Post from marbellista.com
Puerto Banus street market takes place on Saturdays mornings, i remember it in the 90´s as a place where antiques and art dealers sold their merchandise around the Bullring. Nowadays it is a street market, where every Saturday you can find a charger for your mobile phone, a leather belt, Persian and Moroccan rugs or a genuine Panama hat. Some paintings and few furniture, but it has lot of charm.
If you do not know the area, let me tell you several things:
First of all, Puerto Banus Street Market is NOT in Puerto Banus. It is located in Nueva Andalucia, opposite side of the highway, north side.
f you are driving, leave your car in Puerto Banus in the parking lot and believe me, you better go walking. Driving around “Plaza de Toros” on Saturdays it´s crazy, avoid it.
Wear your most comfortable shoes. Usually it gets hot, crowded and the road is uphill, (you should know it) so I recommend starting from the roundabout closest to Puerto Banus and walk towards the Bullring so the return will be downhill.
It has three different areas, the street that goes up, the parking lot and up and the shopping center area.
The stalls sell clothing, belts, bags, shoes, embroidered tablecloths, pottery from Granada, …
The parking area is a good mix of sunglasses, made in china gadgets, lamps and Moroccan dishes, rabbit fur coats, some bags made in Spain (unbelievable but true), beach baskets … customers from all over the world, some Spanish, very few Russians and lots of German, Dutch or French … This is Marbella!!
As you go up from Puerto Banus to the Shopping Center, the percentage of Spanish customers is declining. Reaching the Andalucia Plaza Shopping Center, you will be surrounded by tons of international residents in Marbella. Brits love to be there having a drink, they are big fans of Centro Plaza terraces, so, either buying or having a snack on a terrace you’ll find lots of “guiris”.
Andalucia Plaza Shopping Center is where the most exclusive stalls are.
All hallways and common areas of the shopping center are filled with stalls that sell Banus street market classic products: hand-painted shoes, napkin rings and rattan boxes, paintings, furniture, Liberty-print clothes and men swimwear, big foulards Basetti style, actually, very useful to cover a sofa , a bed or as a tablecloth.
Spaniards from north of Spain, Madrid, Bilbao and some one from Seville but you won´t find many Marbella locals in this market.
This is not the market where locals go to buy their vegetables, a special dish for the olives or even socks and underwear for their kids. If you want to see where Marbella local people buy, you have to go to “Barato” Street Market in Marbella on Mondays or Thursdays in San Pedro.