The main market sprawls across several blocks in the centre of the city — covered halls of food and fresh produce alongside the open-air sections for clothing, hardware, and the inevitable second-hand t-shirts that fund half the African economy. It is one of the busier markets in southern Malawi and full of the produce that the surrounding Shire Highlands grow well: bananas, mangos, sugarcane, leaf vegetables.
The Saturday market is the largest and the most worthwhile. Pickpocketing happens occasionally in the densest sections, so keep valuables out of sight, but the atmosphere is friendly enough that most visitors come and go without incident. The food stalls at the edge serve cheap, good nsima-and-relish lunches.