City Taste Tours

We love city tours. Walking tours, bike tours, food tours, bus tours. With limited time in a city, they're a great way to get a feel for the area and to pick out places you'd like to revisit. Heck, we've even taken tours in our own city! Very fun. This tour was no exception. We had a very enjoyable afternoon, got to see a lot of different things, learn a bit about the history of Louisville, and try some delicious foods. The format of this tour is as such: the bus drops you off at a location for 30-60 minutes, giving you time to explore while City Taste runs off to pick up food from a local eatery. When you get back on the bus, there's a taste (and a drink) to be eaten as you drive on to the next stop. The benefit of this is that you get to experience AND taste bits of Louisville, instead of one or the other. The drawback is that there is sometimes a bit of waiting around for the bus to return. On our tour, we stopped at Schimpffs candy shop, Churchill Downs (where we took a tour), Old Louisville, Louisville Slugger OR NULU (we were given an option), and the Belle of Louisville. Our favorite stop was Old Louisville by far. What a BEAUTIFUL area with such rich history! The food we had was fried green tomatoes, hush puppies, hot brown pizza, pulled pork and potato salad, and Derby Pie. All were delicious, but the particular favorites were the hush puppies and the hot brown pizza. Alongside came a variety of drinks... we weren't huge fans of the flavored beers and wines (vanilla, strawberry, etc.) but we liked the bourbon tastings, the bourbon coffee, and the mint julep at the end. For reference, the food quantity was enough to keep us mostly satisfied but not amounting to a full meal replacement. I wouldn't eat a huge lunch before you go, but I also wouldn't show up hungry.City Taste Tours was extremely accommodating and gracious to our family. I realize these tours aren't geared toward kids specifically, but they went out of their way to make it enjoyable for everyone on board. If you're looking for a tour that's a bit of everything, a "taste" of all tours, this is the one for you. It's quirky, fun, and a great way to spend an afternoon in Louisville.**One last thing I'd mention: we booked a private tour, mostly because we just didn't want to take away from anyone else's experience by bringing 6 kids along. We were surprised to find out after being picked up that the bus was picking up other riders as well. It honestly worked out TOTALLY fine - it was a great couple that came along with us - but I just mention this to warn someone who actually cares a lot about it being a private tour... you might want to double check that they don't somehow overlook your private reservation and add extra people to your group.

Leslie was awesome. Lots of good info and conversations. Very unique tour with lots of great stops and food! Everything was well coordinated. Drinks were really interesting and fit with the food and tour. Definitely recommend this tour

Best tour ever taken in my life! Friendly, boozy, foodie, and shopping, sights all wrapped up in one tour! Highly recommend!!

This tour did not meet my expectations. I've taken food tours in various cities (New Orleans, Santa Fe, Charleston, Los Angeles, Nashville) before and I have never left the tour still hungry, but I left this tour ravenous. There were far too few "bites" to qualify this tour as a food tour (though there were plenty of boozy drinks). We never stopped to eat in any of the restaurants, instead we had to eat on the bus. There were two nearly thirty minute stops at Churchill Downs and Louisville Slugger Museum; there was no pre-arranged tour and not enough time to explore on your own.Tastes included: boozy donut, derby pie, (a small piece of) roast beef, local dip, hot brown pizza, (one small) chicken wing, fried pickles and garlic fries; all in very small portions.Staff was friendly but overall this tour is not worth the price paid.

This is a must see and do activity for a trip to Louisville. My party of 4 went on our first day and it was a great way to get acclimated to the city. We stopped at the Louisville Slugger facility, Churchill downs, a candy store across the river in Indiana.... plus several shorter stops.On board we were served small samples of beer, wine and alcohol- it's not enough to catch a buzz over 3 1/2 hours so arguably you could drive home after. The food samples were awesome- my favorites were the bourbon sausage, cheese wonton, hot brown pizza and bourbon doughnut. Leslie and Paula also accommodated my gluten free husband which was very kind. I also became a fan of maple bourbon on this trip. You won't be stuffed after this trip but not starving after so expect to grab a late lunch if you are doing the AM tour.The tour is fast paced and educational and a lot of fun. At $64/pp I thought it was priced well and an easy way to see a lot in a short amount of time. I absolutely loved it.

We were a little hesitant at first since the tour seemed kind of quirky, but we really did have a great time! Over 3 hours we had the opportunity to see and taste so much of the city. Lots of bourbon tastings, cocktails, beer, and wine over the tour often paired with local foods. Perfect mix of food and drink and the service was always great!

I've been on several food tours including Atlanta, Boston, DC, but this tour should not be advertised as a food tour.  It simply is not a food tour.  You will receive many tastings of bourbon, two beers, and a wine, but not much food.  I usually prepare for a food tour by not eating and wind up stuffed by the end...Of the food you do receive: a tiny piece of a smokie, a few potato chips, one pretzel chip with Benedictine spread on it, one quarter of a donut, one quarter of a hotdog, one small tasting of hot brown pizza, and a tiny segment of derby pie.The other issue I had was being dropped off places with no guide.  We were dropped off at Churchill Downs, Art Eatables, and the Slugger museum or 21c museum, the bus will disappear for 30 minutes...your admission into these places has not been prepaid. There's nothing to do except peruse the gift shop and then wait around for the bus to return.At one point during the tour, I looked over at my friends and said, "it seems like the bus is dropping us off at places so they can quickly run over to a convenience store to figure out what food selections to present to us." We all laughed at the suggestion, but by the end of the tour, our guide told us she had purchased our first tasting of bourbon caramel latte at the gas station, Thornton's, that morning! So it was TRUE!

We were visiting Louisville for the first time and had no idea what to see or do so we thought a tour was a good idea. Originally I didn't focus on on this "City Taste" tour because I thought it was for food only. As it turns out, there is some food, but it's designed to give you a taste or overall feel/vibe of the city. I texted Leslie and she was extremely quick at getting back to me and ended up picking us up at a restaurant near our hotel. We drove around while she told us stories and played music and had several stops. Every time we got back in the vehicle there were goodies waiting for us. Different bourbons and snacks... yum! All with a Louisville and/or Kentucky spin. Some stops: Louisville Slugger museum/store, Jefferson ville in Indiana, Churchill Downs, etc.

We have done this taste tour twice and each time it's so much fun! I love taking friends from out of town on this tour so they can enjoy the food & drinks from Louisville & Southern Indiana. Can't wait to hop on again in March when my folks are visiting here from California!

Leslie, the owner, called to let us know she was having van problems so the tour would not be in her usual van. She rented a van and picked us up at the Louisville North RV park. From the minute we met her, we thoroughly enjoyed her. We went on to pick up 12 other people and continued with the tour. She is very knowledgeable, her presentation was thoroughly enjoyable. She was very entertaining. As part of the tour, she arranged to have stops where we had pastry and bourbon testing; next stop was appetizers and wine tasting. Third stop was chocolate candy at a local shop along with more tasting and lastly pizza and tasting. She accomplished this even though she didn't have her van. I highly recommend this tour. Great job, Leslie and Kim, your were wonderful.