Markets in Gijón: Mercado del Sur, the Sunday Rastro and craft markets

If you want to get to know Gijón/Xixón through its food, start at its markets. This is where locals buy fish landed daily in Cantabrian ports, cheeses from all over Asturias and vegetables grown on the city’s rural fringes, and on Sundays half the city wanders round the Rastro flea market. Here’s which markets are worth your time, what you’ll find at each and what to take home.

Mercado del Sur: the historic food market

The Mercado del Sur is Gijón’s traditional covered food market (mercado de abastos) and one of its most distinctive buildings. It went up in 1898–1899, when the hygienist movement led European cities to build covered markets to improve how food was sold. It’s an iron structure with a pentagonal floor plan and large windows that flood the interior with light, and it was renovated in 2001 while keeping its original features.

It stands in the centre next to Plaza del Seis de Agosto, a few minutes’ walk from Calle Corrida, so it slots easily into any stroll around town.

What you’ll find: fishmongers selling produce from Asturian rulas (fish auctions), butchers, delicatessens with Asturian cheeses and charcuterie, greengrocers and shops selling regional specialities. Traditionally the upper floor was where the aldeanas sold their goods: women from the rural parishes around Gijón who brought in whatever their kitchen gardens were producing that season, a custom that goes back more than a century.

Opening hours: each stall sets its own. As a rough guide, based on the council’s data for several stalls, most open in the morning from Monday or Tuesday to Saturday, and some shops stay open in the afternoon. For fresh fish, go on a weekday morning. Sunday is not market day. Remember that many Spanish shops close for a long lunch break, roughly 14:00–17:00.

Tip: ask at the delis for small-producer Asturian cheeses and have them vacuum-packed (envasado al vacío) if you’re travelling. It’s the best souvenir you can take home from Gijón.

The Sunday Rastro

The Rastro is Gijón’s weekly street market and takes place every Sunday in the car park of the Palacio de Deportes de La Guía ‘Adolfo Suárez’ sports arena, next to Isabel la Católica Park and close to El Molinón football stadium. According to the City Council it’s split into four areas:

1. New goods: clothes, household linen, shoes, toys, and sealed toiletries and household products.
2. Second-hand goods (no clothing): antiques, books, records, tools and curiosities.
3. Food.
4. Coins and stamps.

It’s a classic Sunday-morning outing: have a browse, haggle politely in the second-hand section and finish with a vermouth or a cider. Combine it with a walk in Isabel la Católica Park or along San Lorenzo beach, both very close.

Tip: go early if you’re hunting for bargains in the second-hand area, and bring cash: not every stall takes cards.

Craft and Organic Market in Plaza Mayor

On the second weekend of every month, Plaza Mayor, beside the Town Hall at the entrance to the Cimavilla old town, hosts the Mercado Artesano y Ecológico de Gijón, run by the artisans’ own association. At Easter and over the Constitution Day bank holidays in early December the date shifts to fit the holidays.

You’ll find Asturian crafts (jet jewellery, leather, woodcarving, textiles, glass, stationery, painting and stonework) and organic and traditional food: bread, charcuterie, cheese, honey, jams, fruit and vegetables, plus fair-trade products. It’s a great place for original gifts made in Asturias. Check dates in the Turismo Asturias listings.

Christmas Market

In December the City Council organises a Christmas Market with craft, gift and food stalls. The location and dates are published on gijon.es (in Spanish) as the holidays approach. We cover it alongside other festive plans in Christmas in Gijón.

What to buy at Gijón’s markets

• Asturian cheese: Asturias is one of Europe’s great cheese regions (Cabrales, Gamonéu, Afuega’l Pitu, Casín and many more).
• Fabes and compango: the large white beans and the chorizo, black pudding and pork belly needed to make fabada, Asturias’s signature bean stew.
• Fish and seafood: hake, bonito tuna in season, pixín (monkfish), spider crab… best enjoyed straight away.
• Tinned fish from the Cantabrian Sea: bonito, anchovies, sardines. They travel very well and Spanish tinned fish is a delicacy, not a budget option.
• Sweets: casadielles (walnut-filled pastries), carbayones or frixuelos (crêpes). More in our guide to Asturian desserts.
• Natural cider: to understand how it’s poured and drunk, read cider in Gijón.

If you’d rather someone else did the cooking, see what to eat in Gijón and where to eat. And for other shopping (high streets, Asturian food shops), see our guide to shopping in Gijón.