Mercado Central

Fortaleza


Mainly geared to a tourist clientele, the three-story central market has good prices at more than 500 stalls that sell everything from leather bags and colorful palm baskets to excellent local cashews and a huge variety of cachaça – some bottles have fruit salad or crabs pickled inside. You might find a desirable curio. There's an ATM on the top floor.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Fortaleza attractions

1. Igreja da Sé

0.1 MILES

Fortaleza's neo-Gothic Catholic cathedral is the city's most important church.

2. Museu de Arte Contemporânea

0.26 MILES

This contemporary art museum is one of two museums that make up Fortaleza's excellent Centro Cultural Dragão do Mar and is well worth a wander.

3. Centro Dragão do Mar de Arte e Cultura

0.27 MILES

This excellent, extensive complex includes cinemas, performance spaces, a good cafe, a planetarium and two good museums: the Museu de Arte Contemporânea…

4. Memorial da Cultura Cearense

0.3 MILES

Part of Fortaleza's excellent Centro Cultural Dragão do Mar, this museum hosts exhibits on Ceará's traditional way of life and culture. Temporary…

5. Centro de Turismo

0.33 MILES

The Centro de Turismo, a converted 19th-century jail, houses a lot of craft stalls and a tourist information office. Upstairs, the Museu de Arte e Cultura…

6. Praia do Meireles

1.81 MILES

This central beach has an attractive waterfront promenade with homey beer barracas (stalls) on the sand side and smart air-conditioned restaurants and…

7. Praia do Futuro

5.13 MILES

A clean length of soft sand stretching 5km along Fortaleza’s east-facing coast, this is easily the best city beach, though it's far from most…

8. Cumbuco

16.91 MILES

Cumbuco, 35km from Fortaleza, has a long wide beach with soft sand, an expanse of dunes and a few lagoons that make it very popular for buggy rides and…