66 Best Places to Shop in Mexico

This is the place in La Paz to buy goods and souvenirs handmade by local artisans. Some of the most culturally relevant items include pearl jewelry, bottles of damiana, and picture frames made from dried cholla cactus wood, but there are plenty of bookmarks, magnets, and coffee mugs, as well. The prices are very affordable, so be sure to leave room in your suitcase for some great finds!

Located just a few steps down a pedestrian alley from Plaza de Armas, this beautiful boutique run by the state's department of culture promotes Querétaro's rich heritage of arts and crafts. The traditional weavings, woodwork, ceramics, and other fine pieces here have been created by fairly compensated artisans young and old. It's one of the best places in the city to pick up a keepsake.

Eclectic Array curates an exquisite collection of handmade, artisan goods---like accessories, crafts, and home decor---from across Mexico. Their mission is to provide fair trade and sustainable opportunities to the country's Indigenous communities, and the products they sell are authentic, gorgeous, and one-of-a-kind.

Ceramicist Mayer Shacter and his wife Susan Page have an amazing collection of decorative and utilitarian folk-art pieces from all over Mexico in several showrooms. On the way to several hot springs, the pilgrimage center at Atotonilco, and the town of Dolores Hidalgo, the 5,000-square-foot gallery is a destination in itself, and not just a must for avid shoppers. In 2014 the editor of the art magazine series Artes en Mexico called the shop "without a doubt the finest exhibition and sale of Mexican popular art in the country." It's open by appointment only. If you are serious about high-quality folk-art pieces, make an appointment.

The 300 or so potters from the village of Mata Ortiz add their touches to the intensely—sometimes hypnotically—geometric designs of their ancestors from Paquimé. At this shop pieces range from about $60 to $10,000, with an average of about $400. Stop in during an afternoon walk through downtown.

The beauty of its glistening glass-bead Czech jewelry in iridescent and earth colors may leave you weak at the knees. Sometimes a Huichol artisan at the front of the store works on traditional yarn paintings, pressing the fine filaments into a base of beeswax and pine resin to create colorful and symbolic pictures. Sales support the owner's nonprofit organization to promote cultural sustainability for the Huichol people.

Visit this shop to check out the extensive collection of Mexican-made clothing and textiles in stunning, colorful patterns, from folk-art-print T-shirts, caps, and boots to beautiful handbags and ceramics. There’s a nice mix of items for all ages, including young kids. There are a few additional locations around the city.

This is the best one-stop shop in Cozumel for Mexican crafts and art. Numerous display rooms, covering almost a block, are filled with clothing, furnishings, home-decor items, quality tequilas, and jewelry. There are smaller branches at Puerta Maya, the international pier (SSA), the Cozumel airport, Punta Langosta, and the gift shops of some hotels.

Here the Huichol are treated as a people, not a product. At their downtown Vallarta shop, the owners— a Mexican-Canadian couple—are happy to share with customers their wealth of info about Huichol art and culture. They work with just a few farming families, providing all the materials and then paying for the finished products, amazing and colorful handicrafts that represent the most sacred elements of their culture. Huichol imagery is so colorful because they actually see these images when they eat peyote, an hallucinogenic cactus, as part of their religious rituals.

This is a large store with a ton of red-clay items traditional to the area—in fact, their predecessors were crafted before the 1st century AD. Rustic pottery and glazed ceramic pieces come in traditional styles at reasonable prices.

Ana Lucia Pewter sells beautiful locally made pewter items—from decorative tableware to picture frames—at ridiculously low prices.

Ancestral sells local handicrafts and Mexican products of Nahuatl (ancient Aztec) origin. You can even buy beautifully hand-painted bull skulls. From time to time, they also offer workshops and embroidery, painting, and Nahuatl-language classes.

Arte Mexicano Nopal sells Mexican handicrafts, reproductions of ancient art, candles, incense, and small gifts. It's generally open daily from 10:30 am but closed on Sunday during the low season.

This shop in the Casa de la Cultura sparkles with crafts from the various regions of Guerrero state. Look for hand-loomed shawls, painted gourds, hammocks, baskets, silver jewelry, and Olinalá boxes. The latter come from a town in the northeast part of the state known for its lacquer work.

The range of crafts in San Cristóbal extends far beyond those made by indigenous groups. Arte Sandía has a wonderful array of housewares, including plates and dishes covered with the store's namesake watermelon. (It's a popular theme in this country, as the watermelon has the three colors of the Mexican flag.) You'll find plenty of women's clothing here, too.

Sort through an excellent selection of crafts, including painted copal-wood animals with comical expressions, at this shop.

This small boutique at Casa Natalia has jewelry, handbags, and art made from recycled metals. Artwalk also has a good selection of brass jewelry from Mexico City.

This government-run bazaar offers a wide range of local crafts, including some that are hard to come by—like bull horns carved into necklaces and earrings using an old technique that only a small number of families in Campeche State still know about. All prices are fixed, so there's no need to bargain.

At Camino Silvestre ("wild road"), an eclectic and slightly eccentric selection of gifts and home furnishings delights the eye, all arranged as if in a home or garden rather than a store. Bird and nature themes predominate: choose among hummingbird feeders, birdhouses, framed prints, fine linens, wool rugs, art prints and paintings, and much more. Adjacent is a pricey but pretty tea room. There's a second location at Zacateros 46 (Tel.415/121–3359).

The oversized, handmade candles that you see lighting the night so elegantly in Playa's restaurants and hotels are sold at Candle Boutique.

Casa Antigua, in the former home of Mazatlán's first bishop, sells crafts from throughout Mexico in all price ranges and mediums—silver, ceramics, black clay, and papier-mâché.

The government-run Casa de las Artesanías sells wooden toys, ceramics, embroidered blouses, bags, and handwoven textiles from throughout the state. You'll also find honey, marmalade, and locally made liqueurs.

Beautiful handicrafts and folk art—including alebrijes animal figurines, carved masks, bracelets, ceramics, and Día de Muertos decor—are sold in the rooms of this alluring shop set inside a rambling 18th-century mansion with a gorgeous courtyard and exterior gardens. It's a few steps from Plaza San Jacinto, offering a bit of calm from the bustle of vendors found there.

Casa Etnika sells a funky mélange of non-kitschy Mexican and world crafts, from jewelry to carved wood statuettes to nature photography of Sinaloa State. Some items are made from recycled materials.

Casa Marina houses excellent small shops selling Yucatecan hammocks, Oaxacan rugs, and a smattering of folk art. It's generally closed Sunday during low season.

Casa Penagoes has an eye-popping collection of colorful clothing from indigenous groups.

Chocolatería Kakao Natura is stocked with fresh chocolates made from scratch on-site (from the grinding of the cacao itself!).

Mexican artist Elina Chauvet sells unique beaded necklaces and bracelets, casual beachwear, Guerrero masks, and embroidered cotton clothing. She's also a renowned painter who sells works by other artists alongside her own.