Mercado Libertad - San Juan de Dios — Attraction in Jalisco

A grand large scale indoor shopping place. Think of a miniature NY Chinatown on steroids with Jehovah Witness sales pressures, an in-your-face sales approach offering their goods.

This place is a massive, multi-tiered labyrinth. Lots of crammed nooks with sellers peddling their goods. The most for sale items on the first floor are souvenir goods (all sorts of wallets stamped 'Guadalajara', ceramics, souvenir mini tequila sets, tequila related stuff, keychains, figurines, etc). You will find some clothing items like shirts and belts. Oh, you will find lots of hats and sombreros. There are some unique items, like a Mariachi outfit, but they are costly.

In short, lots of 'knick knacks'. It might be worthy to mention that there are a couple of services, for example a watch repair place and a place to exchange money.

This is a sellers market, thus prices are highly negotiable. In fact, if they give you a price, it's often jacked because its expected you'll haggle them down.

There are clothing items, shoes, and some electronics on the second floor and above, but I did not find them of practical use (for me). It feels that the clothing you see are 4-10 styles behind and stuff left behind by bigger markets. For example, lots of shirts in not-so popular colors with loud logos, like "Adidas" or other dying brands/older styles. Oh, there are counterfeit clothing items too.

Somewhere on the labyrinth loop on the 2nd-3rd floor you'll find lots counterfeit items like movies and music, just like you'd encounter in Chinatown NY. Stacks of counterfeit films burned on DVDs and enclosed in caseless cellophane wrap are on the floors and walls in certain nooks.

There's one nook that had Coach purses, but again, counterfeit. Outside of that stuff, there are some odds and ends to be found. There's a spot with backpacks, a place that random stuff like tools and household goods, and a nook where an old woman sold bags of herbs. No, none "magical," I already asked.

At the opposite end, the multiple exits take you to a tiny outdoor circle where you can find all sorts of fruits, drinks, vegetables, and nuts. Here, there are lots of colorful live birds with portable cages for sale. More labyrinth shops are on the opposite side of circle.

Food is abundant and there is an entire floor (the top floor) dedicated to food. The 'food court' may appear odd to foreigners. Each food spot is unique in their appearances. Pots and pans are hanging in plain sight and condiments are strewn about on mixed-match tables. It may give an appearance of unsanitary conditions in some spots, but this is the way in such locations. Be sure you know what you're ordering so you won't have "issues." Example, "Menudo" is a stew of intestines. If you ever wanted to be an Anthony Bourdain, this is your shot. Pull up a chair and ask for a bowl of Menudo and some Tacos de Lengua (tacos with meat from a cow's tongue).

A lot of stuff here will be considered 'junk' and impractical for foreigners. The only thing that was useful for me was a bunch of carved-tequila souvenirs, a small wood chess set, and some ceramics. Visit this place for the experience of immersing yourself in another...

We went here from seeing countless YouTube videos and from hearing that this was the biggest mercado in GDL.

Well, bigger doesn't always mean better. Mercado San Juan de Dios has really gone downhill due to tourism, and lack of maintaining the market as a whole.

Nothing but majority of knock off items, lots of Mexican items(boots, sandals, western wear, and cheesy souvenirs) Pushy salesman types don't allow you to browse comfortably.

Food wise? Let me put it to you this way-our uber driver said "you're gonna have to have a strong stomach and liver for this food" big red flag!

The only thing I bought is a fresh Guanabana(Soursop) for 54 pesos, about $3 USD because it was ripe, and second of all, you hardly can find this cancer fighting superfood back in the states and when you do, you're paying a super inflated price. Big pharma, FDA, and our government want to keep us sick, remember???

Anyway, my suggestion to you if you want to visit a local Mercado is scratch this one off your list and go to MERCADO DE SANTA TERE....

When I am in Guadalajara I always visit mercado libertad - San Juan de dios. It is an intricate maze of shops and restaurants. You can go from one place to another trying to buy the same item. The pricing varies depending on how dumb or desperate you look to the sellers. I was buying a travel bug and the price varied from $250 pesos to $400 pesos within 50 feet of shops. They were the same bag and I wondered why the pricing changed so much. To visiting tourists like me the pricing gets higher as they see us coming. I ended up buying the bag from a woman who gave me directions to other places where the merchandise was much cheaper. She told me that people were going to charge me a lot because I am a tourist. So I bought the bag from her for $280 pesos. Even though sellers see me coming I always barter for a lesser price hoping to get a nice value. Overall I recommend a visit to mercado libertad if nothing else for...