One of the best things about Mexico is all the delicious Mexican food you can get in this beautiful country. There are many ways you can discover the food scene, but one of the best ways is by joining a food tour or a Mexican cooking school. When you go to Playa del Carmen, you are in the lucky position that you can do both. In this article, we want to present to you the best Playa del Carmen cooking classes and food tours. So without further ado, let’s taco ‘bout it!
Our favourite Playa del Carmen food tour: Eating with Carmen – Authentic Local Experience
Of all the food tours we found in Playa del Carmen, the Eating with Carmen food tour looked the most interesting. The 3-hour walking tour promises seven stops where you can try local Mexican foods and drinks. After booking this culinary food tour with a friend of ours, we met our guide Rodrigo and four other food tour participants.
We started the excursion at the lively 5th Avenue but quickly moved to a less touristic and more local area of Playa del Carmen. There, Rodrigo told us a bit about the diversity of people and food in Playa. One interesting fact, for example, was, that the biggest population of immigrants in Playa del Carmen is Italian. This explains why there are so many great pizza and pasta places in this city.
This lady makes our quesadillas
Along the way, we stopped on several places and tried delicious local food like for example tacos and quesadillas. Sure, you can find tacos almost everywhere in Playa, but trust us when we say that we tried some of the best tacos in Playa during this food tour. Also, you don’t only eat delicious food, but also learn interesting facts about it. We actually discovered some of the best food in Playa del Carmen on this tour.
What we really loved about this tour is not only the choice of places to eat but also that our guide was extremely well informed about culture, history, politics and lifestyles in Playa. Consequently, he was able to give us a lot of interesting background information about Playa del Carmen’s people and their way of life. At one point we also visited an area with some fascinating street art.
Beautiful street art in the streets of Playa
The great thing about Eating with Carmen is, that they offer several different options for food tours. We chose the classic one, but there is also a vegan food tour, a seafood tour and a Mexican gourmet food tour. If you want to find out more, you can visit the webpage https://www.eatingwithcarmen.com or the Facebook Page. If you want to discover real and authentic Mexican food beyond 5th Avenue, then this is the perfect tour for you.
Tacos
Runner Up Playa del Carmen food tours: Food Hoppers Food Tour
If you’re looking for a Mexican food tour with a tequila tasting, then we can recommend the Food Hoppers Food Tour in Playa del Carmen. During this foodie tour, you’ll stop at eight different places and taste some staples of the Mexican cuisine. Some of the highlights are a visit to a traditional Mexican market and a tequila tasting.
You can book this 2.5-hour food tour directly here. Just make sure not to eat too much for lunch before this tour, as you’ll eat a lot of food.
Our Favourite Playa del Carmen cooking class: Cooking Class from El Pueblito at Mayakoba
There are several Mexican cooking schools in Playa del Carmen, so why choose the cooking class from El Pueblito at Mayakoba? Well, there are three very good reasons for it and we will show them all to you.
The first reason is the fantastic chef who leads the cooking classes of El Pueblito at Mayakoba, Karla Enciso. Karla is a Mexican cook and gastronomic entrepreneur with a huge love for the Mayan food in Quintana Roo. We absolutely loved the way she guided us through the complex steps of making a traditional Mexican mole. The class had about ten participants, but Karla managed somehow to be everywhere at the same time. During the whole cooking class experience, Karla was very professional and super friendly and humorous.
Karla Enciso
The second reason is the diversity of Mexican cooking classes you can book. There are ten different cooking classes held in one month. This means that you could technically book a cooking class ten times and never cook the same meal twice. We think that this is a great feature, especially for people who are staying in Playa del Carmen for a longer time.
The third reason for choosing this cooking class is the perfectly equipped kitchen. Each participant has their own working space and can actively participate in the cooking process. Furthermore, the kitchen itself is very clean and spacious. Even though there were about 14 people (including staff) in the room, it never felt too crowded.
You have to create four different sauces first to make mole
We really enjoyed learning how to cook Mexican food in this cooking class. In the end, when we sat down to eat what we had cooked, I had a completely new respect for the preparation of mole. It takes hours to prepare it and, mainly because it’s so delicious, only minutes to eat it. If you have a chance to book a traditional Mexican mole cooking class, at the El Pueblito at Mayakoba, then we recommend you do so. You will not regret it! For further information, you can check out this Homepage or visit the Facebook Page.
Mole
Runner Up Playa del Carmen cooking classes: COOKIN’ Playa
The COOKIN’ Playa cooking class starts with getting your ingredients at local shops and spice markets. Then you will head to the home of the chef and cook a traditional Mexican meal in an intimate surrounding. This cooking class is also suitable for vegans and vegetarians and the maximum group size is limited to six people.
You can book this 5-hour cooking class directly here.
Booze it up: Private Tequila Tasting
If you walk along the 5th Avenue of Playa del Carmen for longer than five minutes, you’ll be asked at least three times if you want to have a free tequila tasting. While this might be a good way to get free tequila (plus probably a hard sell speech with it), there is an option with a lot more style. Why not enjoy a private tequila tasting for two on a rooftop in Playa? There you’ll learn more about this typical Mexican spirit and will taste some delicious varieties of it. There is also a pool on the rooftop, so don’t forget to pack your swim gear.
You can book this experience directly here.
Final Words
So there you are, these are the best Playa del Carmen cooking classes and food tours we found during our three months there. We loved exploring the richness of Mexican cuisine. There is so much more to it than just tacos (although the tacos are simply fantastic in Playa!) No matter which food tour or cooking class you choose, make sure to come with a big appetite for new and exciting food! Click this link if you want to read more of our food-themed posts, or see our newest articles here.
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Disclosure: We were kindly invited to experience the services of the Eating with Carmen food tour and the cooking class from El Pueblito at Mayakoba in exchange for an honest review. All words and opinions are our own.
