42 Best Places to Shop in Mexico

It's worth visiting San Ángel on a Saturday just to visit this upscale artisan market that's been going strong 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. (Just be warned that more than a few businesses around Plaza San Jacinto, perhaps misleadingly, include the word "Bazaar" in their name.) Inside, on two levels that encircle a beautiful courtyard, are the generally top-quality—although higher priced—goods, including alebrijes (painted wooden animals from Oaxaca), miniature ofrendas, glassware, pottery, jewelry, fashion, furniture, kitchenware, 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 many shops sell their wares online and will ship abroad.

Get your organic fix at the Mercado Orgánico every Saturday 9–3 between November and April. Jewelry, artwork, flowers, soaps, fruit, and vegetables are a few of the goodies you’ll find here. Food stalls serve everything from tacos to pizza, and entertainment is offered for kids. You will surely leave with a bag full of fresh veggies and local art.

This is arguably the best farmers' market in the whole Puerto Vallarta/Riviera Nayarit region. It offers a balanced combination of good quality Mexican handicrafts and jewelry, as well as clothes, lamps, hammocks, cigars, organic products, and lots of delicious food. Everything is in a delightful environment with stunning views of the Marina Riviera Nayarit and Banderas Bay, and there's live music. It makes for a great way to spend a Sunday morning.

Mercado 28 is Cancún's largest open-air market. In addition to a few small restaurants, it has about 100 stalls where you can buy many of the same items found in the Zona Hotelera at a fraction of the cost. Expect to be confronted by aggressive vendors trying to coax you into their shop. This is a great place to haggle, and usually you can end up paying half of the initial asking price.

Although it's not as big as some of the city's other markets, this lively mercado just a couple of blocks from Frida Kahlo's house is one of the most popular with visitors, in large part because of the famous food stalls at its center doling out plates of delicious ceviche, octopus, shrimp, chicken tinga, picadillo, and other fillings for about MP40 to MP50 per portion. But you'll also find aisles of the usual fresh juices, produce, spices, candies, and other goodies typical of Mexican markets as well as a number of souvenir and homeware vendors (mostly near the northwest entrance) and many other food vendors. Arguably even better than the tostadas are the quesadillas sold from a tiny little stand at the west entrance, directly across from pretty Jardín Allende, a small landscaped park with benches and pathways; on weekends, artists sell their wares in the park and a DJ spins traditional Latin music, which locals of all ages dance to---it's great fun to watch. For a sweet treat, stop by Chocolate Mexicano Dulce Olivia, which serves sipping chocolates and carries a vast array of artisan chocolate bars produced by small, often family-run makers from throughout the country.

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.  

As its name implies, "popular art," or handicrafts, are sold at the Parque Santa Lucía on Sundays beginning at 9 am.

At this farmers' market in the middle of the Corridor, you can find organic food, plus kosher and imported products. You can also enjoy a fresh, healthy meal at their next-door sister restaurant Baja Fresh Kitchen.

Callejón del Diamante, also known as Calle Antonio M. Rivera, is a captivating pedestrian street with vendors hawking inexpensive jewelry, handwoven baskets, and fleece-lined slippers.

Oaxaca's largest and oldest market is held at the Central de Abastos (literally the "Center of Supplies") on the southern edge of downtown. Saturday is the traditional market day, but the enormous covered market swarms daily with thousands of buyers and sellers from Oaxaca and the surrounding villages. Along with mounds of multicolored chilies and herbs, piles of tropical fruit, electronics, and bootleg CDs, you'll find intricately woven straw baskets, fragile green-and-black pottery, and colorful rebozos (shawls) of cotton and silk. Don't burden yourself with lots of camera equipment or bags; and keep an eye out for pickpockets and purse-slashers. Polite bargaining is expected.

Next to the convention center, this open-air market has about 50 stalls selling crafts and souvenirs. Everything here is overpriced, and vendors are pushy, but you can try bargaining. Stalls deeper in the market tend to have better deals than those around the periphery.

On the northeast side of the downtown square, an unnamed artisan market sells a respectable assortment of Mexican wares. Practice your bartering skills—start low, compromise, smile—while shopping for blankets, T-shirts, hammocks, and pottery. Most sellers accept only cash.

Located in a narrow courtyard along lovely Avenida Francisco Sosa, this lively market is devoted to locally made crafts, gifts, clothing, body-care products, and artisanal foods. Edible treats include homemade fudge, hand pies, chocolates, and mezcals. 

Held every Thursday from November through April, this community event showcases the work of resident artists, designers, and authors. It’s a great place to buy jewelry, clothing, and artwork or even have your palm read—all to the benefit of local nonprofits. Food vendors and musicians also take part in the fair, which runs from 4 pm to 8 pm.

