Some of the best markets in Wales

For good-natured banter and top notch bargains, you can’t beat a traditional Welsh market. They’re great places to sample local produce and hunt down oddments you won’t find anywhere else.

Abergavenny’s trading history stretches back well over 1000 years. Today, the Victorian Abergavenny Market Hall on Cross Street remains a good hunting ground for the kind of items you just can’t find in ordinary shops. The biggest day is Tuesday, when over 150 stalls sell everything from rare-breed meat to musical instruments.

Open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
 

The award winning Aberystwyth Farmers Market take place on the first and third Saturday of the Month throughout the year.  t is held on Aberystwyth’s North Parade, and has about 30 regular stalls.

Cardiff’s Central Market is a traditional Victorian market hall, standing in the pedestrian-friendly city centre. It’s truly varied, with stalls selling electronics, pets and Welsh specialities such as laverbread (seaweed paste, great fried with bacon for breakfast). Sunlight streams through the glass roof and there’s a balcony where you can take a breather over a cup of tea.

Open Monday to Saturday

Located west of Cardiff in the Vale of Glamorgan, Cowbridge is a really enjoyable place to shop, its High Street stuffed with tempting independent boutiques. The small, friendly Cowbridge Farmers’ Market in the Arthur John & Co car park on North Road sells delicious local produce including small-batch honey, chutney and herbs.

Open the first and third Saturday of each month

Pembrokeshire’s busiest food, produce and craft market takes place at the Riverside Shopping Centre in Haverfordwest. Haverfordwest Farmers' Market is great for seasonal fare from local producers – ripe fruit in summer, pumpkins in autumn and beeswax candles, holly garlands and bird boxes in the weeks before Christmas.

Open Fridays

Barely bigger than a village but with all the personality of a market town, Hay-on-Wye Market is a pleasant place to shop on any day of the week. There’s even more on offer on Thursday mornings, when local traders sell organic food and drink, antiques, ethnic clothing and gifts from their stalls in the Memorial Square, Butter Market and around the Town Clock.

Open Thursdays

Under the gaze of the Victorian clock tower, the weekly Machynlleth Market on Maengwyn Street has a friendly, community feel. There are stalls selling pet food and vacuum cleaner spares alongside others loaded with books, beads, organic fruit, speciality cheeses and cottage garden plants.

Open Wednesdays

Mold is a lively North Wales Borderlands town with a quirky jumble of Georgian, Victorian and black-and-white half-timbered buildings. On market days Mold Market takes place on the High Street. The street is partly closed to traffic and stalls there offer cut-price clothing, plants, fruit, cakes and freshly baked pies take over.

Open Wednesday and Saturday. There’s also a thriving indoor market open Monday to Saturday with a wide variety of stalls.

Pwllheli Market has run weekly on Y Maes (The Field) in Pwllheli since the 14th century. Today it’s an unpretentious general market, full of the flavour of everyday life. Its stalls sell cheap kids’ toys and Welsh dragon bedspreads as well as foodstuffs and basics like batteries and light bulbs.

Open Wednesdays

The Swansea market on Oxford Street, Swansea, the biggest and most famous in Wales, is fantastic for unusual local treats such as laverbread, samphire and cockles. Many of its stalls have been in business for generations. They include Phillips, which sells top quality Gower lamb, and Coakley-Green the fishmonger, with stunning displays of fish cooled by ice sculptures.

Open Monday to Saturday

Llandeilo Country Market is open every Friday throughout the year (except the two Fridays after Christmas) The market is just a short walk from the railway station and features local, fresh and sustainable produce including cut flowers, vegetables and plants as well as home baked cakes, savouries and preserves.

Llangefni Market takes place on Thursdays and Saturdays in the Town Hall Car Park and offers a range of produce including food, household goods and clothing.

Cardigan Guildhall Market takes Monday to Saturdays. It’s housed over two floors in this historic market building in the centre of Cardigan. The market features a range of goods including fresh produce, flowers, local crafts, clothing plus a café that uses locally produced ingredients.

Riverside Market takes place every Sunday close to the Principality Stadium in our capital city’s centre. The market is a showcase for some of the best food producers in Wales as well as a key part of the Riverside community.