Reykjavik Street Food Walking Tour

I booked the "Small-Group Food Walking Tour in the Heart of Reykjavik" for our family trip after having a very memorable food tour experience in Copenhagen last year. Unfortunately, this tour was disappointing, mainly because of the poor organization and guiding. The food selection and route were acceptable overall, especially compared with the much more serious problems with how the tour was conducted. First, the guide arrived late, and there seemed to be confusion from the beginning about which participants he was supposed to lead. Another family of four was initially told that they would be with a different guide, but after our guide spent quite some time on the phone, they eventually joined our group. For a pre-booked tour, the start felt surprisingly disorganized. The biggest problem was communication and group management. The guide often spoke while walking ahead of the group instead of gathering everyone together before giving explanations or instructions. In noisy outdoor areas, it was very difficult to hear him unless you were walking immediately behind him. This became a real problem at the second stop. We were apparently given about 15 minutes of free time inside what seemed to be a general market, but the instruction was not clearly communicated to everyone. One American participant traveling alone had completely missed the announcement and became confused when everyone suddenly dispersed. She eventually stopped me to ask what was happening. If even a native English speaker misses such an important instruction, this is clearly more than just a language issue. Our family is from Korea, and we found the guide particularly difficult to hear and understand in noisy surroundings. For an international tour, I would expect the guide at least to gather everyone before speaking, or ideally provide an audio system or smartphone-based alternative. I also did not understand why we were given personal free time at a general market so early in the tour. Perhaps there was a reason, but it was never clearly explained. Interestingly, two participants also left the tour at this second stop and did not continue with the group. I do not know their reason for leaving, so I do not want to speculate, but it was unusual to see participants leave so early in a paid tour. Compared with my previous food tour experience, there was also very little effort to engage the group. The guide was humorous at times, but apart from asking where we came from, there was little conversation with participants about their food cultures or experiences. Overall, the tour itself was acceptable, but the guiding and organization were well below what I would expect from a professionally operated food tour. The entire experience gave me the impression that the guide was either brought in at short notice or was simply not sufficiently prepared that day. With better group management, clearer communication, and more consideration for international participants, this could have been a much better experience. Unfortunately, the quality of the guiding significantly undermined the tour for us.

Jakob was fantastic as our guide! He was funny and really helped introduce us to Icelandic culture by the food (which was great and filling), the folk stories, history, and current events.

Exceeded all expectations. The food selections were delicious and plentiful. Martin was both informative and entertaining, providing insight into Icelandic traditions.

Food walking tour with Martin from City Walk Reykjavik was wonderful. Enjoyed the food and Martin is a knowledgeable and fun guide. Make sure you are hungry as there is plenty of tasty food on offer. Would highly recommend this tour. Thanks Martin.

What a great intro to the walkable city of Reykjavik. Marteinn welcomed us at the Old Harbour House where we started the afternoon with an Icelandic hotdog & lobster soup. Onto pastries and so much more. We learned about culture and history through out. It was a fun and laid back tour where we felt welcomed at all of our stops. Ending at Café Loki with delicious rye bread ice cream. Thanks CityWalk!