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San Angel
It's worth visiting San Ángel on a Saturday just to visit the upscale artisan market that's been going strong there since 1960. Before you even make it into the grandiose colonial mansion, you'll encounter dozens of vendors selling crafts, wood carvings, embroidered clothing, leather goods, wooden masks, beads, amates (bark paintings), and trinkets at stalls just outside and around Plaza San Jacinto and adjacent Calle Benito Juárez. Inside, on two levels that encircle a beautiful courtyard, are the (generally) better-quality—and higher-priced—goods, including alebrijes (painted wooden animals from Oaxaca), glassware, pottery, jewelry, fashion, furniture and housewares, and a smattering of gourmet goods and beauty products. There's also a decent traditional Mexican restaurant in the courtyard, which has a massive tree looming over it. The bazaar is open only on Saturday, but if you're unable to visit in person, check out the website, where you can purchase many of the goods online (shipping is free in Mexico City for orders over MX$799 and can be arranged for international deliveries).
Plaza San Jacinto 11, Mexico City, Mexico City, 01000, Mexico
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Centro Histórico
Enormous La Lagunilla has been the site of trade and bartering for more than five centuries. It's open every Sunday, when vendors set up along Confort Street and along the alley connecting to Paseo de la Reforma, selling everything from antique paintings and furniture to old magazines and plastic toys. Dress down, and watch out for pickpockets.
Mexico City, Mexico City, 06300, Mexico
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Alameda Central
This market, a 10- to 15-minute walk from the Alameda, is your best bet for a one-stop shop for all the gifts, souvenirs, and keepsakes you might need. Loaded with stalls selling everything from hammocks to beaded Huichol jewelry to woven palm hats, Ciudadela is a mixed bag to say the least, both in terms of quality and prices. But with a little patience (and a high tolerance for bright colors), you will almost certainly find something that meets your needs.
Balderas and Plaza de la Ciudadela, Mexico City, Mexico City, 06040, Mexico
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Centro Histórico
This arcade on the Zócalo has attracted merchants since 1524. It's lined with jewelry shops selling gold (often by the gram) and authentic Taxco silver at prices lower than those in Taxco, where the overhead is higher. The best shop is Sombreros Tardán, which specializes in fashionable hats of every shape and style; it's more or less in the middle of the arcade.
Mexico City, Mexico City, 06000, Mexico
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Polanco
This store is a mine of perhaps the best silverwork in Mexico—jewelry, flatware, candelabras, museum-quality reproductions of archaeological finds, and bold designs by young Mexican silversmiths. The Masaryk shop is one of several in the city, including locations in the Four Seasons and Presidente InterContinental hotels and in the upscale Centro Santa Fe. Outside this Polanco branch, you'll find an Instagram-famous bright pink wall with a neon sign that sums up most visitors' sentiments: Mexico mi amor.
Av. Presidente Masaryk 430, Mexico City, Mexico City, 11560, Mexico
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Recommended Fodor’s Video
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Polanco
This gallery in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency Mexico City is heavy on contemporary painting, with a smattering of sculptures by Mexican artists, many of them well-known. Some international artists are also represented. There is another branch of the gallery in the Santa Fe neighborhood.
Campos Elíseos 204, Mexico City, Mexico City, 11560, Mexico
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Polanco
One of only a few outdoor malls in the city, Antara Polanco has a collection of upscale stores that includes Carolina Herrera, Zara, Hugo Boss, and Tommy Hilfiger as well as branches of several luxury stores that are also found along the neighborhood's ritzy Avenida Presidente Masaryk; there are plenty of dining options, too.
Ejército Nacional 843, Mexico City, Mexico City, 11520, Mexico
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La Condesa
Linen dresses by this Mexican designer are done in palettes and patterns that bring to mind (and sometimes incorporate) traditional Mexican textiles, embroidery, and lace. The draping and layering, however, are very contemporary. Skirts and wraps that flow elegantly—often in vertical lines—are juxtaposed with structured, sometimes architectural bodices and tops. Ties, fastenings, and jewelry are equally tantalizing, the latter often combining wood, silver, and seedpods. Rion has been recognized not only for her unique designs, but also for her ethical practices, which have included working with Mexican artisans to create her garments.
