Culinary Backstreets sells two food walks in Naples at $150 per person, five hours each, with groups of two to seven participants and nine to twelve stops where you eat. It is the highest price in the city and also the format furthest from the two-and-a-half-hour street food tour you find at €39–€42 on the platforms: this one takes half a day. The comparison between the formats is in the guide to food and pizza tours.
What Culinary Backstreets is
It is a publisher that sells walks, not a tour agency that keeps a blog. The project started in Istanbul as Istanbul Eats, among the first companies anywhere to sell neighbourhood food tours, and today it publishes city food guides and runs walks in around thirty places, Naples included. The Naples page alternates write-ups of food shops, trattorias and fry shops with the two itineraries on sale.
Two statements define the operator better than any review. The first: the person leading you is presented as a professional in the field — food journalists, cooks, neighbourhood residents — not as a generic guide. The second, rarer: the company states that it accepts no free meals and no commission from the venues it takes clients to. That is a promise only the field can verify, but it is written down and it binds.
What they publish and what it costs
Every listing gives price, duration, pace, number of participants, times and route. Prices checked regularly.
| Walk | Duration | Route | Departures | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Culinary Secrets of Backstreet Naples | 5 hours | Porta Capuana – Sanità | Mon–Sat 9:30 and 15:00 | $150 per person |
| High and Low: A Taste of Two Napolis | 5.5 hours | Vomero – Quartieri Spagnoli | Mon–Sat 9:30 | $150 per person |
The price covers the tour leader and everything you eat along the way, plus a limited selection of alcohol; transport to the meeting point and tips are excluded. Everything is paid at booking, through Stripe, and anyone booking more than one walk gets 10% off by writing to the operator. Children up to 12 pay half fare, up to 6 it is $25.
The price list is in dollars, and that has two concrete consequences: the amount in euro depends on the day’s exchange rate and your card may add a foreign currency fee. Ask your bank what a dollar charge costs before confirming, because on $150 for two people the difference is not symbolic.
Cancellation is stricter than average: a 90% refund with at least seven days’ notice, 50% between three and six days, no refund inside 72 hours. A date change is requested by email and is not guaranteed.
The practical detail
The first walk starts at Porta Capuana, crosses the old centre and spills beyond the walls into the market streets: coffee and sfogliatella in a third-generation pastry shop, babà, limoncello, seasonal street food, pizza in more than one shape, a salt-cod shop and a stop at the market’s sulphur-water kiosk, before a family bakery where customers build their own caponata with freselle, mozzarella and piennolo tomatoes.
The second sets two Naples a few minutes apart against each other: espresso and sfogliatella in a Vomero bar, pagnottielli, montanare, a board of Campanian cheeses that goes well beyond mozzarella, the San Martino terrace, then the funicular down towards the Quartieri Spagnoli. One question is needed here: the site does not say which line is used and the Montesanto funicular is currently closed for overhaul until further notice, so get them to tell you how you come down. The alternatives are explained in getting around Naples.
The pace is declared slow, 2.5 kilometres on the flat with the food stops doubling as rests: the operator describes it as suitable even in your seventies. The streets, though, are busy and the route does not work with a pushchair or a wheelchair.
How to check before you pay
- Ask about the language: the listings do not state it and the site is entirely in English. If you need Italian, get it in writing before paying.
- Ask which funicular, or which alternative, the Vomero walk uses, given the works under way on one of the lines.
- If you are coeliac or lactose intolerant, do not book: the operator states it cannot handle those on any Naples walk. For other allergies, write at least 48 hours ahead and keep the reply.
- Check the real cost in euro on your card statement, currency fee included, and compare it with the price of tours quoted in euro.
- Book early: the places left are shown on the listing and with a maximum of seven they sell out sooner than the rest.
Is it worth it against GetYourGuide?
They are not the same product, and the comparison has to be made per hour.
Same product, platforms compared
Prices refreshed from the GetYourGuide, Tiqets and Headout feeds.
| Platform | Price | Rating | Duration | Cancellation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GetYourGuideNaples: Pizza and Beyond Food Tour | €41.40 Lowest price | ★ 4.8 (88) | 3 h | Free | Book on GetYourGuide |
| GetYourGuideNaples: Food Tour with 8+ Tastings of Pizza, Wine & More | €80.46 | ★ 4.8 (16) | 3 h | Free | Book on GetYourGuide |
Five hours with nine to twelve stops and six companions at most sit on a different plane from three hours with five tastings. On the platform a food tour with pizza and wine tastings runs between €41 and €80 per person for three hours, with free cancellation up to 24 hours before; here you pay $150 and inside 72 hours you lose all of it. If you have half a day to give to food and want the most solid content in the city, the outlay is justified. If your weekend is full and you just want to eat well for two hours, it is not: better a short tour priced in euro and a walking tour in the afternoon.
Verdict
Culinary Backstreets is the most serious and least convenient food tour in Naples: groups of seven, half a day on foot, content built by people who write about food for a living and a stated commitment not to take commission from the venues visited. You pay in dollars, you recover nothing inside 72 hours and if you are coeliac or vegan you cannot take part. Take it if food is the reason for the trip and you have a free day; choose something else if you have few hours, a budget in euro or strict dietary needs — in that case look at Do Eat Better or the comparison on GetYourGuide.
Questions people ask
How much does a Culinary Backstreets walk in Naples cost?
The site publishes $150 per person for both Naples walks. The price list is in dollars: the amount charged in euro depends on the day’s exchange rate and on your card’s fees.
How long is it and how far do you walk?
Five hours for the walk between Porta Capuana and the Sanità, five and a half for the one between Vomero and the Quartieri Spagnoli. Either way about 2.5 kilometres on the flat, with nine to twelve eating stops that double as breaks.
How many people are in the group?
Between two and seven participants: the smallest group among the food-tour operators in Naples. You can also book the whole walk privately.
How does cancellation work?
The site gives a 90% refund with at least seven days’ notice, 50% between three and six days, no refund inside 72 hours. A date change is requested by email and is not guaranteed.
Does it work for coeliacs, vegans or the lactose intolerant?
No for gluten-free and lactose-free: the operator states it cannot handle them on any Naples walk, and advises vegans against the walks. Some stops can be adapted for vegetarians; for other allergies you must write at least 48 hours ahead.
Do children pay?
Up to 12 they pay half the adult fare, up to 6 it is $25. The streets are busy and the route is not suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs.
Why does it cost more than double a street food tour?
It lasts twice as long, has nine to twelve stops instead of five to seven, the group stops at seven people and the operator states it accepts no free meals or commission from the venues visited. If you want two and a half hours of tastings, the outlay makes no sense.
Official sources
Read next
- Food toursStreet food from €25, food tours from €41, a pizza class from €25: the formats compared, what you eat stop by stop, coeliacs, kids, local operators.
- Eating EuropeTwo group tours from €79, maximum 12 people, food and drinks included: what Eating Europe publishes, how to book and when the partner wins.
- Do Eat BetterFour tours from €65.95 to €89.95, guides who speak Italian and an Italian-registered company: what changes between the Smart and Base tickets.
- Food Tours of NaplesEleven experiences from €42 to €195, a licensed guide claimed and booking on request: what Food Tours of Naples publishes and what is missing.
- GetYourGuideGetYourGuide reviewed: 89 products in the Naples catalogue from €5 to €285, vouchers, who runs the tours and when the official channel wins.
- Walking toursThe free walking tour runs on tips, a guided one starts at €16, doing it alone costs €20.80 in tickets. Formats compared and a ready two-hour route.