If one ritual defines mornings in the south of Alicante, it’s the street market — the mercadillo. No need to wait for the weekend: almost any day one springs up a few minutes away, its open-air stalls piled with locally grown fruit, clothes, shoes, ceramics, spices, bags and plants. It’s one of those plans that really tastes of the place, and we suggest it to almost everyone staying at Villa Capitan. Here’s the guide; you’ll find more ideas on our page about what to see and do nearby.
The markets by day
The dates can shift with the time of year, so it’s worth confirming them before you get in the car. As a rule of thumb, this is the recurring calendar:
- Saturday mornings. The Torrevieja market, at the Recinto Ferial fairground, is the giant of the district, with hundreds of stalls and a huge buzz. The Cabo Roig one is the other side of the coin: small, clustered by the car park and among the best for fruit and beachwear. And if the inland pull is strong, San Miguel de Salinas still smells of a village market.
- Sunday mornings. Villamartín Plaza is Villa Capitan’s neighbour, right in the commercial square and with its own distinctive mix of local and international stalls. A little further inland, Algorfa keeps a market of the lifelong kind.
Opening hours are much the same everywhere: they open very early, around 8:30–9:00, and from 13:30–14:00 they’re already packing up.
What to take home
The larder of these markets is half the reason to go. What’s rarely missing:
- Fruit and vegetables from the Valencian market gardens — tomatoes, oranges, pomegranates, artichokes — with a flavour the supermarket can’t reach.
- Olives and olive oil from the Vega Baja, loose and at local prices.
- Ceramics and earthenware from the inland villages, the useful souvenir par excellence.
- Beachwear, linen and handmade bags, with room to haggle if you take a few pieces.
- Cheeses and cured meats at the refrigerated-van stalls.
Tricks for getting the most out of them
A handful of details mark the difference between a good market run and a so-so one:
- Get up early. The best produce flies, and from 12:30 many stalls start folding away.
- Cash in small notes. Some take cards, but don’t count on it.
- A cloth bag or basket beats a fistful of little plastic bags.
- In summer, a hat and a water bottle: there’s no shade to speak of here.
- Haggling goes down well, politely, on clothes and crafts; on food, best leave it.
- Round off the Sunday morning in Villamartín with breakfast or an aperitif on one of the square’s terraces.
Villa Capitan: the Sunday market on foot
Here Villa Capitan starts with the upper hand. Sitting in the Fortuna I urbanisation in Villamartín, the Sunday market at Villamartín Plaza is a short stroll away: no car, no hunting for parking. You come back with a full basket and still have time to spare for a dip in the private pool, a spell in the sauna — the villa has two — or to cook with what you’ve just bought. With three en-suite bedrooms, room for up to six people and its own parking space, it fits just as well with the district’s other markets, all a few minutes away by car.
You book directly with the owner, with no platform commission, a seven-night minimum, check-in from 15:00 and check-out by 11:00. And if you’d like us to tell you which market falls best for your arrival day, write to us: we’ll fit it in with the rest of the week’s plans.
