One-Stop Shopping in San Telmo

A stroll through the Mercado de San Telmo. completes any trip to San Telmo, whether you’re looking for a vintage leather coat, an old Elvis record, fresh produce to cook up for dinner, or a bite to eat.

History of the Market

The Tuscan-style building, constructed by the prolific Italian architect, Juan A. Buschiazzo, has a beautiful interior structure with a wrought iron and glass atrium.

Located between the streets of Defensa, Bolívar, Estados Unidos and Carlos Calvo, the San Telmo Market was built in 1897, to serve as a large, centralized fruit and vegetable market.

At the time, it was the first private market of its kind in the area and it helped to secure San Telmo’s reputation as a fashionable and convenient place to live for well-off residents.

Food & Coffee in San Telmo Market

Today there’s not just produce to peruse but antiques, second-hand clothes, curiosities and most importantly: a variety of great food.

For many years, to the dismay of shopkeepers, the market was not as central to the social fabric of the neighborhood as it once was.

It used to be dead during the week, but in the last decade some fancier stores and food stalls moved in converting the market into a hot spot rivaling similar markets in Barcelona and Lisbon.

San Telmo’s central shopping market is now packed on weekends, especially when tourists visiting the nearby San Telmo Antiques Fair stroll through.

The produce here is usually of very high quality, although the prices tend to have a gringo-mark-up that makes them a bit higher than neighborhood vegetable stands outside of the market.

Coffee lovers needing a jolt after a long flight won’t want to miss the Coffee Town stand, which offers high-quality free-trade coffee that will put the local cafeterias to shame.

If shopping for non-perishable goods, visitors will discover classic tin plates and posters, odd antiques and furniture, used leather jackets and funky hats.

The San Telmo Market is open every day of the week from 10 a.m. until sundown, although each stall has its own hours.

San Telmo Market/Mercado de San Telmo
Bolivar 950
San Telmo

• Hours: 10 a.m.—8 p.m.

-> San Telmo Market is not to be confused with the San Telmo Fair