Mexico City Authentic Shopping Guide

Local handicrafts and artisanal items to pick up on your trip

Regional Folk Art
Mexico City is a sales hub for, rather than producer of, handicrafts. In specific outlets and markets you can find the top silverwork, Talavera and other ceramics, lacquered boxes from Olinalá, carved woodwork and masks from Michoacán. Fonart is a government fund to conserve regional folk art. With branches on Avenida Patriotismo 691, Col. Mixcoac; Avenida Paseo de la Reforma No. 116, Col. Juarez; Avenida Juarez 89, Col. Centro. www.fonart.gob.mx

National Handicrafts
Mexican handicrafts include handwoven carpets from Oaxaca, blown glass, embroidered textiles, clay arboles de la vida (trees of life), woven straw goods, pewter, comical Day of the Dead tableaux, painted tin trinkets, fantastic alebrijes, hammocks from Merida, and rebozos (shawls/wraps). Mercado de la Ciudadela offers the best bargains for the widest variety of national handicrafts in the capital. Mazelike. Take your time, and haggle. On Balderas, Col. Juárez.

Arts and Crafts
Bazaar del Sábado is an upscale Saturday market for quality arts and crafts, with some original items. Plaza San Jacinto, Col. San Angel.

Authentic Foods
For authentic food shopping head to Mercado San Juan. Revel in splendid arrays of fungi, grasshoppers, maguey larva, chilies dried and fresh, beans, herbs, seafood, and many other culinary mysteries. Entrance on Ernesto Pugibet, Col. Centro.

Mexico City

Get travel tips, see photos, take a quiz and more with National Geographic's Ultimate Guide to Mexico City.
Mexico

Explore Mexico through facts and photos, related features, a country map, and more.