If you are visiting Cincinnati for the first time and want to understand both its food and its neighborhoods, Secret Food Tours Cincinnati is an easy way to do both in one afternoon.
The Cincinnati food tour combines several local specialties with stops through three historic neighborhoods, and you use the city’s free streetcar along the way. We spent about three and a half hours eating, walking, and learning how Cincinnati fits together from a local guide.
This was my third Secret Food Tour in my third city, and none of them have disappointed me.
Food tours are one of my favorite ways to explore a new destination because you are not only trying local food. You are also learning how the city works from someone who actually lives there.
Since I had already taken Secret Food Tours in two other cities and enjoyed both, booking the Cincinnati tour was an easy decision.
If you are planning more sightseeing around the tour, my One Day in Cincinnati Itinerary for First Time Visitors shows how we fit Cincinnati’s neighborhoods, food, skyline views, and evening plans into the same trip.
We booked the Secret Food Tours Cincinnati tour.
The tour begins around Findlay Market, travels through Over-the-Rhine, and continues toward The Banks. Along the way, you visit three historic Cincinnati neighborhoods while trying several local foods and learning about the city's history and food culture.
The history never took over the experience, which I appreciated. It is a food tour, after all.
There was enough background to understand why certain foods and neighborhoods matter without turning the afternoon into a history lecture.
This tour cost $75 per person.
There was also an optional upgraded drink package, but we did not add it. We don't drink so that was an easy choice for us.
I booked a few weeks ahead and had no problem getting a reservation. I would not necessarily wait that long in every city, especially during a busy travel season or on a popular weekend.
Cincinnati was less crowded during our visit, and we took the tour on a Friday, so booking a few weeks out worked well for us.
Our tour began at 11:00 AM and lasted around three and a half hours.
We walked a few miles overall, but it was easy, slow-paced walking with plenty of food stops in between. We also rode Cincinnati's free streetcar twice, so you are not walking the entire route.
The weather happened to be perfect during our visit, which definitely made spending several hours moving around the city more enjoyable.
The tour begins near Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine, usually shortened to OTR. Our meeting point was very easy to find.
The tour does not finish back at the starting location. Our guide showed us how to use the free streetcar to return to our car afterward. I actually liked that.
Instead of simply depositing us where we started, the tour taught us how to navigate Cincinnati on our own. We used the streetcar again later in the trip, so learning the system was genuinely useful.
If you have extra time in OTR before or after the tour, many of the murals I included in Best Cincinnati Murals You Should Not Miss are in this same general part of the city.
There are parking lots near Findlay Market along with some street parking.
We paid around $15 to park.
Even though the meeting point itself was easy to locate, I would give yourself at least 20 extra minutes to find parking and walk over. There is no reason to start a three-and-a-half-hour food tour by sprinting through Over-the-Rhine because you underestimated parking.
There were only five guests in our group, including Brad and me, plus our guide.
It was a great group size.
Everyone could talk, ask questions, and get to know one another without the experience feeling crowded. The smaller group also made the tour feel much more personal.
Our guide was a Cincinnati local who was friendly, knowledgeable, and organized. She kept everything moving at a comfortable pace and explained the city and its food without sounding scripted.
She shared stories about Cincinnati's German heritage, local traditions, and the neighborhoods we were passing through, but the food stayed at the center of the experience.
That balance worked really well for me.
I am not going to reveal the exact restaurants or the Secret Dish because discovering the stops is part of the fun.
I will tell you the types of food we tried.
The tour moved back and forth between sweet and savory dishes, which I loved. It kept everything varied instead of making the afternoon feel like several versions of the same meal.
If food is a major reason you are visiting Cincinnati, I also put our other meals, local specialties, and favorite stops into Best Places to Eat in Cincinnati From Breakfast to Dessert.
We started near Findlay Market with a handmade local treat.
It was a simple way to begin the tour and also gave us a chance to spend time around one of Cincinnati's major food destinations.
We then visited a well-known local spot for what our guide considered one of the best goetta breakfast sandwiches in Cincinnati.
Goetta is a Cincinnati specialty made with meat, oats, and spices. It came to the area through German immigrants and became one of the foods many Cincinnati locals grow up eating.
Trying it in a breakfast sandwich made it a very approachable introduction to one of the city's most recognizable foods.
Our next sweet stop was at a family-owned Cincinnati ice cream shop that has been making ice cream since 1870.
Its famous chocolate “chips” are actually large, irregular shards of chocolate created through a special process.
This is the kind of ice cream you are still thinking about later.
Next came one of Cincinnati's more unusual creations from a popular late-night local spot.
Imagine everything you like inside a loaded burrito, sealed together with a crispy, extra-cheesy tostada crunch.
It was messy, indulgent, and definitely not an average burrito.
