🏨 Half-Day Souks, Food & Culture Walking Tour Activity

Half-Day Souks, Food & Culture Walking Tour

» Dubai » Dubai » Dubai

From $131.18

83 reviews (4.98)

Price varies by group size

Lowest Price Guarantee

Pricing Info: Per Person

Duration: 3 hours

Departs: Dubai, Dubai

Ticket Type: Mobile or paper ticket accepted

Free cancellation

Up to 24 hours in advance.

Learn more

Overview

Cover the Old Dubai 'must-do's' - the spice souk, abra ride, textile souk and food tastings in Fahidi - along a well-paced 3.5 hour route. Experience Old Dubai like our friends would, only the stuff you have to see and eat rather than a standard touristy checklist.

Start off with a popular old timer’s treat in the souk’s back alleys and then play a round of our fun and educational spice game, SPINGO.* Once our SPINGO champ is crowned, cool down with an icy treat and then bob across the Dubai creek in a traditional wooden abra to visit Bur Dubai’s textile souk.

We then enjoy one of the neighborhood's favourite Indian street snacks and then wind down at a traditional Emirati eatery housed in a historic home from the 1950s. Our meal will include a fragrant rice and lamb pilaf, a rich vegetable stew and delicious sweet dumplings that are a firm Dubai favourite.

*SPINGO is replaced with a “Dates (the fruit)” quiz during Ramadan though we still walk through the Spice Souk briefly.

What's Included

3 snack stops and 1 sit-down meal

Abra ride across the creek

Bottled water

Professional guide

Sanitization kit including face mask & sanitizer

What's Not Included

Hotel pickup and drop-off

Opportunities to Purchase at Own Cost: Saffron and spices at the souk; camel milk soap

Substitutions in case of allergies/restrictions

Traveler Information

ADULT: Age: 8 - 99

Additional Info

All food is ordered in advance and we may be unable to provide substitutions in case of allergies/restrictions.
COVID-19 vaccination required for guides
Face masks required for guides in public areas
Hand sanitiser available to travellers and staff
Please advise us at least 48 hours in advance of the tour in case of serious food allergies, including gluten, nuts and dairy
Proof of COVID-19 vaccination required for travelers
Suitable for all physical fitness levels

All food is ordered in advance and we may be unable to provide substitutions in case of allergies/restrictions.
COVID-19 vaccination required for guides
Face masks required for guides in public areas
Hand sanitiser available to travellers and staff
Please advise us at least 48 hours in advance of the tour in case of serious food allergies, including gluten, nuts and dairy
Proof of COVID-19 vaccination required for travelers
Suitable for all physical fitness levels

Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Experience may be cancelled due to Insufficient travelers
This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

What To Expect

Dubai Spice Souk

Fuel up with an Old Dubai nostalgic treat washed down with sweet milky tea in the back alleys of the souk.

20 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Deira Old Souk Abra Station

Cross the creek from Deira to Bur Dubai in a traditional wooden boat.

10 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Textile Souk

Take a quick walk through the vibrant textile souk and witness religious tolerance firsthand in Dubai.

• Admission Ticket Free

Meena Bazaar

Sample a beloved Indian street food: tangy chutney and lentil filled crisp ‘puris.’

30 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood

Enjoy a sit-down traditional Emirati meal featuring a meat and rice pilaf, a rich vegetarian stew and our favourite sweet dumplings.

45 minutes • Admission Ticket Included

Reviews

Great tour!

Floorvanwerven, 27-05-2022

Really great tour, for residents as well as tourists!
Farida is an amazing person, full of knowledge and anecdotes, and she takes you to a range of hidden gems!

A great evening, highly recommend to all

neileisner, 19-04-2022

Absolutely captivating and first class experience through and though. Much learning about Dubai culture and history besides the culinary experience. Our guide Moza is a fascinating person with unique insights into life and the human experience; she is the kind of person we hope to see again and again in the future. Thank you for everything!!!

Great tour, many thanks.

paulkL4551AY, 28-03-2022

Great tour, many thanks. We did the Souks and Creekside walk food tour. We'll be back for another one if we're back in Dubai.

