Mérida Cantinas Tour: Bites, Booze And Vibes

We had a wonderful experience meeting Jorge for drinks at a charming local cantina in an incredible neighborhood. Even before we arrived, I was already glad we had booked the experience because the route took us through areas filled with beautiful architecture and historic buildings that I never would have thought to seek out on my own. Jorge was extremely knowledgeable about local ingredients, cuisine, drinks, neighborhoods, and the history of the city. As a chef himself, he brought a particularly interesting perspective to the food and beverage experience. The bartenders and staff clearly knew him well and welcomed us warmly, which made the experience feel genuinely local rather than tourist-oriented. He shared fascinating stories about the history of the neighborhoods, traditional foods, local ingredients, and drinks throughout the evening. We especially enjoyed experiencing the authentic cantina atmosphere and getting a glimpse into the local culture through someone who clearly knows and loves the community. It was a fun, informative, and genuinely memorable experience, and we would absolutely recommend Jorge to anyone looking for an authentic local experience in Merida.

Jorge was awesome, very knowledgeable on the cuisine, drinks and cantinas we visited.

Jorge did a very great job, explaining history and interesting stories. You will see different, very authentic cantinas, where locals treat themselves with a good time. It's absolutely worth it!

The cantina tour of bites and booze was above my expectations! I loved the authentic experience of going to local cantinas and trying all sorts of different bontanas. There are varying experiences in each different cantina and you get a variety of vibes. The tour itself is around four hours and includes PLENTY of food to share with your fellow tour members. All your drinks and snacks are included but you are welcome to buy more beverages if you feel the need. You just have to pay for them separately. The guide(s) will be happy to facilitate getting you anything you may like. Overall: 10/10! Best for a small group (3-5), but you don't know how many people will be in your tour.

It was an amazing experience, we got to see some of the best local cantinas and experience amazing food. We will definitely never forget and we will be back. Jorge was so knowledgeable about the city, the foods we were trying and the beverages that came with them!

A truly amazing adventure! Our tour guide, Jorge, was amazing. We had a really, really great time. I would recommend this everyone and I would repeat this every single time I was in Merida.

If you want to eat and drink like a Meridano, Jorge and Dania are your people. This crawl hits five cantinas in Centro each with a completely different vibe and specialty. Along the way your guides weave in the history of cantina culture in the Yucatán, including gems like the fact that one of the stops used to keep its own house cow and horse on the premises. The food is traditional and unpretentious: friolejes with chips, sausages in a creamy chipotle sauce, empanadas. My personal favorites were the pickled veggies at one of the stops and the poc chuc tacos. Cantina Casa Paja was a highlight for pure vibes alone: we kicked things off with a flight of micheladas. Fair warning: the tomato-forward version you might be used to is not what’s on the menu here. This is the Yucatán. The final stop was the most modern of the bunch. I finished the night with an espozate cocktail and fried fettuccine dusted with chili powder: crispy, spicy and reminiscent of Frito Lays. You will leave full. Plastic chairs, plastic cups, digital jukeboxes, and some of the most genuine hospitality I’ve experienced in Mexico. Jorge and Dania are not just friendly — they’re knowledgeable, charming and clearly proud of their city. This tour is for people who want to experience Mérida, not observe it.

Jorge was an excellent guide ! A great tour of proper local joints .

Recommend! Jorge was amazing! As a solo female, I felt comfortable and safe. Jorge was very knowledgeable about the history of the cantinas we visited and Merida in general. We even saw Parque La Plancha. I felt like a local…break from the usual tourist stops. The service was great and I was able to sample authentic foods and drinks. You will leave happy and full. My tip…book early in your trip so you can return to your favorites.

George and the group was really great! He understands when to inject really special information about Merida in the middle of the drinks and great local food. Really felt like a local! Would recommend this to anyone solo or with a group as a fun way to get to know the local part of Merida

Jorge was a great guide and this tour gets you to places you otherwise wouldn't go as a tourist. My experience of Mexican food tours is that they are light on booze and heavy on corn-based drinks but this one leaves you really well fed and watered. Probably really fun to do as a group of mates. Also Judge Rinder has done this tour. So...