Av. Michoacán 30--A, Mexico City, Mexico City, 06140, Mexico
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A haven for anyone with a sweet tooth since 1874, Dulcería Celaya specializes in candied pineapple, guava, and other exotic fruits; almond paste; candied walnut rolls; and cajeta, a thick caramelized milk similar to Argentine dulce de leche. There's another branch in La Roma, but you have to come to the Centro for the atmosphere.
5 de Mayo 39, Mexico City, 06000, Mexico
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Centro | Department Store
Upscale department store El Palacio de Hierro is noted for items by well-known designers and its seductive advertising campaigns. There are freestanding branches throughout the city, as well as anchor stores in malls such as Centro Santa Fe, Mexico's largest mall in the Santa Fe district.
Av. 20 de Noviembre 3, Mexico City, Quintana Roo, 06060, Mexico
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Polanco
Founded in 1988 by Alfredo Ginocchio as Praxis Mexico, this now-eponymous gallery promotes distinguished work from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America. Its relatively small but interesting collection features a different artist every couple of months, alongside a variety of sculptures and paintings by familiar names including Santiago Carbonell and Alberto Aragón.
Arquímedes 175, Mexico City, Mexico City, 11560, Mexico
Shop Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
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La Condesa
Founded in 1935, the GAM was the first place in Mexico City dedicated full-time to the sale and promotion of art. It's played an important role in many Mexican art movements since then and continues to support the country's most important artists. GAM has also published noteworthy books, which are available at the gallery's bookstore.
Gob. Rafael Rebollar 43, Mexico City, Mexico City, 11850, Mexico
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Juárez
Also referred to as either Mercado Zona Rosa or Mercado Londres, this is the neighborhood's largest crafts market, featuring artistry from across Mexico, including jewelry, ceramics, and clothing. Vendors here can be intense, calling you to their stalls with promises of low prices (which you may or may not find). The market is an entire block deep, with entrances on both Londres and Liverpool. Most of the stalls sell silver and pewter, or crafts like serapes and ponchos, baskets, pottery, fossils, jade, obsidian, amber, and onyx. Expect to pay slightly higher prices here than at the Mercado Artesanal de la Ciudadela. Opposite the market's Londres entrance is Plaza del Angel, a small, upscale shopping mall, the halls of which are crowded by antiques vendors on weekends.
Londres 154, Mexico City, Mexico City, 06600, Mexico
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Polanco
Works—mostly paintings with a contemporary edge—by Mexican artists pack this large gallery. Downstairs, the main gallery exhibits a different artist each month (including the likes of José Antonio Farrera, Francesca Dalla Benetta, and Carlos Marín) while an upstairs gallery holds the permanent collection.
Julio Verne 14, Mexico City, Mexico City, 11550, Mexico
Shop Details
Rate Includes: Closed Sun.
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Juárez
Shopping in the maze of antiques stores of Plaza del Angel is at its liveliest on Saturday. Combine a trip here with one to the Mercado Insurgentes, the crafts market across the way, for a full day of shopping.
Mexico City, Mexico City, 06600, Mexico
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Department Store
Sanborns is a chain of mini department stores with some 80 branches in Mexico City, including one in almost every shopping mall. The most convenient are at Calle Madero 4 (one of its original stores, in the House of Tiles, downtown), though there are also several along Paseo de la Reforma (including one at the Angel Monument and another four blocks west of the Diana Fountain); in San Angel (on Avenida de la Revolución and Avenida de la Paz); Coyoacán (at the Jardín Centenario); and in the Zona Rosa (one at the corner of Niza and Hamburgo and another at Londres 130 in the Hotel Calinda Geneve). They carry ceramics and crafts (and can ship anywhere), and most have restaurants or coffee shops with free wireless Internet access, a pharmacy, ATMs, and periodical-book departments with English-language publications.
Av. Insurgentes Sur, Mexico City, Quintana Roo, Mexico
