North End Market Tour

Our guide was terrific and the tour was wonderful. I learned about new stores and new products and wanted to try everything. We were served many wonderful tastes, which did their job of enticing me to buy lots of good Italian specialties. I highly recommend this tour to locals and visitors alike!!

It was nice to visit some of the hidden gems of the North End. Michele was very effective at conveying her passion for her neighborhood, and the shop owners were friendly. Group sizes of 11-13 can make for a tight fit in some of the smaller shops, but it's not uncomfortable. My wife and I would recommend this tour to both locals and out of town friends.

It was of great interest to the local amongst us and we'll go back to visit the stores again. Guide was interesting and fun. Great information and food samples. I would definitely recommend it as a good afternoon activity to get to know and appreciate the North End.

The North End Market tour was very informative even for people who have spent alot of time there over the years. We discovered places that we didn't know about and learned many very interesting things about the North End. Our tour guide was wonderful!

I have already recommended this to friends and family. Our guide was approachable, knowledgable and witty and he didn't even try to solicit a tip! A great introduction to the North End. The handouts are especially helpful when you want to go back on your own. Worth every penny.

Michele is a gem. We (my husband & I) love Italian history & food. What a treat it was to see the true North End! We both learned so much about the Italian culture, the history of the North End and the background of different Italian dishes. The shopkeepers we met were so warm and wonderful. Quite a few of them made us feel like we were family or friends stopping in for a visit. We had many different samplings of different foods and learned about quality ingredients making such a difference in the end product. I would highly recommend that if you take this tour you take it through Michele Topor, her first hand knowledge of the neighborhood and the Italian culiary arts is vast and it is nice to take a tour with someone that has such passion for the North End. I have already recommended to several of my friends (locals like me!) that they experience the North End through the eyes of a North End Local!

My two grown daughters and I were captivated by this experience. Every place we stopped we will visit again, and we liked that we had time to shop a bit before we had a deliscious homemade-pasta dinner at Monica's Restaurant. Thank you, Michele, for sharing your neighborhood with us.

Our tour guide was so knowledgable, a teacher whose voice projected very well, who entertained any questions/comments we had, involved the goup and gave a wonderful tour of the market places I have always seen, but never entered. The experience resulted in a return to two establishments that very day for purchases and plans to come back for some leisurely strolls through the off-Hanover Street parts of the North End. Truly learned and tasted so much. Highly recommend!!

I'd highly recommend the tour to friends. Our group was small enough to allow for questions and to hear our tour leader at all times. He was delightful,entertaining and well informed. As in any group venture,,,,, success is somewhat dependent on the skills of the tour leader....he was a natural!

The day started off with a little history of the area, which being local , we were surprised that we learned alot. The presentation in each shop was very interesting and the samples were delicious. We thought it would be hard to move about the streets in a group of 12 but it went very easily, we think because at 10:00 am on a holiday saturday not many tourists were about. The weather called for showers so no one got too hot walking around. We now understand about the rules that were set forth I.E. arrive on time,no large bags or backpacks and do your shopping after the tour has ended. If these rules are not adhered to the tour is set back considerably and everyone else suffers. Lucky that we all went by the rules. Everyone in the shops were very nice and when we went back to make purchases, they were still just as nice and very helpful !! We were surprised that the time went by so fast but Beth , our tour guide, did a great job in getting so much information out to us and there were no questions gone unanswered. Now that we know how to get around the streets we will definitly be returning on our own..Thanks!!!