Jorge was a great guide and the tour was brilliant for taking you to places you probably wouldn't go as a tourist. My experience of food tours in Mexico is that they are a bit light on booze and heavy on corn-based drinks but this tour leaves you well fed and watered. Probably a really good thing to do as a group of mates

We cannot say enough about this event! If you do just 1 tour in Mérida, this should be it! So fun being on the ‘inside’ of the coolest cantinas where the locals go. The food & drinks, all included, were fascinating & phenomenal. Jorge is a wealth of historic information about the city, the neighbourhoods and Mexico. Lots of walking, lots of tasting and more drinking than you can finish. An excellent experience, not to be missed! Highly recommend!!

Great experience - in particular jorge

Jorge was great! We went to 8 different locations. I learned about the history of Merida as well as visiting local restaurants, cantinas, and popular markets. Jorge was very educational. He speaks great English and was very accommodating for my service dog. The tour is 41/2 hours and worth it!

Jorge was fantastic, he told us so much history about the city and the cantina's we visited. The drinks were amazing and we loved trying so many different types of food. There was so much food, we couldn't eat it all! Would highly recommend!

We visited five Cantina, where a guide shared a history of the neighbourhood and the Cantina. We also got to experience any different types of local foods.

It was an excellent tour and seeing 5 different and unique cantina’s. The guide was Jorge was so fun and informative.

Fun food tour! We ended up only having 3 of us on the tour with our excellent host Jorge. He gave us lots of information about the history of the cantinas, the locals who visit, and what we would be eating or drinking. He’s a wonderful guide and I’d recommend him again. We went to 5 different cantinas. Each had small bites (1 place had an entree) and 1 drink (1 place had 3). I wasn’t as fond of the food served (this may be because I don’t eat meat, and I know it’s a meat heavy diet here). For me the value was really about seeing several off the beaten path places that we’d never go in, with a bilingual guide who shared his city with us. Overall we learned about Merida, saw different places, ate some snacks, and drank a variety of drinks.

This tour of cantinas around Mérida centro was great! We ended up with a really small group, and went to restaurants/bars we definitely would never have gone to as tourists alone. Our guide Jorge was knowledgeable about Mérida and food, and was a good sport about my 1000 questions. It’s not fancy, but that’s not what you’re looking for here - given that you’re the only tourists in the place, you get the sense that you’re getting an authentic cantina experience at every stop. You’ll leave full (and if you don’t want an alcoholic drink at each stop, mention it before you go inside!)

We weren't sure what to expect when we started out but by the time we really got moving, we didn't want the tour to end. Dania knew the lay of the land and delivered a memorable experience. If you're a foodie wanting to experience a taste of Mérida, this is the tour to take. A fascinating tour with loads of great food delivered by a friendly and engaging guide. The Lucas de Gálvez market was the highlight of the tour for me! What an amazing place!

What an amazing night!! having read the reviews already, I kind of knew what to expect but I just didn’t realize how excellent it really would be!!! Jorge met us at the entrance of the meeting point, which was very easy to find. He made us feel immediately at home with him. The other people that we were with were also very nice and it was comfortable right from the start. We made a total of five stops, and the first place had amazing food and an artisanal beer, which was only brewed for that Cantina alone, which made it very special. The food at every stuff that we had was very interesting and very good, by the time we got to the last stop, we couldn’t eat anymore. There was a fair bit of walking, but my husband, who has a slight mobility issue, had no problems at all, and I think it might’ve been a total of about 1 mile or so over the four hours we were out. It was Valentine’s Day, so some of the stops were a little bit busy and everybody was having a great time. By the end of the tour we had gotten to know each other pretty well and Jorge summed everything up and asked us all what our favorites were and it was hard to pick one drink or one of the foods that we ate. He is an excellent tour guide and speaks very good English and is very helpful in every way possible. This was one of the best food tours I’ve ever been on and it made our stay in Merida so much more fun and enjoyable, knowing what the locals do and also helped us understand the culture so much better. We couldn’t have done this without meeting Jorge. You need to go on this tour! Don’t hesitate! We LOVED IT!!

So fun so tasty with George!! Met some nice friends too.

A fantastic food& drink cantina tour. Jorge provided great information about Meridas history as we walked between cantinas. At each historic cantina we got wonderful food & drink plus the history stories about the cantina. You need to come hungry and thirsty!!! I rate this tour as one of the best in Merida. Great job Jorge.

