Review: Venice at Sunset: Cicchetti, Food & Wine Tour

Rick and I were lucky enough to find ourselves headed back to Italy sooner than we expected to go on a cruise that departed from Venice. So, of course we had to head out early so we had an extra day in Venice so I could introduce him to one of my favorite travel destinations.

And, so we could do one of our favorite travel activities: a food tour!

We opted for the Venice at Sunset: Cicchetti, Food & Wine Tour with Devour Tours, though we had considered their morning option that included a gondola ride. But, we decided the sunset option was better in case we were super jetlagged and that way we had time to explore Venice on our own a bit before meeting up for the tour.

Venice food tour review

This food tour was focused on cicchetti, Venetian tapas or light bites, and we visited five stops in the San Polo neighborhood. Each food item was paired with wine or a cocktail of some sort.

Food tastings & quality

The food was fantastic and I would fly all the way back to Venice right now just to have some more of the cod-based cicchetti and the Italian grilled cheese filled with anchovies!

On our tour we tried:

Seafood bruschetta of sorts: One featured cod and the other was shrimp and onions on top of bread paired with an aperol or campari spritz
Italian meats and cheeses paired with prosecco
An Italian grilled cheese: One option with anchovies and one with ham, paired with valpociella
Pasta made with onions or you could opt for pesto, paired with your choice of white or red wine
Gelato paired with a gin-based shot

Highlights of the Venice food tour:

Drinks are included in the tour: We loved that the spritzes and wine were already included in our tour, instead of having to pay extra to sample Venetian drinks
Local dining: Our guide took us to places she’s dined at over the years and knows produces good (and authentic) Venetian dishes
Enough for a meal: We definitely didn’t leave the tour hungry! While these are small bites and plates, we still ate and drank enough over the three hours that we didn’t need anything else after the tour was over

Tour guide

Our tour guide, Barbara, was wonderful! She grew up in Venice and is still fortunate enough to call the island home. She told us about growing up here, the Venetian culture, and how to dine like a local – such as visiting different bacari, wine bars, and having some wine and cicchetti and then moving onto the next place.

She was friendly, easy to talk to, and a good storyteller. She also made the tour a bit more interactive by having us guess certain ingredients in some dishes and asking if we knew the history behind certain dishes or drinks, such as the famous spritzes!

Cheat code: It has to do with Austrians watering down Italian wine way back when!

Group size

The tour has a max capacity of 12 people and we had seven people on our tour, including ourselves. It was a good-sized group and made conversations easy and ensured we had enough so people could have seconds of certain dishes, like the grilled cheeses or meats and cheeses, if they wished.

This was definitely a small group tour, as it should be.

Booking information

Thinking of booking this food tour in Venice? Here are some quick details to help you add this to your travel plans:

Duration: 3 hours
Distance: Less than a mile
Days offered: Daily
Time: 5 p.m.
Price: $223.74 (for two people)
Meeting point: Campo San Tomà
Tickets: Get tickets online

Tips for the Venice food tour

Be open: Be open and willing to try things you don’t normally eat! That’s part of the point of food tours! I did note a specific allergy I had and Barbara confirmed that none of the dishes we had contained it, so we were all set.
Wear comfortable shoes: While we weren’t walking the entire city, I definitely recommend wearing comfortable walking shoes, especially as you do cross some bridges – you are in Venice after all!
Bring water: You do get water at some of the stops, but it never hurts to have your own bottle of water on the tour with you.
Tip your guide: Lastly, be sure to bring some cash to tip your tour guide!