Andalucia Impressions: Shopping for food in Andalucía - mercados de abastos

Most larger towns and cities have a Mercado de Abastos, that is a large covered market with stands selling all kind of foodstuffs, from fish to meat, fruit and vegetables, dried fruit, bread, dairy products etc. They are usually situated in the town centre so better for buying a few special items than for the big shop which is best left to the supermarket. Some are also in beautiful or historical buildings. 

Here's a guide to those we visited and a very arbitrary comment based on cost (looking at fish), quality of products, clean and tidy environment, clarity of prices.

Malaga: excellent - cheap prices for local fruit and vegetables and fish, friendly stallholders, clear prices and a beautiful building. Fashionable eateries at the front.

Alicante: fish was expensive and the general environment nothing special but an excellent dried fruit stall Frutos secos. Fashionable places to eat and drink at the back.

El Puerto de santa María: small market with limited selection, prices ok.

Jerez de la Frontera: large market, very busy, excellent selection of fish, very cheap, a pity we were just visiting for the day.

Almería: recently rebuilt with a supermarket on the floor below, everything looked very clean but unfortunately we visited in the evening so can't comment further. 

Chiclana de la Frontera: exceptionally good, clean and cool, packed with stalls and an enormous variety of fish and everything else at cheap prices. Cheap places to eat at the back.

Tarifa: small market, a bit expensive, places to eat.

Vejer de la Frontera: very small but recently renovated with eating places around the square.