Jorge was fabulous! Very knowledgeable & fun. The tour offered more food than we could eat and the drinks were offered a glimpse of Meridia's history & culture.

What a fabulous food and booze tour! Also a lot of history about the cantinas. Jorge was a fabulous guide and very informative. We ate some great food and some different drinks. Highly recommend this tour. Would of never visited these great cantinas if it wasn’t for this tour

Jorge was a great guide!! Lots of great food and drinks

The 5 cantina tour was awesome. They were all great in their unique way. The first option at cantina Pico de oribaza had great food and beer. Then a rum cocktail at the 2nd spot. The flamingo drink and snacks at the 3rd spot were notable. At the 4th stop the different mixtures with beer were great. The last stop was the perfect topper to the event. Chia sour and tapas were great. Jorge was a great host throughout providing interesting anecdotes to the event. Definitely a must try for the foodies who like to drink. A way to experience and enjoy the authentic vibes of Merida.

Jorge was an amazing guide! So many different cantinas and variety in food and drinks. Great way to enjoy real local Merida!

Had a great tour with Jorge to local cantina- places I never would have found on my own. The food, drinks and ambience were excellent as was the local history and culture.

What a unique and fun way to get to know Merida! Jorge and Dania were excellent hosts giving us so much local info and making the whole experience so fun! Each cantina was so unique and different and as tourists we would have never found them. A true Mexican experience that i would highly recommend!!

What an incredible time. The cantinas were all unique and the food and drink at each stop was incredible. Jorge & Dania were such fun hosts — if you’re in Merida this is a wonderful way to discover the city’s cantina culture. I’d highly recommend this tour!

What an absolutely amazing experience. We visited so many great (and different) cantinas in Merida and our guides Jorge and Dania made it so much fun! And everywhere we went was so authentically Meridian. I would highly recommend.

We took the cantina tour with Jorge and it was incredible!! We lived an authentic and local experience, visiting places that I would have never imagined! The combination of the food, the drinks, and the cultural information we learned makes it totally worth it!! Definitely an experience that you have to live if you are visiting Merida, or if you live here!!

An incredible tour, I went with Jorge and it was an experience that I will definitely repeat.

Jorge gives a GREAT tour of traditional Yucatecan cantinas that make you live the experience like a local. The choice of places, drinks, and dishes could not be better. Highly recommended!

Great experience, very grateful to Jorge, very kind and he explained everything at each point, a very pleasant and recommendable experience

I liked that the places we visited are different, you get to know a little bit of everything, in most of the places there was a vegetarian snack option and that gave it great additional value, but what really made the difference was DANIA, our guide, her charisma, patience, and the desire and passion with which she told us everything, the stories, laughs and the great time we had thanks to her!

I loved it!! The tour and the cantinas were very nice, everything they told us was very interesting, Dana is an excellent host, easygoing and very well-informed!!! The adventure was a pleasure

Very pleasant tour due to the variety of places visited and above all due to the guide Dania's knowledge of the place with that enthusiasm that made us enjoy the time spent with friends who were delighted and eager to do the tour again

Dania was a great host, it is a tour that lets you get to know such different places, which leave you with a great experience and at the same time, you have the opportunity to enjoy, discover different corners of the city and spend good times

Getting to know the cantinas was incredible, places that I think you wouldn't have known but with the local touch of Mérida. Thanks for being a great host George.

Without a doubt a good experience to get to know the concept of the cantinas in the city. Also you don't have to worry about anything, since the tour payment includes food and drinks. 10/10

Great experience to get to know the roots of the true cantina tradition in Yucatan, a route full of flavors and mixtures where you will have a great time.

The experience was very good, chef Jorge gave us an incredible tour of cantinas..

Excellent experience to get to know the traditional Yucatecan cantinas.

Excellent guide, such a fun time

A very cool experience touring the most iconic bars in Mérida. Our guide Jorge explained part of the history of the places we visited and the historic center. I recommend that you experience this. As a suggestion, come hungry, as each place offers snacks with your drinks. Thank you very much, Jorge, for your attentions.

very good experience, outside the touristic and with a very good guide and atmosphere, is a super recommendation and all places are very less