Athens Street Food Tour Review: From Souvlaki To Loukoumades

During my time in Athens, the street food tour I took was one of my favourite things I did, second only to visiting the Acropolis. Food can be a great way to understand the history and culture of an area and Athens is no exception. On the food tour, the guide did a wonderful job explaining how certain foods came to be popular and related to past historical events in Athens.

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Is a Food Tour in Athens Worth It?

The food tour will be enough food for a meal and a great way to orient yourself in a new city. It’s the perfect way to start your visit to Athens so I highly recommend joining one. To get the most value out of your tour, take it the first day you are in Athens. The tour guide that I had was well-prepared and professional and knew her food history. I honestly cannot recommend it enough.

Is the Street Food Tour Vegetarian Friendly?

Yes! This street food tour is vegetarian-friendly. At stops where meat was served, there was always a vegetarian alternative. Unfortunately, I think it would be difficult for vegans to participate in this tour as most of the options do include cheese or dairy. Check out this vegan food tour as an alternative.

Athens Food Tour Highlights

I did my tour during the evening and it was enough food to replace dinner. Depending on the day of the week and time of your tour, you may visit different vendors and try different foods than I did. They even provided water and drinks so you will have everything you need on the tour.

One thing I loved about the tour is being lead through the winding streets of Athens and getting a feel for the city. There definitely are parts of the city I wouldn’t have explored otherwise or known the history.

Trying Tiropita and Spanakopita

We started the street food tour with a classic Greek food, the spanakopita and tiropita. We got a bit of a language lesson here, learning that the word “pita” just means pie so if you hear that word you know you will be getting a phyllo-pastry layered pie. The first part of the word reveals it’s made filling, in this case, spanakopita being spinach and the tiropita being cheese. Both were delicious and a great start to the tour. The tour guide also provided us with a bit of insight into how phyllo dough is made.

Traditional Greek Boat Pizza- Peinirli

The first big stop on the food tour was to try Greek-style pizza. One thing I love when I travel is to try out the regional pizza because there is always a unique spin. In Athens, the unique take is that it is served in a boat shaped and called peinirli. The pizza was perfect with nice fluffy crust and delicious ingredients. I wouldn’t have known about this unique-style pizza if it wasn’t for the food tour.

Athens Style Souvlaki

I’ve had many types of souvlaki, including some seriously delicious vegan souvlaki in Vilnius, but nothing quite like this. The Athens-style souvlaki can be made with different meat or veggie fillings but the thing that makes it unique is stuffing it with french fries. And what a wonderful innovation. I can have a snack of fries while dipping it into the tzatziki sauce. This was a great stop on the food tour as it also included a glass of wine or beer.

Greek Donuts: Loukoumades

A must-try in Athens is the loukoumades. These Greek donuts are made fresh to order and served warm. There are so many flavours you can try, including savory options. I had honey-covered and pistachio-covered loukoumades, both were delicious. I’m still thinking about these loukoumades as even though we have good donuts in Toronto, it’s not quite the same vibe.

Sampling Greek Desserts

The final food stop of the evening was to sample a couple of different Greek desserts. One was an orange cake called portokalopita that is made with orange syrup. It was seriously tasty. And then my favourite, baklava. No trip to Greece would be complete without trying baklava at least once.

One of the highlights of the food tour was getting to try a completely new food to me, mastika! On the tour, I tried it two ways, in ice cream and in liqueur. It’s made from tree gum and only farmed on the Greek island of Chios so it truly is a Greek specialty. The flavour is unique and unlike anything I’ve tried before. You’re either going to love it or hate it but either way, trying new foods is part of the fun.

Other Food Recommendations for Athens

The food tour is a great place to learn about restaurants you want to revisit but I also have some recommendations for places that weren’t included on this tour.

Vegan Beat– This place was amazing. I had a delicious mushroom souvlaki here and spiral fries. Everything is vegan but it’s so delicious I would recommend it to anyone.

Baklavas– Fantastic shop where you can try any type of baklava you can imagine from chocolate to pistachio to walnut. Very yummy and a great souvenir to take home.

Holy Llama– Great place for breakfast with tasty coffee and yummy vegan pastries. Seriously cannot tell that the croissants here are made with vegan butter.

The Best Food Tour in Athens

Even if you are in Athens for a short time, a food tour is worth including in your itinerary. It’s a great way to get an overview of the city and the perfect introduction to Greek food.