Markets in Olot

Olot is a compact city, so staying in or close to the Town Centre puts you within easy walking distance of the main markets and the old quarter. The Eixample is another solid base, with good transport links and a quieter feel.

If you prefer a specific hotel, Hotel Les Cols Pavellons is a well-regarded option just outside the centre, ideal if you want something a little more special after a day exploring the markets.

All three of Olot's markets are street markets, and they differ more by season than by anything else. The largest by a wide margin is the Olot Christmas Market, with 80 outdoor stalls given over to handicrafts, jewellery, organic products, prepared foods, and bread and bakery. The weekly food market is the smaller, steadier one, trading under cover with fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and poultry, fish and seafood, and cheese and dairy.

Between them the three cover twelve product categories, which is broad for a city this size: books and magazines, clothing and textiles and jewellery sit alongside the food counters. Olot's three are counted among the rest of the markets in Girona province.

Sunday is the busiest market day in Olot, with two of the three markets trading, against one each on Monday, Friday and Saturday. Monday carries the year-round food market; the two Sunday markets are seasonal, so a Sunday in April will find the city without stalls while a Sunday in December has the most of the year.

Every Olot market has a confirmed trading day on record, so the only thing to check before you travel is whether the seasonal ones are in their month.

Olot's weekly food market runs every Monday from 9am to 2pm, and it is the only one of the city's three markets trading all year round. The other two are seasonal: the toy market runs on the first Sunday of October, and the Christmas market covers a Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the festive season.

Yes, two of Olot's three markets trade on a Sunday, which makes it the city's busiest market day. Both are seasonal rather than weekly, so a Sunday visit only finds stalls in October, for the toy market, or over the Christmas market weekend. Trading starts at 9am.

Markets in Olot open at 9am and pack up by 2pm, the usual hours across all three of the city's street markets. Come early on a Monday if you are shopping for food: the fresh fruit, vegetable, fish and cheese counters are the ones that sell down first over a five-hour morning.

No, Olot has no municipal market hall, and all three of its markets are recorded as street markets. The weekly Monday food market is the closest thing to one, trading under cover rather than in the open, but it is a market that sets up and packs down rather than a permanent building.