My husband and I are looking forward to a kid-free weekend in NYC! I'd love to find a market or two and be able to walk around (to shop and eat). We will be there next week (5/1-7). Any ideas? We will be staying at the Waldorf, so fairly central.

If you mean farmer's markets - you won't find them in midtown - which is a primarily a business district. If you are talking about delis with take out food - there are a bunch of casuale ones that workers use for lunch. The famous ones (Zabars, Fairway, etc) are in more residential areas - upper east or west side, SoHo, Chelsea etc. Also have a look at Chelsea Market for a real one.

Do you mean a food market? If so, Union Square Greenmarket on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays is by the far the best place for food shopping, including food-related gifts and a few decorative flower-based gifts like lavenders.


And:

http://www.shoplimelightmarketplace.com/mainmenu.html


Saturdays: http://www.hesterstreetfair.com/

Sundays:

http://www.newamsterdammarket.org/

If you are willing to travel to Brooklyn:


http://www.brooklynflea.com/


http://www.brooklynflea.com/smorgasburg/

For food alone; ethnic vendors here are a favorite of certain food-obsessed locals:

http://redhookfoodvendors.com/vendors.html




Also, consider an hour-long trip on the D or F train to Brighton BEach/Coney Island, where you can stroll the boardwalk, go to the beach (or look at it, depending on weather), browse the interesting ethnic food stores, and have a great, inexpensive lunch in one of the Russian or Turkish restaurants in the area. That's my idea of a fun day!

EKS

The ball park vendors in Red Hook are difficult to reach. And they are only there on Saturdays and Sundays during the season.

That's true, but they are there over a weekend.

But probably not of interest to tourists in any case, especially the OP who is looking for shopping as well. Someone who wants to find "ethnic" street vendors can also take the train out to JAckson Heights and walk along Roosevelt Avenue. But again, really off the topic here. I guess my thoughts always turn to food!

Yes Jackson Heights or Flushing would be a much choice in the boroughs.

I guess I am looking for two things...great local markets to eat and grab produce and then markets to shop in (we were in London recently, so if you have been there, think Portobello Rd). Thanks for the thoughts...any others would be great! We've heard of the Chelsea market and plan to head there...

Another fan of the Union Square Greenmarket - http://www.grownyc.org/unionsquaregreenmarket

I think I pretty much covered the markets to shop in in my post above.

We have nothing like Portobello Road or any of the great/famous European flea markets. The closest you might get to those are the markets I linked above, mostly on weekends.

Chelsea Market is good for NY, but not remotely close in browsing, or shopping appeal to the great European or UK food markets.

If you want to shop for clothing at a discount, you could try a sample sale..that's a real NY experience. Check NY Magazine or TimeOut for listings. I know there is a Hickey Freeman sale when you are here but there will be others as well.

Not exactly a market, but Eataly is popular.

Almost every weekend somewhere in New York City there is a street fair. Some of these are more like neighborhood block parties, while others extend over a series of blocks and feature the same booths moved to the new neighborhood each week. Here's one website that lists such fairs.

http://www.newyorkled.com/nyc_events_Street_Fairs.htm

You might enjoy a stroll through the Grand Central Market, at the train terminal. As eks says, not on the scale of the great European markets, but it's colorful and has a good selection of foodstuffs. There's a branch of the excellent Murray's Cheese, some bakeries, etc, where you might find something you like.

There is also a tiny greenmarket on 47th and 2nd on Wednesdays. It's just seven or eight vendors, and certainly not worth going out of your way, but you might find something in the way of local cheeses or baked goods.

There's a flea market in Chelsea on weekends, but the Brooklyn flea is really much bigger now and has the added benefit of food.
http://nymag.com/listings/stores/ann...flea_marketes/
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-antiques...arket-new-york

There's also the Hester St. Market on the lower east side
http://www.hesterstreetfair.com/

The Union Square Market is probably the best for produce but staying at a hotel, that's probably not what you want.

I posted those links early in this thread.