Coyoacan Market

If you go to Coyoacán do not forget to visit the market, near the Frida Kahlo and Leon Trotsky museum. It is very colorful, full of flavors and smells. Besides the typical stalls of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish, you'll find costumes and even craft stalls.

It is also very popular for its snacks stalls, tostadas, quesadillas, seafood and even stews. It is the ideal place to begin the trip through the cobbled streets of Coyoacán.

The tostadas. The tostada aisle is what brings most people here: they are ordered by the piece and chosen by topping —mushrooms, tinga, pata, chicken, vegetables, ceviche or shrimp— over cream and lettuce. Come hungry and order one at a time so you can work through a few. The craft aisles carry sought-after seasonal work too: skulls, catrinas and skeletons for Day of the Dead, needlework and costumes.

The building. The market moved in 1956 to its present site on Calle Allende, between Malintzin and Xicoténcatl, which gave it far more room. It now takes up a whole block of colonia Del Carmen, with three large halls plus an arched roof covering what used to be a street market along Xicoténcatl.

Getting there and when to go. Central Coyoacán has no metro station of its own: Coyoacán and Viveros-Derechos Humanos on Line 3 are both about a twenty-minute walk away, and the last streets are cobbled. The market is two blocks from Frida Kahlo's Casa Azul and close to the León Trotsky House Museum, so it usually gets combined with one of them. Weekends fill the whole of central Coyoacán; for a calmer visit, any weekday morning is better.