Very pleasant cafe, bookshop, and CD store in the heart of Condesa. I spotted Carlos Monsivais sipping coffee on a table opposite and felt very much the intellectual about town. Good selection of fiction, history, art books (in Spanish).

Nuevo León 115, in Condesa.

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Besides providing a reason to go to the elegant cobblestoned San Angel neighborhood, the Saturday market in San Angel offers high quality handicrafts that make excellent gifts or souvenirs. If all that shopping makes you hungry, you can grab a bite to eat in the central courtyard or at one of the nearby restaurants.

The Bazaar Sabado, Plaza San Jacinto, San Angel.

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Coyoacan is a lovely leafy suburb of Mexico City. The area inspired artist Frida Kahlo and you can visit her beautiful blue house here. It is famous for its markets, on a Saturday and Sunday, for its great second hand bookshops and also its ice-cream (you should try mil flores flavour - a thousand flowers).

A great place to escape the hectic city centre, it is easily reached on the metro or by bus.

Coyoacan, Mexico D.F.
lots of buses from the centre, Frida Kahlo's house is on Calle Londres

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Viveros is where they grow trees for the rest of Mexico City's parks: a square mile of dense if artificial forest in the concrete jungle. Go there to stroll or jog on the many well-maintained paths. Close to picturesque Coyoacan district with the Frieda Kahlo house & museum & many colonial buildings, cafes etc, weekend crafts market.

Metro to Viveros, from there walk or take microbus or taxi to Coyoacan centre.

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It is a department store in the heart of the city. Breakfasts are just fantastic (if you like your food hot!)

Madero 4, Mexico City
55 5518 6676

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Anything and everything, in jaw droppping volume, themed in whole streets at a time...
having escaped the baby clothes avenue i got stuck in nail varnish boulevard for at least an hour, finally selecting some orange sparkly stuff (which i still have and love!) before exploring further wonders of market land. Also great food stalls, cafes and restaurants along many routes, this is where you will find ordinary people buying their (extra) ordinary stuff!

There are many markets in the city and obviously no contact number, but head to the area around the government buildings and square, and follow the sound in the streets...

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The Voladores (Totonaca men from Papantla on the Gulf Coast who perfom ancient flying acts) are also your best bet for buying real vanilla pods and vanilla extract in Mexico City.

Just wait for their daily shows outside the Museo Nacional to finish, and ask them 'Tienes vanilla?' For a fraction of the price you'd pay at the tourist shops, you'll get real vanilla, not the essence, straight from the Gulf Coast source.

Los Voladores perform on a platform outside the Museo Nacional, Paseo de la Reforma, Polanco, Mexico City

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DF's Camden Market. Hang out with the city's goths, punks and art students shopping for obscure mexican music and movies, army surplus and novelty T-shirts.

Saturdays, Buenavista Metro Station

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A colonial village with cobble stone streets, art markets and Frida Kahlo and Diego Riviera’s house.

Take the metrobus south on Avenue Insurgentes to Miquel de Queveda or a micro bus on Avenue Patriatismo going north to San Angel

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A giant market, crawling with prostitutes. The main reason to visit is a giant witchcraft market virtually tourist free, where you can buy candles, handicrafts, a love potion or spell for anything, and just soak in the atmosphere.

In the neigbouring block is a giant exotic animal market, again interesting but very sad considering the conditions some animals are kept in. Remember this is not the best part of town and the witchcraft market is not geared towards tourists but to people with deeply held beliefs so be careful not to offend.

Take the metro to La Merced (pink line). You will exit into the main food market. Ask directions to El Mercado de la Brujeria (Witchcraft Market)

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A sprawling Latin American market, where you can buy antiques, handicrafts, fossils, clothes and crystals. Everything in fact at the cheapest prices in the city.

You can have a retrato painted (a picture of a life event that you want a to dedicate to a particular saint). Frida Kahlo collected them. You can see shrines to the Santa Muerte, a pre-Columbian god disguised as a catholic saint dressed as the grim reaper. Sundays are best.

Take a micro bus on Avenue Reforma in the historic centre or Zona Rosa and ask to be put off at the Tianuis (street market) del Tepito

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An open air art market selling ceramics, craftwork, art, sculptures etc. You can have the best food in the city for next to nothing in the second section of the market, just pull up a stool on the long communal tables.

Where Avenue Reforma and Avenue Insurgentes meet take a micro bus on Reforma or the new metro bus on Insurgentes

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