Markets in San Fernando

Staying in Centro puts you close to the main market area and within easy walking distance of the town's shops and cafes. It's a compact city, so you won't need to travel far wherever you base yourself.

If you prefer somewhere with more amenities nearby, La Magdalena is a good option, and there are several comfortable hotels along the main routes into town that make a practical base for a short visit.

All four of the markets covered here are outdoor street markets, set up in the morning and packed away by early afternoon. There is no single central site: they are spread across different parts of the city, so which one you go to depends as much on where you are staying as on what you want to buy.

Across the four you'll find fresh fruit and vegetables, clothing and textiles, footwear and leather, handicrafts, and books and magazines. The largest is San Fernando Street Market, at around 40 stalls. Prices are spoken rather than labelled, so bring a bag and coins, and go in the first half of the morning for the pick of anything fresh.

Thursday is the busiest market day in the city, with two of the four markets trading. Wednesday has one and Saturday has one, and there is nothing on Monday, Tuesday, Friday or Sunday. The usual hours are 09:00 to 14:00, a genuine morning pattern rather than an all-day one: arriving at half past one means watching stalls come down.

San Fernando's street markets usually trade from 09:00 to 14:00, the most common pattern across all four covered here. They are morning markets, so plan to arrive before midday: by early afternoon the awnings are down and the stalls are being loaded back onto vans.

Thursday is the busiest day in San Fernando, with two of the four street markets trading. Wednesday has one and Saturday has one, so three mornings of the week are covered. Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Sunday have no market at all, which matters if you are here for a short stay.

San Fernando has four markets, all of them weekly street markets and all within the one city. There are no covered municipal food halls listed here. The biggest, San Fernando Street Market, runs to around 40 stalls, and the four between them trade on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.

San Fernando's street markets sell fresh fruit and vegetables, clothing and textiles, footwear and leather goods, handicrafts, and books and magazines. The fresh produce stalls are the reason most locals come, and they complement rather than replace the city's grocery stores, which stay open through the afternoon when the markets have closed.

No, San Fernando has no separate farmers market. Fresh fruit and vegetables are sold from stalls at the four weekly street markets alongside clothing, shoes and household goods, in the way most Spanish mercadillos work, and those stalls trade on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings.