War Fries with peanut sauce at The Dutch, one of the restaurants on the Fourth Avenue tour. 

Here's a fun thing to do with out-of-town visitors! Skip lunch and take them on a guided food tour of our city's finest bites. The Tucson metro area is getting two new routes this season: Fourth Avenue and an archaeology-focused tour of the Marana area. 

Tucson Food Tours

Tucson Food Tours by Brad and Maria Lawrence is adding a permanent Fourth Avenue/Main Gate Square walking tour to its schedule. (The couple also does a popular downtown trek that includes Reilly, El Charro and Maynards Market.)

The new route will take visitors for iced coffee at Cafe Passe, deviled eggs, fried green beans, the Beast chicken tenders at The Drunken Chicken, the OG cheeseburger and fries at Lindy's, tacos and salsas at Boca Tacos y Tequila, seasoned rice balls at TallBoys, and then down to University Boulevard for barbecue pulled pork at Red's Smokehouse and chicken pesto flatbread and bitterballen meat snacks at The Dutch.

Tour guides will also field questions about Tucson's City of Gastronomy status and 4,000 years of agriculture. 

Spots are available for selected dates including Thursday, Nov. 30, Saturday, Dec. 16 and Friday, Dec. 22, and more. The tours begin at 11 a.m. and last about four hours. Tours cost $55, with optional gratuity. You can book them through tucsonfoodtours.com

Marana Gastronomy Tour

Most people think of Marana as a big suburb, but the city is actually an important hub for Tucson's farm-to-table ecosystem (and has been for the past 4,000 years). Local products like artisan honey and white Sonora wheat come from Marana farms like True Love Honey and BKW

And now Marana is getting its own tour, sponsored by the tourist board Discover Marana in conjunction with Gray Line Tours. Highlights include an excursion guided by renowned archaeologist Dr. Suzanne Fish, an expert on Hohokam foodways. Fish will take visitors through the ancient trinchera site Los Morteros Conservation Area as well as an ancient farm site. The tour will also feature a tasting at Catalina Brewing Company, and a multi-course meal at the Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain.

Book for selected dates including Fridays Dec. 1, Dec. 15, Jan. 12, Jan. 19 and more. The tour begins at 12:30 p.m. and lasts about five and a half hours. It costs $109. Read more and book at graylinearizona.com

  


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