Guadalajara – Mercado San Juan de Dios

This market is the largest in downtown Guadalajara. It literally sells everything and anything you can think of. It’s a great place to wander about and has quite a few surprises waiting for visitors.


The market sprawls over two city blocks and three levels. Each level has its own distinct charm and produce. The top level, is mainly knock offs and copies. It seems to be fake jeans, fake DVDs, fake shoes and more fake DVDs. It’s a bargain hunters paradise, or nightmare! For me, it felt a little dodgy. All the pirate software and DVD sellers were just a little too wary for my liking and seemed to salivate at the sight of an approaching tourist.

The next level down, is mostly food. They sell all the traditional Mexican food here in prodigious quantities. The locals swarm here for a snack or an entire meal. To me, the food looked a little on the dodgy side, but all the stalls seemed to be swarming with people eager for some good grub. Sometimes literally!


The ground level, is tourist heaven. This is where every one of your Mexican fantasies and tourist clichés are realised. They have any number of sombreros, a huge range of fancy belts and all the Mayan and Aztec artefacts you could ever want. Most of it is cheap tourist tat, but there are a few interesting things for sale. It’s fun just to wander about and have a look, but watch out for pick pockets!