Otavalo market: the perfect day trip in Ecuador. At the Otavalo market close to Quito you can buy beautiful textiles, ‘alpaca’ sweaters, ponchos, shirts and jewellery for good prices

The Otavalo market at Plaza de Ponchos: the perfect day trip in Ecuador at a Saturday. At the Otavalo market close to Quito you can buy beautiful textiles, ‘alpaca’ sweaters, ponchos, shirts and jewellery for good prices. The biggest market day is at Saturday. The weather in Otavalo is quite nice at this elevation, at the equator at this altitude the sun can be intense and also be prepared for a bit of rain. The Otavalo market at and around Plaza de Ponchos is very colourful and the perfect spot for souvenir and jewellery bargaining. Really no need to book an arranged market tour! Explore the Otavalo market yourself. And also explore the two other markets in Otavalo

Read more about:

• what to do and what to eat in Quito
• the different areas of Quito

Saturday market Otavalo at Plaza de Ponchos

In my other blog you can read all about how to get to Otavalo from Quito by bus. Everything, including the Plaza de Ponchos market, is at walking distance in Otavalo. For the big Saturday market set foot to Plaza de Ponchos. The market is very big but this will be a good orientation point when you just arrived at the bus station. Make sure you have downloaded some offline maps at Google Maps or maps.me so you won’t get lost.

Timeline

I will tell you about our timeline of the Saturday we went to the Otavalo market, in retrospect 😊 So you can get a bit of a feel with regard to the travel time and the shopping time.

• 7:30 trolebus C5 from Estadio
• 8:04 bought tickets ticketbooth at Carcelén bus terminal
• 8:06 found our bus and hopped on
• 8:15 departed from Carcelén bus terminal
• 10:15 arrived at Otavalo bus terminal & walked to the market
• 10:30 shopping!!
• 13:00 lunch at the market ($1!)
• 14:00 animal market -> no animal market 😉 (only in the morning)
• 14:05 Mercado Municipal 24 de Mayo – clean and well-maintained indoor market in Otavalo – fruit shakes & more shopping!
• 14:45 back at Otavalo bus station and hopped on a bus directly
• 15:00 departed from Otavalo
• 16:45 back at Carcelén bus terminal in Quito
• 17:00 trolebus C5 to Estadio
• 17:30 back in our hotel

The total one-way travel time from market to hotel is around 2,5 hours. That’s not bad for a market that’s 115 kilometres away. The trolebus is well structured and the long-distance bus was very comfortable. You also have great views out of the long-distance bus, it’s not boring at all. And if you are able to, you can always sleep on the way back 😊

Products and bargaining

The otavaleños sell all kinds of stuff like textiles, ‘alpaca’ sweaters, ponchos, shirts, jewellery, spices and so on. Guess that 50-60% has been just shipped from China, but well, these can still make great souvenirs 😊. Personally, I like the artisanal jewellery stands very much. You can really distinguish these stands from the rest, they sell beautiful handmade jewellery. At all the stands that sell products (not at the food stalls) you can bargain. Also, I would advise to shop around a bit first, before you buy anything. Some stands really ask too much for their products, and as there are so many stalls, likely you can get it cheaper somewhere else. In my experience you should at least pay no more then 2/3th of the ‘original’ price. But really, if you want to buy something, first ask and bargain around so you know what is a more reasonable price. Some stands really overprice and some give a far more modest price.

Don’t bargain at food stalls

I shortly stated above that you shouldn’t bargain at food stalls. This is something we learned during our travels. I don’t know if this is applicable everywhere, but we don’t do it anymore. We learned that in some country’s / by some people / in some cultures it is perceived disrespectful to bargain on food. And well, we had lunch for $1… So not much sense to bargain anyway. What you do get though (most of the time), with foods and drinks, is ‘yapa’. This means just some extra! Some extra food, some extra juice. You don’t bargain, but you can ask / or get some extra food or drink. Good deal.

As in every big city, you have to be cautious with regard to your stuff. Don’t take a lot of money with you at the streets. Leave your passport at the hotel. Preferably locked 🔐. Take extra care in public transport and at busy places.

👙 Girls, use your bra as a storage space.

👖 And men, always use your front pockets instead of your back pockets.

The new animal market in Otavalo

Close to Otavalo – more in Quinchiuqui – is an animal market, but only in the early morning from 6am till noon. If you want to visit the animal market, do it first thing in the morning when you arrive in Otavalo. The animal market has a new location in comparison to earlier years. In Google maps you can find it when you look for ‘New Animal Market’ and I also indicated it on the map I made for you. We didn’t walk here, we did walk to the wrong place 😉. The old location… So, I can’t judge the walkability. But it seems to be around 5 kilometres from Plaza de Ponchos so better to take a taxi there.

Mercado Municipal 24 de Mayo Otavalo

More markets in Otavalo! Mercado Municipal 24 de Mayo in Otavalo is a clean and well-maintained indoor market in Otavalo, the perfect place to drink a fruit shake and do some more shopping! I really loved this market, it’s so real, not touristy, and the people are so nice. It is easy walkable, Otavalo is not a big town.

The map with the important locations you need for you daytrip to Otavalo from Quito

Booking.com

Book a tour (45$) or go on your own (5$)…

Tip: try to get back on time, about max. 3pm, so you have enough leeway to get back before dark

I really would advise to go on your own to Otavalo – so don’t book a tour. It is so easy to take the bus, and Otavalo is really small so you can’t get lost. I couldn’t think of a reason to book a tour. We looked around for tours too, but the tours to Otavalo are about 45 US$ per person. That is – in my opinion – way too much. You get transport, a guide and food with it. But well, transport when you take the (comfortable) bus is only about 3$ per person, and food will be around 1$ or 2$. Only thing you don’t have is guide, but there is not that much to guide here. It’s a big market, and the people at the stalls are eager to tell you about their product. And we have maps.me right 😊 You definitely won’t get lost.

As in every big city, you have to be cautious with regard to your stuff. Don’t take a lot of money with you at the streets. Leave your passport at the hotel. Preferably locked 🔐. Take extra care in public transport and at busy places.

👙 Girls, use your bra as a storage space.

👖 And men, always use your front pockets instead of your back pockets.

Booking.com