Cuemanco Plants and Flowers Market

A tour full of colors and fragrances leaves visitors to the Cuemanco Plants and Flowers Market entranced. One of the great attractions of Xochimilco is that farmers (chinamperos) produce flowers and ornamental plants for indoors and outdoors. You can buy bromeliads, violets, elephant legs, pines and other beauties at very low prices.

The scale of it. This is the largest specialist plant market in the country —the city describes it as the biggest of its kind in Latin America— with roughly six hundred stalls. Beyond cut flowers you will find cacti and succulents, fruit trees, bulbs such as tulips, violets, bonsai, aromatic and medicinal herbs, plus pots, soil, tools and shade netting. Stock covers indoor and outdoor plants and is usually sorted by sun or shade, and most sellers grow what they sell, so asking for care advice is worth it.

Where it sits. The market is on Canal Nacional 2000, in Cuemanco, Xochimilco, opposite the Parque Ecológico Xochimilco, which opened in 1993; part of what the market takes helps fund the park. The trajinera landings and the Cuemanco rowing canal are close by, so a morning here combines easily with the canals.

Getting there and when. Open daily 8:00 to 16:00 — note the early close, which catches visitors out. It is easiest by car or taxi off Periférico Sur; on public transport, take the Tren Ligero to Xochimilco and a short taxi from there. Bring cash, as not every stall takes cards, and bring a bag or box if you plan to carry plants.

One caution. If you are travelling home by air, check your destination's rules first: live plants, soil and seeds are restricted or banned in many countries, and customs will remove them.