Bienvenida Municipal Market

This is a rural municipal market rather than a big-city hall: 15 stalls under one roof, indoors, serving a town of a few thousand people and the farms and smallholdings around it. That scale is the point. You are buying from the same handful of stallholders the town buys from, and the counters cover food and nothing else. There are no souvenir stalls, no clothing racks, no restaurant terraces.

It is listed among the municipal markets in Bienvenida, and being indoors it works the same in the Extremaduran summer as it does in a wet February.

Five things, across 15 stalls: fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, meat and poultry, cheese and dairy, and bread and bakery goods. Come for the produce and cheese counters in particular, which is what people mean locally when they talk about a farmers market here, food sold close to where it was grown and made rather than a themed weekend event.

Bring cash. Payment at the stalls is cash, so sort out notes and coins before you arrive rather than expecting a card terminal at the counter. Small notes are easier on a stallholder than a fifty.

Bienvenida is a small town, so beds in the centre are limited. Staying in the town centre puts you within walking distance of the market hall and the main square. For more choice, Zafra is a short drive away and has a wider range of hotels and guesthouses.

The market is in Bienvenida, postcode 06250, in Badajoz province. Driving is the sensible way in, and there is parking, which makes it easy to load a boot with a week's shopping. Bienvenida sits on local roads between Zafra and Llerena, so the market pairs well with a wider loop through the Campiña Sur if you are staying in either town.