Mercado de Artesanías

Nicaragua's largest crafts market, in a gothic market building at the heart of the city

The Mercado de Artesanías de Masaya occupies a large gothic-style stone building in the heart of the city and is the single best place in Nicaragua to buy traditional crafts. The market is organised in a series of covered corridors and courtyards with stalls selling hammocks, rocking chairs, leather goods, pottery, wooden carvings, embroidered clothing, painted gourds, and wickerwork.

Masaya and the surrounding villages of the Masaya region are the traditional centre of Nicaraguan craft production. The hammocks here are particularly well-made — Nicaraguan hammocks have a worldwide reputation and the quality is immediately obvious when you compare them to cheaper imports. Rocking chairs (mecedoras) and hand-thrown pottery from nearby San Juan de Oriente are also excellent.

Prices are fixed rather than negotiable in most stalls, though some gentle bargaining is possible. The market is busiest on weekends when tour buses from Managua and Granada arrive. On weekday mornings it is quieter and more relaxed. The building is on the western side of the central park.

things to do shopping market
A story
The market building was constructed in the 19th century as a multi-purpose commercial hall and has the imposing proportions and arched stonework of a small cathedral. When the market was revived as a dedicated crafts centre in the 1990s, the building was restored and the architectural grandeur — completely out of scale with the wares on sale inside — gives the whole experience an odd, wonderful quality.