The city's covered market, two blocks north of the Plaza de Armas, is the place to find Chilean dried fruit, pisco, papayas from the Valle del Elqui, copper from the north, and lapis lazuli — the deep-blue stone mined in the Andes east of La Serena and worked into jewellery by artisans here.
The upper floor is a stack of small seafood restaurants serving ceviche, parihuela, paila marina, and grilled reineta at lunch. Prices are reasonable, the food is generally good, and the views over the courtyard make for a more interesting lunch than the tourist places on Avenida del Mar.