The Markets of Buenos Aires
I never know whether to get excited about markets when I travel. So often, you arrive, and by the 5th stall, the “handicrafts” are following a repeating pattern of the same items and designs. It might be a waste of time to go to a market and just find generic goods.
I was so excited to find that Buenos Aires was different! We went to several markets, and all of them featured incredibly creative clearly original crafts. The
Beyond just knowing which markets to hit, you should know when to go and how to pair them, because Buenos Aires is ENORMOUS and you’ll want to hit geographically close highlights back-to-back.
Day 1
Feria de Artesanos Palermo …
Open: Saturdays and Sundays from 8am - 6pm
My favorite market of the trip, if you’re in Buenos Aires on a Saturday, make sure you make a stop here! Along one of the avenues leading to Plaza Serrano, artists showcase their work at this weekend-ly market. The portion that’s art (not crafts) is relatively small, but really amazing. And — you’ll hear this refrain a lot — with the Blue Rate, it’s incredibly affordable for Americans right now. This very small art fair pairs perfectly with the Feria Honduras, so read on!
…and Feria Honduras at Plaza Serrano
Open: Saturdays and Sundays from 11am - 9pm
The Feria de Artesanos Palermo leads directly into the much larger Feria Honduras at Plaza Serrano. It’s open several hours later than the art fair, though, so start with the art and then move onto the crafts. On Saturdays and Sundays, the entire plaza is full of crafts vendors selling truly amazing things. You won’t find every other stall hawking the same keychains here - instead, you’ll see everything from creative mate cups to gorgeous handbags (unfortunately mostly leather) to jewelry, and even more unique things like hanging lightbulbs featuring miniature figures like hot air balloons or even characters from Up and Spirited Away. We didn’t have much luck haggling here, but have I mentioned the exchange rate?!
Right off Plaza Serrano are some cute side streets featuring colorful street art - definitely worth wandering around the area!
Day 2
Mercado San Telmo…
Open: Every day
Mercado San Telmo is a converted old railway station that now houses tons of small food stalls (with extant but very limited seating), vintage shops, and a great coffee spot. If you find yourself in the area, it can be a lovely uncrowded spot on a weekday for a meal! It’s also about a block or so from the Feria de San Telmo that you shouldn’t miss if you’re in Buenos Aires on a Sunday, which makes it a fun spot to grab lunch before or after you do your shopping. HOWEVER, it is extraordinarily crowded on Sundays because I’m not the only genius who came up with this double whammy plan. Be prepared to wait for seats at one of the sit-down spots, or if you’d like a relatively quick plan, grab empanadas from El Horneado - they have several extremely tasty vegetarian options! You can also prep for your afternoon of shopping or wake yourself up post shopping with a coffee from Coffee Town.
And now it is story time.
We ordered 3 “cafes con leche, frio” and they came without lids or straws. We wanted to take them to go, so I quickly Googled for the words for lids and straws. BE WARNED: Google will tell you a word for “straw” that is technically correct, but whose more common meaning is NOT straw. As I learned when the barista turned beet red and burst out laughing, “paja” means "masturbation” and is rarely if ever used to mean “straw,” at least in Argentina. You can use “pajita” for straw instead. You are extremely welcome.
Once you’ve ordered your coffee with a pajita, you can head to La Feria!
…and Feria de San Telmo
Open: Sundays
The Feria de San Telmo is absolutely enormous and stretches for blocks upon blocks. Once again, you’ll find super cool crafts here - highlights for me included matchsticks carved into tiny figurines and teeny tiny origami jewelry hardened with resin. We were told to watch your bag at this crowded market, but didn’t experience any problems. To be honest, New York trains you pretty well for crowded urban places.
…and La Boca
La Boca is a super kitchy neighborhood with brightly colored houses that sits by a bay. As our BnB host said, “you should go to take the picture,” and there are also a few museums around there that are worth a stop if you have time (and if they’re open). By the standards of Buenos Aires, it’s reasonably close to San Telmo (about a 1 hour walk), so it can be nice to structure your day with La Boca first, a pit stop for lunch at Mercado San Telmo, and the Feria to round it out before you head to a wine bar or a vermuteria. But if you were going to skip one of these, it’d be La Boca.
We were also told that while El Caminito, the street with all the action in La Boca, and its immediate surroundings are perfectly safe, things get a bit sketchier as you wander farther from the main attraction. So, I’d advise against that - take a cab ($so $cheap) to Mercado San Telmo afterwards!