This nonprofit organization generates income for Maya women and their families. From December through April, a Sunday market features traditional dances, regional foods, and handmade crafts sold by Maya women wearing embroidered dresses. Year-round, the spa offers traditional Maya treatments such as deep-tissue massage and body wraps with aloe vera or chocolate fresh from the cacao; it's open by appointment only, with bookings at 10, noon, 2, and, when full, 4.

It's mostly locals that you'll find chowing down amid the lively stalls of the daily Mercado 20 de Noviembre, across the street from the Mercado Benito Juárez. No prices are listed, but rest assured that this will be your cheapest meal in Oaxaca.

Close to the zócalo, the daily Mercado Benito Juárez has stalls selling moles, chocolates, fruits and vegetables, and much more. The bulky brick building teems with clothing, arts, and crafts.

The city's sprawling market is a long walk (but short cab ride) from the beaches. It's divided into orderly sections of comedors (humble eateries), crafts and souvenirs, produce, and fish and meat vendors (a section that vegetarians should stay away from if they’re squeamish). For culinary adventurers, this is the place to sample Oaxacan specialties such as chapulines (toasted grasshoppers sprinkled with lime and chili), chocolate, and stringy cheese. The best time to visit is on the weekends, when indigenous Mixtec and Zapotec vendors bring their goods from the highlands. Watch for handwoven baskets, unique vegetables, and black pottery.

The Mercado Central Pino Suárez is a gigantic, turn-of-the-20th-century art nouveau structure between Calles Juárez, Ocampo, Serdán, and Leandro Valle. It's open daily and filled with produce, meat, fish, and bustle. The first few rows parallel to Calle Juárez have shell necklaces, huaraches (Mexican sandals), cowhide children's shoes, T-shirts, and gauzy dresses. Then comes the produce and grocery section, and finally the butcher stalls with the inevitable pigs' heads.

Shopping in Ixtapa lacks traditional Mexican energy. Most stores are relegated to strip malls across from the hotels on Paseo del Palmar. There are boutiques, restaurants, pharmacies, self-service laundries, and grocery stores, but everything seems to blend together. A ban on street and beach vendors restricts small merchants to a large handicrafts zone, Mercado de Artesanía Turístico, on the right side of Boulevard Ixtapa across from the Hotel Barceló. It's open from 10 to 10 and has some 150 stands, selling handicrafts, T-shirts, and souvenirs.

Spilling out for several blocks behind the Mercado Ignacio Ramírez is the Mercado de Artesanías. You'll find vendors of local work at this artisans' market—glass, tin, and papier-mâché—as well as silver jewelry at bargain prices, Huichol beaded jewelry, and woven wool rugs from Oaxaca.

For textiles, don't miss Mercado de Artesanías, a great place to shop for handwoven and embroidered clothing from Oaxaca's seven regions. This is also the place to find the handmade huipiles (short, boxy blouses, often made of velveteen) worn in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.

Although many deal in the same wares, the shops and stalls of the García Rejón Crafts Market sell some quality items, and the shopping experience here can be less of a hassle than at the nearby municipal market. You'll find reasonable prices on palm-fiber hats, hammocks, leather sandals, jewelry, handmade guitars, and locally made liqueurs. Persistent but polite bargaining might get you even better deals.

For a slice of Mexican life, head to the wildly vibrant Mercado Hidalgo, where you'll find artful displays of strawberries and chilies beside platters of cow eyeballs and chicken feet.

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.

Small shops and outdoor stands sell an interesting mix of wares at this informal and fun market that divides El Centro from Colonia Emiliano Zapata. Harley-Davidson kerchiefs, Che paintings on velvet, and Madonna icons compete with the usual synthetic lace tablecloths, shell and quartz necklaces, and silver jewelry amid postcards and key chains. The market is partially shaded by enormous fig and rubber trees and serenaded by the rushing river; a half-dozen cafés and restaurants provide sustenance.

As sensory experiences go, the city's most impressive floral market, located about a mile east of Roma and south of Centro Histórico, is quite impressive. The nearly 1,200 stalls proffering boldly colored, radiant arrangements and cut flowers along with a huge variety of potted plants fill the air with fragrant aromas. You'll find more than 300 vendors selling other goods, including snacks, fruits, and fresh juices, plus a good variety of ornate piñatas.

Sellers of chilis, herbs, seafood, and produce fill this pungent and labyrinthine municipal market. Early in the morning, the first floor is jammed with housewives and restaurateurs shopping for the freshest fish and produce. The stairs at Calles 56 and 57 lead to the second-floor Bazar de Artesanías Municipales, where you'll find local pottery, embroidered clothes, guayabera shirts, hammocks, straw bags, sturdy leather huaraches, and piñatas. Note that most initial prices are inflated as vendors expect you'll bargain—one way to begin is to politely request a discount.