Best Tourist Markets in Peru

One cannot leave Peru without a super suave (soft) alpaca sweater. There are many places to buy sweaters and other souvenirs, but some markets have better deals, more variety or better quality than others. In this post see our favorite markets.

Tequile Island

Located in the middle of Lake Titicaca, Tequile Island is home to a population of people who are experts in the arts of weaving, knitting and crafting. While this island does cater to tourism, the goods made by the people on Tequile Island are probably some of the best quality we found in Peru because everything was handmade. Items we found here consisted mostly of scarfs, hats and mittens. Having something someone made themselves versus a machine, made the goods at this market much more meaningful. Because goods like this are an important part to the income for the people of Tequile Island, we did not do as much negotiation as we did in other markets.

Lima

The Inca Markets are unbelievable in size. Scattered around a few blocks, almost any souvenir can be found somewhere here. Prices varied from market to market, some markets offered better quality items and others more affordable. Don't forget, bargaining is essential and some shops have multiple market booths. The Inca markets are a great place to do some last minute shopping before flying out of Lima.

Cusco

The markets in Cusco are a little more expensive than some other markets we went to, however, there was great variety for the smaller markets. Vendors also seemed to enjoy the bargaining with customers, which made bringing the price down, easier to do. The market offered a variety of goods and a food market to buy snacks, local foods and fresh fruits. The combination of goods and food made this market memorable.

Huarez

A small market located off the plaza has cheaper sweaters for the colder, mountainous climate. Having a sweater for the hiking outside of Huarez is definitely recommended. There are many beautiful scenic lakes to take pictures by and a cheaper sweater is fine to get a little dirty. We found the Huarez market did not have as much variety compared to some markets, but the sweaters were some of the cheaper ones we found in Peru.