The centre of Valladolid is full of streets where you can sample tapas and enjoy a spot of shopping in both traditional shops and other, more modern stores. Another essential visit is to the Mercado del Val, with its food stalls, and to some of the weekly street markets with antiques and collectors’ items held in the Plaza de España, or to the Real de la Feria.
- Shopping centres in Valladolid, a buzzing city centre
- What to buy in Valladolid, whatever takes your fancy, plus wine
- Markets and traditional shops: the essence of the region’s cuisine on its stalls
- Shopping centres in Valladolid that have become places to socialise
Shopping centres in Valladolid, a buzzing city centre
Most of the shops are located in Calle de Santiago, which connects the Plaza Mayor [Main Square] with Calle de Zorrilla. This is the best-known shopping artery, and it can become very crowded with shoppers and people who just want to glance in the windows of the big fashion chains whose main stores are based there.
From there, visitors can also make their way into the Las Francesas shopping centre, housed in a convent that still retains its cloister and the former church, which is full of all kinds of small shops interspersed with cultural spaces.
If you’re looking for something more traditional, you could head towards Plaza Mayor and Calle de Pasión, which boasts a large number of traditional jewellers and haberdashery shops. There are also multi-brand stores and more alternative shops. It is the perfect place to enjoy something to eat and drink after a day’s shopping.
Valladolid’s so-called golden mile is made up of Calle María de Molina, Calle Zúñiga and Calle Doctrinos. Here you will find luxury shops and high-end brands, especially for evening and bridal wear.
In Plaza de España and Calle de la Mantería, however, you will find everyday businesses, shops selling accessories, and lots of shoe shops.
What to buy in Valladolid, whatever takes your fancy, plus wine
In Valladolid’s shops, you will find everything from nice accessories to home décor products. But the most popular item on everyone’s shopping list in this city is a few (or several) bottles of wine from the province’s five Designations of Origin.
To accompany the wine, you could also buy cheeses from Castile, tasty cold meats, and some of the area’s finest vegetables.
If stamps and coins are your thing, in Plaza de España you will find very interesting stalls selling these items, and you may come across little treasures and curios.
Markets and traditional shops: the essence of the region’s cuisine on its stalls
An essential visit for foodies is to a few of the city’s traditional markets to peruse the vegetables, meat and fruit that is delivered daily to their stalls, and to see what makes up the great dishes of Valladolid’s gastronomy.
The best place to enjoy this spectacle is the Mercado del Val, the city’s most emblematic market, which still retains its nineteenth-century iron structure, making it an architectural gem of the period.
There are also neighbourhood markets such as El Campillo, La Rondilla and Las Delicias, where the clientèle tends to be more local.
If you are looking for a shopping area with real architectural charm, you must walk along Pasaje Gutiérrez, which is more like a gallery filled with shops in the very heart of the city, but which has a unique ambience.
Among the open-air and street markets, one of the most important is the market held every Sunday morning and on public holidays under the canopy in Plaza de España. Here you will find incredible stalls selling stamps and coins, and enthusiasts and collectors can discover genuine treasures. This is a Valladolid classic.
Also on Sundays, but in the Real de la Feria, in the Parquesol district, a huge street market takes place with hundreds of stalls selling clothes and items for the home, and there is a specific area for antiques that is well worth a visit. This is a very popular spot on Sunday mornings, as you can find anything here, and if you don’t, you can still enjoy a good walk.
Shopping centres in Valladolid that have become places to socialise
The most important shopping centre is definitely RÍO Shopping, on the outskirts of Valladolid, where you can find lots of fashion and décor products, along with well-known chain restaurants. This place also has a great leisure offer, making it somewhere people come to socialise, particularly on days when the weather is bad.
The first big shopping centre to open in the city was Vallsur in Paseo de Zorrilla. It still has plenty of shops, and a restaurant area, as well as cinemas and a bowling alley which attracts large numbers of customers who want to do more than just shop.
Right in the city centre is Las Francesas, which occupies a former convent, and which has a number of shops as well as exhibition rooms and cultural events.
