Chile through its food.
Santiago Market & Barrio Italia Food Walk
Explore Santiago's vibrant food scene from the chaotic La Vega Central produce market to the artisan food shops of Barrio Italia, stopping for empanadas, sopaipillas, completos, fresh fruit, and Chilean cheeses along the way. Led by local culinary guides with stories of Chilean food culture.
Mercado Central Seafood Experience
Chile has the world's longest coastline per capita — this tour explores Mercado Central's extraordinary seafood bounty with a fishmongery tour, wine bar pairing, and a shared bowl of caldillo de congrio (Pablo Neruda's favourite conger eel soup) in the market's historic hall.
Maipo Valley Wine & Empanada Tour
A full-day expedition from Santiago to the Maipo wine valley, Chile's oldest viticultural region just 35 km south of the capital. Visit two boutique wineries for cellar tours and reserve tastings, then stop at a rural bakery to learn about traditional Chilean empanada-making.
Santiago Street Food Night Tour
After dark, Santiago's street food scene comes alive in Barrio Bellavista and around Pio Nono street. This evening tour samples the city's most beloved late-night foods: completo italiano hot dogs, terremoto cocktails, anticuchos, churros, and freshly fried empanadas de pino.
Valparaíso Port Food & Culture Walk
Valparaíso's port culture shaped a unique culinary tradition blending Chilean, immigrant, and sailor influences. This walking tour through cerros Alegre and Concepción combines street art history with tastings of chorrillana, seafood empanadas, and craft beer from Chile's thriving microbrewery scene.
Tour formats
Different ways to experience Chile's food scene.
Street food tours
Evening street food crawls through Bellavista (Santiago), focusing on completos, anticuchos, sopaipillas, and late-night empanadas. Best experienced Thursday-Saturday evenings.
Market tours
Guided tours of La Vega Central, Mercado Central, and Feria de Quilicura covering the full breadth of Chilean ingredients — choclo, merkén, cochayuyo seaweed, quinoa, and exotic seafood.
Restaurant tours
Multi-course curated dinners at restaurants like Boragó, Peumayen, or Liguria, guided by a sommelier pairing Chilean wines (Carménère, Sauvignon Blanc, Syrah) with each course.
Specialty tours
Wine valley day trips to Maipo, Casablanca, and Colchagua; pisco distillery tours in the Elqui Valley; craft beer tours through Santiago's microbrewery neighbourhood.
Cooking classes
Take a piece of Chile home with you.
Cook in Chile (Santiago)
Learn to prepare Chile's national dishes from scratch in a home kitchen in Barrio Italia. The menu typically includes empanadas de pino, cazuela de vacuno, and tres leches cake, guided by a professional chef who explains the cultural history behind each recipe.
Peumayen Ancestral Kitchen Experience
The team behind Peumayen restaurant in Bellavista offers an intimate kitchen session exploring Mapuche, Aymara, and Rapa Nui culinary traditions. Participants grind ancient grains, learn to work with merkén, cochayuyo, and ancestral tubers, and share a communal meal.
Chilean Seafood Masterclass (Valparaíso)
Starting at the Valparaíso fish market, participants select the day's fresh catch — sea urchin (erizo), corvina, or congrio — then repair to a seafront kitchen to prepare ceviche, a traditional caldillo, and a classic Chilean mariscal (seafood cocktail).
DIY self-guided food tour
Self-guided Santiago food crawl covering the city's essential food markets and street food spots in one morning — best on Saturday when markets are busiest.
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Stop 1: La Vega Central (Antonia López de Bello 890) — open 5AM-5PM; browse 3-4 stalls for fresh juices, Chilean cheeses, and merkén spice
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Stop 2: Mercado Central (San Pablo 967) — arrive by 9AM before tourist crowds; sample ceviche or a caldillo de congrio at one of the family-run interior restaurants
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Stop 3: Empanadas at El Hoyo (San Vicente 375, Barrio Brasil) — legendary Santiago hole-in-the-wall serving the city's best empanadas de pino since 1912
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Stop 4: Barrio Italia along Av. Italia — artisan chocolate at Chocolate Tree, specialty coffee at Café Cacho, local wine at Emporio Nacional
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Stop 5: Completo at Dominó (Av. Huérfanos 899) — Santiago's most famous completo (Chilean hot dog) chain, open since 1952, always packed with locals
Foodie tips
Get more out of every meal.
La Vega Central market is at its most vibrant on Saturday mornings from 7-11AM — go early for the best produce and to eat breakfast alongside Santiago's restaurant chefs doing their weekly shop.
Chilean lunch ('almuerzo') is the main meal of the day — most traditional restaurants serve a fixed three-course menu called the 'menú del día' for $5-10, a huge saving on à la carte dining.
The national drink is Pisco Sour — order it made with Chilean pisco (not Peruvian) and ask for 'seco' (less sweet) or 'dulce' (sweeter). The terremoto (white wine, pineapple ice cream, and fernet) is the local favourite at Fiestas Patrias in September.
Chile's best seafood is not in Santiago — take a day trip to Valparaíso's Mercado Puerto for ultra-fresh Pacific seafood at fraction of Santiago prices, particularly chupe de mariscos and corvina a la plancha.
Sopaipillas are fried pumpkin flatbreads sold everywhere in winter — eat them fresh from the fryer with pebre (Chilean salsa) or chancaca (brown sugar syrup), never cold.
Chilean wine paired with food is exceptional value — a quality Carménère pairs perfectly with hearty stews and grilled meats; Casablanca Sauvignon Blanc is superb with Pacific seafood.
Avoid overeating at the entrée at traditional Chilean restaurants — portions are enormous, and a single cazuela (stew) is a full meal. Order one dish per person rather than sharing multiple plates.