Our next sweet stop had previously been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.
A true Liège waffle is made with brioche-style dough and Belgian pearl sugar. As it cooks, the sugar caramelizes, giving the waffle a crisp exterior with a soft, buttery center.
This was not a basic breakfast waffle. One bite made it very clear why it has become one of Cincinnati's famous waffles.
Save this for later on Pinterest so you don’t forget it.
No Cincinnati food tour would be complete without trying Cincinnati chili.
Cincinnati chili is very different from traditional bowl-style chili. It is a uniquely spiced meat sauce commonly served over spaghetti or hot dogs and topped with a large amount of shredded cheddar cheese.
We tried ours over a hot dog, although the way it was served made it feel almost like a chili taco hot dog. It sounds a little unusual, but this is a Cincinnati food you have to try at least once while visiting.
The Secret Dish was my favorite bite of the entire tour.
That is all I am saying because I do not want to ruin the surprise.
We were able to sit down at almost every stop. That made a big difference over a three-and-a-half-hour tour.
We had enough time to taste the food, talk with the group, and listen to our guide before heading to the next stop. Nothing about the pace felt rushed.
Yes. We were quite full by the end. The individual portions are tasting-size rather than full meals, but there are enough stops that the food adds up quickly.
I would not eat a full meal immediately before the tour. Unless you wake up several hours before the starting time and need a light breakfast, arrive ready to eat.
The Secret Dish was my favorite bite. I genuinely liked everything we tried, though.
Naturally, I liked some foods more than others, but there was not a single stop where I thought, “They could have left this one out.”
The variety helped. We tried sweet foods, savory foods, Cincinnati classics, and dishes that locals actually eat rather than spending the entire afternoon sampling variations of the same thing.
Yes. I would return to most of the stops on my own.
That is one reason I like taking food tours near the beginning of a trip. If you find something you really like, you still have time to go back before you leave.
We followed our afternoon food tour with dinner at Boca, which ended up being one of our favorite meals of the trip. I go through everything we ordered in my Boca Cincinnati Review A Memorable Date Night Restaurant.
I told Secret Food Tours about my food preferences ahead of time.
There was no alcohol or seafood included on this particular tour, so my restrictions were not an issue.
Our guide also told us about a previous guest who was an extremely picky eater. She went out of her way to find something that person would enjoy instead of simply leaving them without food.
That story made me feel confident that the company would at least try to work with reasonable dietary requests.
If you have allergies or significant food restrictions, I would still contact Secret Food Tours before booking. Available substitutions can depend on the restaurants and dishes included in the tour.
The tour gave us a better understanding of how Cincinnati's neighborhoods connect and why certain foods are so tied to the city's history. We heard about Cincinnati's German heritage and local traditions while moving through three different areas of the city.
By the end, I felt much more comfortable navigating Cincinnati and had a better idea of what locals actually enjoy eating.
For us, yes.
For $75 per person, we received several food tastings, around three and a half hours with a local guide, rides on the free streetcar, and an introduction to multiple Cincinnati neighborhoods.
We also left full.
The value was not only in the amount of food. We tried foods we may not have known to order on our own and came away understanding the city better than we did when we started.
I think this tour works especially well for:
It may not be the best fit if you strongly dislike trying unfamiliar foods or do not enjoy walking and moving between different areas of a city.
Book ahead, particularly for weekends, holidays, or busier travel periods.
Plan to arrive 10 to 15 minutes before the tour begins, plus at least another 20 minutes if you need to park and walk to the meeting point.
Do not eat a full meal before the tour. There is plenty of food.
Wear comfortable walking shoes. The pace is easy, but you will cover a few miles.
Bring a water bottle and your phone. That was really all we needed. A Brita Water Bottle works well for a long sightseeing day when you want to refill as you go, and a Phone and Wallet Crossbody Strap is useful when you are constantly pulling out your phone for photos, maps, and the streetcar.
Check the weather because parts of the tour are outside. A small Danvek Mini Umbrella is easy to keep in your bag if rain is in the forecast.
If possible, schedule the tour near the beginning of your Cincinnati trip. It gives you time to revisit restaurants or neighborhoods you discover along the way.
Absolutely. This was my third Secret Food Tour in my third city, and the company has not disappointed me yet. For Cincinnati specifically, I liked that it combined food with enough local context to make the rest of our time in the city easier to plan.
If food is a major part of how you like to explore a city, Secret Food Tours Cincinnati is a very useful introduction.
If you end up booking anything for your trip, using my affiliate links helps support my blog at no extra cost to you. I spend a lot of time researching and writing these guides, so I really appreciate the support.
We stayed downtown at 21c Museum Hotel, which made it easy to explore more of Cincinnati after the tour. Read my 21c Museum Hotel Cincinnati Review What to Expect for details on the room, parking, location, and museum.
