Markets in Martos

Martos is a compact town, so staying in or close to the Town Centre puts you within easy walking distance of the markets and the main square. The Casco Histórico is a good bet if you want to be right in the heart of things, with local bars and restaurants close by.

For a comfortable base, Hotel Villa de Martos is a reliable option. Wherever you stay, the town is small enough that you won't need a car on market days.

All three street markets are weekly and outdoors, and they run on different days, so the town rarely goes long without one. The largest sets up around 30 stalls, weighted towards clothing and textiles, footwear and leather.

The other two are smaller and more specialised, closer to handicrafts and prepared foods than to general goods.

El Ahorro Market is the town's covered food market, and it opens every day of the week, which is unusual for a town this size. The counters run to fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and poultry, fish and seafood, bread and bakery, and cheese and dairy, so it is the fallback on any day when no street market is set up. Being indoors, the weather makes no difference to it.

Saturday is the busiest market day in Martos, with three of the four markets trading. Two open on Monday, Friday and Sunday, and one on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, which makes Thursday the thinnest day of the week here. Every one of the four has a confirmed trading day, so nothing on this page is guesswork about whether something will be open.

Martos sits around 24 km south of the city of Jaén, and is straightforward to reach by road if you're exploring the Sierra Sur. The Renaissance towns of Úbeda and Baeza are within reach to the northeast. For local details on opening times and events, the Martos tourism office is the most reliable source.

Three of the four markets in Martos trade on a Saturday, the town's busiest market day, and two on Sunday, so the weekend is the widest window for a visit. Expect stalls selling fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, fish, bread, clothing and handicrafts, most of them open from around 9.30am until 2.30pm.

Martos has a market on every day of the week, because El Ahorro Market opens daily and the three weekly street markets are spread across the rest. Saturday is the fullest day, with three of the four trading, and Thursday the quietest, with one.

Markets in Martos usually open at 9.30am and close at 2.30pm, which makes them a morning errand rather than an afternoon one. That pattern holds across the covered El Ahorro Market and the three weekly street markets, so arriving before midday gives you the fullest choice of stalls on any of the four.