Foodie pilgrimage

las424travel, 30-05-2022

Always a fun experience joining the Frying Pan Adventure tours. The guides are knowledgeable and engaging and the food options are truly authentic. Great for residents wanting a bit of nostalgia as well as visitors who want to explore the city’s culinary scene.

So much more than food...

E39Gator, 10-09-2022

Farida was a great guide to show us around the real Dubai. Fantastic food (best hummus I've ever tasted) combined with the history and culture behind it, made for an unforgettable evening.

Fabulous tour

mrsgee51, 20-12-2022

Noon was a fabulous guide! Not boring at all, and she led through the maze of the souks savouring everything about Dubai’s history. Totally recommend.

National Day Food Tour

Richard S, 04-12-2022

Just has the most amazing tour with Frying Pan Adventures as part of UAE National Day celebrations. A morning well spent wandering around the souks of Old Dubai, eating, drinking and picnicing. Learnt about the different treats we had, we found out some fascinating facts about UAE and went into places you would just normally walk by. We had a lovely small group and so could slip into the backstreets unlike the massive coach parties arriving nearby. A Frying Pan Adventure is a must for locals and tourists.

Middle Eastern Food Walk

michellelazarus, 22-11-2022

It was a delight to hear Farida speak so passionately about the middle eastern cuisines and the cultural heritage with so much connect. Loved the Geography and History quizzes and the prizes that followed!

A great and a must try experience!

Highly Recommended!!!

Noor was amazing tour guide

O2017ACmohammeda, 27-10-2022

Noor our tour guide is a super star. She took us on a 3.5 hour eating frenzy, the food items that we tasted were delicious and she explained everything in detail. Also the history of the food and the origins and uses of different spices. Spingo spice competition was a great touch. I would give her five stars⭐️

Wonderful tour- must do!

rshedid, 17-01-2023

This tour was incredible! Arwa our guide (and the owner of the company) was extremely knowledgeable , warm and funny and she knows the streets of old Dubai like the back of her hand. This was a history lesson and a food tour wrapped into one and is a fantastic way to see a part of Dubai that many people overlook in favour of the more "glamorous" experiences.
My heart and stomach were both full at the end of tour

Hands down, the BEST memory you'll bring home with you from Dubai!

Mer T, 07-01-2023

Best part was how insightful, perfectly curated and delicious (literally) it was!
THE MOST MEMORABLE FOOD & HISTORY TOUR I'VE EVER DONE!!!! AN ABSOLUTE MUST!!! I had very high expectations of this (and all of their other tours), and it is hard to say but they were exceeded by far...
Anything I say here, is just short of how wonderful and unique the "Dubai Souks and Creekside Food Walk" was. Arva exudes passion and knowledge, apart from being super kind and friendly. All my senses were stimulated in unison. Starting with the smell, in the middle of the old and current markets and trading areas in Dubai, full of spices, burning scents and food! There was so much to see, learn and taste!
Arva just gives you enough history and background (the fun one tho) to have a good understanding of what your are seeing and how it evolved, things that you would find in history books and others that only true knowledgeable locals like her know. I was in awe for the entire duration of the tour.
Now, time to talk about the food! Suffice it to say that every single bite of the very different treats we had was an explosion of flavours, an entrance to the different cultures that today call Dubai their home.
Perfectly curated and delivered, in short. You also get a very well thought goodie bag with not only everything you might need during the tour, but some additional gifts and surprises.
You ought to try it to truly see how a memorable experience will form in your mind.

Fantastic food tour

906sg336, 29-12-2022

The tour was incredible. In addition to sampling wonderful street food and restaurant food, Arva gave us a cultural , historical, and demographic education about the Indian and Iranian residents of Dubai (along with Emiratis). One piece of advice - be hungry!

Perfect way to start your morning especially if you’re into food and history

TheRealLoudspoken, 22-12-2022

Had a fantastic time during their special national day walking food tour. It was curated well, we tried some authentic street food and was also fed tidbits of interesting trivia from the area :) can’t wait to now try one of their full-sized tours!

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Half-Day Souks, Food & Culture Walking Tour Activity - Dubai Travel Guide

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