Shopping in Puerto Vallarta Markets — Finding Mexican Treasures and a Side of Adventure

The best shopping in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco area offers many opportunities in the Tianguis and Farmer Markets.

Buying handcrafted goods in Mexico can be exciting, perhaps intimidating and probably not for the faint of heart. However, half the fun of traveling to this destination is in the hunting for the perfect piece to take home, successfully transport home and enjoy in the comfort of your home. This pre-historic tradition of gathering for trade and bargaining to exchange goods strikes at the heart of our ancestry. This practice is a return to our ancestry and strikes a note of familiarity, even in unknown lands and locations.

Throughout Mexico, these markets seem to pop up at random. My personal favorites are in the area surrounding Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco. These markets known as “tianguis.”

First, a quick back story on these markets. The tradition of buying and selling all sorts of items in open markets/bazaars in Mexico dates back to prehispanic times and beyond. These open markets, aka tianguis as they are called locally, are a staple of cities large and small throughout the country. Despite the appearance of transiency and mobility, they usually take place in set locations on a weekly basis or in pre-determined months of the year.