You can also compare Cincinnati hotels through Booking.com.
You can book the Secret Food Tours Cincinnati tour directly if you want to take the same tour we did.
For other Cincinnati activities, I also use Viator and Get Your Guide when comparing tours.
For one of my favorite Cincinnati skyline views, read my Devou Park Guide Best Cincinnati Skyline Views.
If you want something different to do in the evening, my Ghost Baby Cincinnati Review: Is This Underground Cocktail Lounge Worth Visiting? explains what it was like visiting the underground cocktail lounge and live music venue.
If Cincinnati is part of a larger Ohio trip, see The Best Day Trips from Columbus, Ohio for more ideas.
13 creek crossings, a canyon that keeps closing in around you, and a hike I’d genuinely put back on my itinerary, West Fork Trail was the one.
We got to Call of the Canyon at 7:15am and the lot was barely a quarter full. By 12:30 it was 85% full, so if there’s one tip that matters most, it’s this: go early.
The maintained trail is 6.6 miles round trip, mostly flat, mostly shaded, but I kept my regular tennis shoes dry the whole way by hopping across the rocks at each crossing. It’s rated moderate, and honestly that’s about the distance, not the terrain.
Here’s what nobody tells you though ✨ the maintained trail isn’t the end. We changed into water shoes at the official endpoint and kept going another mile straight through the creek, canyon walls narrowing around us the whole time. That extra mile ended up being my favorite part of the entire hike.
5/5 for me. I’d bring the water shoes again in a heartbeat.
Link in bio for the full guide parking, timing, what to pack, and everything I wish I knew before I went 🥾
Two hours, zero regrets. The Pink Jeep Broken Arrow Tour is hands down one of the most fun things we did in Sedona.
Open-air Jeeps crawling over slickrock, backcountry views you can’t reach on your own, and the famous Road of No Return, steep, thrilling, and somehow completely safe the whole way down.
If you’re picking one paid activity in Sedona, make it this one.
You have to do @pinkjeeptours 🌵🚙 Link in bio for the full review.
Dinner beside Oak Creek at Cress, and yes, it’s a splurge, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat.🤍
Candlelit tables under the trees, the creek running right beside us, a menu that mixes Arizona ingredients with French technique. We ordered a little of everything: the squash and beet salad, milk rolls with three different butters, sweet potato gnocchi that somehow felt light instead of heavy. Then two desserts because we couldn’t decide. The Vanilla Crème Caramel with Manchego cheese completely stole the show, salty and sweet in a way that sounds strange until you taste it.
Plan on $100–250 for two depending on what you order, and this isn’t the spot for a quick casual dinner, it’s slow, intentional, and worth every minute. Book ahead and ask for a creekside table if you can.
If you’re looking for one unforgettable meal in Sedona, this is it. Link in bio for the full review 🍽️
Sky Ranch Lodge, Sedona. Booked it for the location, stayed for the sunsets.
This is not a five-star resort with ten restaurants and a spa menu the length of a novel. It’s a family-owned boutique hotel on Airport Mesa that knows exactly what it’s good at: red rock views from basically everywhere and one of the best sunset spots in town, private, with maybe four other couples instead of a crowd.
We booked a Premier Rim Room and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Watched the sunset from our own patio one night and it’s still one of my favorite moments of the whole trip.
✨ Six acres of botanical gardens to wander morning and evening
✨ Pool + hot tub that hit exactly right after a day of hiking
✨ On-site food truck for easy breakfasts and lazy room service nights
✨ Complimentary shuttle so you’re not fighting Sedona parking
✨ Robes, slippers, and a staff that felt genuinely happy to help
Two stays in and I’d book it again without a second thought. This is where to stay in Sedona if you want it to actually feel like Sedona.
Thank you to @skyranchlodge for having us, link in bio for the full review 🌵
Four hours on a train through a canyon you can’t reach by car — such a fun experience! We picked the indoor seats with unlimited access to the open-air viewing car, which honestly felt like the only right call. You’re not stuck in an assigned seat the whole time we bounced between the two, snacks in hand, chasing the best light.
The scenery is the whole point. Red rock cliffs, the Verde River, a 734-foot tunnel, historic trestle bridges views most people visiting Sedona never see, because you literally can’t drive to them.
The charcuterie box that comes with your ticket is shockingly filling ✨ so skip lunch at the Copper Spike Café beforehand, save your appetite for dinner back in Sedona.
Four hours with no stops did start to feel long by the end, but the trade-off for scenery like this? Worth it.
Would I ride it again? Yes. Would I buy lunch first again? No.
Link in bio for the full review cost breakdown, what to pack, and exactly how early to arrive 🚂
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