El Rastro fills the Ribera de Curtidores with around 1,200 pitches every Sunday from 9am to 3pm, and it is one entry on a list of 33. The other 32 run in residential streets on days that are not Sunday, which is why a Thursday morning here is not a wasted one.
A street market is licensed pitch trading on a named street with a fixed day and fixed hours, and each one is published individually by the city. Most of them, 23 of the 33, run from 9am to 2pm, and according to Madrid City Council only 16 of the 21 districts have one at all. Entry is free and nothing is booked, so the only cost is the €1.50 metro ride out.
How many street markets does Madrid have? Thirty-three on the public street, spread across 16 of the 21 districts. Seven run each Thursday, seven each Saturday and seven each Sunday, and 23 of them open 9am to 2pm. El Rastro is one of the 5 in the Centro district and closes at 3pm.
Is El Rastro the same as the other 32
Two different products share one word, and the difference decides whether the trip is worth it.
El Rastro is the flea market: around 1,200 pitches across a score of streets, antiques and second-hand goods, running Sundays and public holidays from 9am to 3pm, with its own geography set out in when El Rastro opens and where.
The other 32 are neighbourhood markets. They sell clothing, household goods and produce, they occupy one street rather than a district, and they wrap up at 2pm. Nobody travels across the city for them, which is exactly why they are pleasant to walk through.
Two of the Centro ones are not weekly at all. A Christmas tree and greenery market runs from 24 November to 25 December, and a traditional Christmas market from 1 to 25 December, so in that month the Centro count of five means something different from the rest of the year.
What time they open, and the four that differ
Uniformity is the useful part here: 23 of the 33 open 9am to 2pm with no variation at all.
Four break the pattern:
- Rafael Finat in Latina, 8.30am to 3pm, the longest day of the 33.
- Villablanca in Vicálvaro, from 8am, the earliest start.
- Ronda del Sur in Puente de Vallecas, Sundays to 3pm.
- El Rastro, Sundays and public holidays to 3pm.
One more sits outside the frame. The neighbourhood markets on Calle Príncipe Carlos in Hortaleza run Sundays 9am to 4pm and only from February to December.
That El Rastro also covers public holidays matters more than it sounds, because Madrid’s working calendar carries 14 of them and they do not all land on a weekend.
Which day to go
Thursday ties with Saturday and Sunday at seven markets each, which is the opposite of what a weekend-shaped itinerary assumes.
Which means a midweek arrival loses nothing. Tuesday has five and Thursday seven, and none of those seven carries the Sunday crush.
Wednesday is the one genuinely thin day, with a single market, Santa Ana, in Fuencarral-El Pardo.
| Day | Markets | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday | 1 market | Santa Ana |
| Friday | 2 markets | El Pardo, Calle Gandhi |
| Monday | 4 markets | Camino de las Cruces, Calle Gorrión, Calle Aragoneses |
| Tuesday | 5 markets | San Fermín, Alcorisa, Sierra Gorda |
| Sunday | 7 markets | El Rastro, UVA de Hortaleza, Ronda del Sur, Colonia Marconi |
| Saturday | 7 markets | Orcasur, Rafael Finat, Villaverde Alto, Calle Ayerbe |
| Thursday | 7 markets | Vía Lusitana, San Restituto, Fontarrón, Santa Genoveva |
Which districts have no street market
Only 16 of the 21 districts appear in the register with a market of any kind.
The five without one, per Madrid City Council, are Arganzuela, Retiro, Chamartín, Chamberí and Moratalaz, and four of those press right up against the centre. The street market map runs almost opposite to the tourist map.
The Centro district leads on 5, two of them the December markets above. Villaverde follows on 4, then Hortaleza, Carabanchel and Puente de Vallecas on 3 each. Carabanchel holds Camino de las Cruces, Vía Lusitana and Calle Gorrión; Usera has San Fermín and Orcasur; Tetuán has one, on Avenida de Asturias, open Sundays and public holidays.
Salamanca has a single entry, on Avenida de Felipe II, and the register records its frequency as annual rather than weekly.
One entry of the 33, the Christmas market on Bulevar de Peña Gorbea, carries no district in the source. It is left without one here rather than filled in by inference.
Street market or market hall, which one you want
The two get mixed up constantly, starting with the English word market doing both jobs.
A street market is trading on the road with a fixed day and no building. A market hall is a covered produce building with permanent stalls, a general opening time and a separate kitchen schedule per stall, as set out in Madrid’s municipal market halls.
The practical difference shows on Sunday. A Sunday street market opens because its licence names that day; a shop opening on Sunday depends on a different rule entirely, covered in which shops open on Sunday.
There is a pavement consequence too. Toilets at a street market are portable and get removed afterwards, so they are not part of the 130 fixed cabins that cost €0.10 and never close.
Getting there
Nearly all of them sit outside the centre, so this is a transport decision before it is a shopping one.
The whole municipality is fare zone A, so the ticket costs the same to Villaverde as to Sol. A metro single runs €1.50 to €2.00 by station count and a ten-journey ticket €7.30, compared in which transport ticket suits. Allow around 30 minutes on the metro to reach the outer ones and a window of about 5 hours for the whole outing.
The Centro ones fall inside the district’s six official neighbourhoods, which are not the names people actually use. El Rastro is licensed in Embajadores, not in La Latina.
Lunch in Madrid does not start before about 2pm, which is exactly when most of these markets pack up, so a morning market and a late lunch fit together without rushing either. The tap water in any bar you stop at is free by law and safe to drink.
Thirty-three markets, twenty-three on identical hours, five districts with none.
Frequently asked questions about Madrid street markets
Is El Rastro the only street market in Madrid?
No. The municipal register lists 33 street markets and El Rastro is one of them, the busiest and the only one running on Sundays and public holidays from 9am to 3pm. The other 32 are neighbourhood markets.
What day has the most street markets in Madrid?
Thursday, Saturday and Sunday tie on seven each, so a weekday is as well served as a weekend. Tuesday follows with five and Monday with four, while Wednesday has a single one.
What time do Madrid street markets open?
Twenty-three of the 33 run from 9am to 2pm. The exceptions are Rafael Finat at 8.30am to 3pm, Villablanca from 8am, and Ronda del Sur and El Rastro, which both close at 3pm instead of 2pm.
Which Madrid districts have no street market?
Five of the 21 have none at all, namely Arganzuela, Retiro, Chamartín, Chamberí and Moratalaz. Four of those sit right beside the centre, so the street market map runs almost opposite to the tourist map.