Until the Tucupi Tour

Flavors of the Forest: A Dive into the Culinary Soul of the Amazon in Manaus

This gastronomic tour unveils the secrets of the Amazon through its ingredients, traditions, and authentic flavors, right in the historic center of the Amazonian capital.

The Amazon Rainforest is one of the planet’s greatest natural heritages, recognized by UNESCO as a Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site. With more than five million square kilometers, it is home to unique biodiversity, Indigenous peoples, and cultures deeply intertwined with the forest, rivers, and flavors. This vast ecosystem, considered the lungs of the world, is also a source of ingredients found nowhere else on the planet.

In this lush context, Manaus is much more than an Amazonian metropolis: it is a meeting point of tradition and modernity. A city with a strong historical identity, known for the stunning Amazon Theatre and its role in the rubber boom, Manaus has caught the attention of international media such as the New York Times, Lonely Planet, and Forbes as one of the most intriguing cultural and gastronomic destinations in Latin America.

Amazonian cuisine reflects this plurality. It is a cuisine of resistance and celebration, combining ancestral knowledge, forest ingredients, and the influences of the peoples who shaped the region. From fish like pirarucu and tambaqui to fruits like cupuaçu, tucumã, and Brazil nut, with techniques involving smoking, fermentation, and cooking with tucupi, this cuisine is a complete sensory experience.

AN EXPERIENCE FOR ALL THE SENSES

For those who want to experience all this up close, the guided gastronomic experience “Até o Tucupi Tour” is the perfect choice. The tour lasts 4 hours and takes place Monday through Friday, with departures at 9 a.m. or 1 p.m. Your guide will take you through the historic center of Manaus, where each street, market, and bar hides a gastronomic story.

The meeting point is at Largo São Sebastião, in front of Galeria Amazônica, in the historic center of Manaus. From there, you’ll be guided by a local host who reveals not only the flavors but the rituals behind them. You’ll visit organic markets where riverside dwellers sell exotic fruits like cupuaçu, bacuri, and pupunha, and explore the Adolpho Lisboa Municipal Market — a century-old heritage site filled with spices, fresh fish, and seasonings that challenge the palate.

The experience includes tastings at restaurants that have reinvented regional cuisine by combining contemporary techniques with ancient ingredients. You’ll taste real açaí, without syrups, served the way locals eat it: with manioc flour or fried fish. And don’t leave without trying tacacá — an Indigenous soup that makes your mouth tingle thanks to the jambu — or roasted tambaqui, a fish that’s a local culinary pride.

Throughout the tour, you’ll get to enjoy the iconic x-caboquinho, a sandwich made with French bread stuffed with tucumã, queijo coalho (curd cheese), and fried plantain — an explosion of flavors. Also try various sweets, savory snacks, and drinks made with forest ingredients like guaraná in stick form, Brazil nuts, wild açaí, pupunha, bacaba, and much more.

The tour also includes visits to establishments that are reinventing local cuisine with creativity and respect for traditions, helping turn Manaus into an emerging hub of Brazilian gastronomy.

More than just eating, the tour provides knowledge about the origins of the ingredients, how they’re prepared, the history of the communities that cultivate them, and the positive impact this whole chain generates. The route may vary according to ingredient seasonality and the establishments visited, but the essence remains the same: to present the Amazon through taste. A journey for those hungry for culture, nature, and the stories that only Amazonian cuisine can tell.

SUSTAINABILITY

This experience is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals, promoting conscious tourism, cultural appreciation, and economic sustainability for small producers and local entrepreneurs.

Get ready for a true gastronomic adventure that feeds both body and soul, showing that the Amazon should not only be seen — it must also be tasted and felt. The invitation is made: shall we go  to the tucupi?

HIGHLIGHTS

UNESCO – Natural World Heritage – Central Amazon Conservation Complex
Visit Brazil Showcase Experience: Até o Tucupi Tour

HOW TO GET THERE

Manaus International Airport – Eduardo Gomes