Market Shopping in North Cyprus

I don’t know about you but I love a bit of market shopping! Just browsing stallholders’ wares or bargain hunting, haggling and finding unique items not for sale in any of your high street chains can be a lot of fun. If I’m on holiday and there’s a market I’m straight there! The good news for visitors and residents in TRNC is that there’s a whole host of opportunities for market shopping in North Cyprus.

Lapta, Guzelyurt, Karaoglanoglu, Lefkosia, Karsiyaka, Alsancak and Girne all have markets that take place weekly in the majority of cases, and which offer the buyer or the browser plenty of stalls to peruse.

I was inspired to write this article after the Cyprus Todaynewspaper just published a piece about the brand new market in Lapta. It’s a great addition for the area and takes place on a Monday, a day without another market opportunity in North Cyprus currently. There are currently well over 60 stalls on the market site which is close to the nursery school in Lapta, and it runs all day from 7.30am to around about 6 in the evening – or when stallholders have sold out of stock!

You can literally buy anything at Lapta’s market – from shoes and clothes to toys, bric a brac and excellent locally produced fruit, vegetables, breads and cheeses.

Girne’s weekly market is probably the most well known though – it takes place on a Wednesday and if you want the best produce you get there early but if you want bargains, wait until after lunch but be prepared to fight to be heard over the restaurateurs early in the day or the matriarchs who come late to get their hands on the bargains. Girne market is near the main police station and watch out for the bread man who operates from the back of his white van half way along the market drag – he sells the best village bread in North Cyprus!

Many of the same stallholders who attend Girne market on a Wednesday are at Guzelyurt on a Saturday and my reliable sources tell me that Guzelyurt market is about 20% cheaper than Girne’s as the stallholders have to price for their market, and as the majority of those who attend the Saturday gathering are not expats or business persons but agricultural and rural people who make their living mainly from the land, so prices have to be targeted appropriately. I haven’t noticed the price differences myself as I’m a light shopper but my sources are sound!! So, if you live west of Kyrenia it makes sense to travel the pretty coastal road and bargain hunt in Guzelyurt on a Saturday morning.

Guzelyurt is also well known as a cheaper place to source furniture, materials for curtains and soft furnishings, household wares and also ironmongery and carpentry items…but you’ll need to brush up on your Turkish if you intend bartering and bargaining!

Also on a Saturday is the expat market and boot fair at Tolga’s on the main road in Karsiyaka – here you can buy anything from second-hand English books to home made pies and pasties. Parking gets a bit competitive though so arrive early, the market begins at about 10am and runs until around about 4pm in the afternoon, although if all the produce is sold, market holders do pack up and leave – sometimes by lunchtime if trade is brisk!

There are two other expat markets or craft markets – both on a Friday…one is at The Carpenters restaurant in Alsancak near Tempo and Fatisa supermarkets and one is at the well known British Residents’ Society haunt at Pegasus in Karaoglanoglu – at the latter you can also find runners and helpers to assist you with getting anything from your residency to your car tax sorted out and at the former you will find some lovely arts and crafts.

Finally there is a daily market in Lefkosia (Nicosia) – with it spread out all around the main mosque. There’s the indoor market where you can mainly get fresh produce, the outdoor market where you can buy all sorts of clothes and material and now you also have the old market in the beautifully renovated Buyuk Han building where talented local artists sell their work and where you can also purchase souvenirs of North Cyprus.

Shopping in North Cyprus has never been so much fun! Seriously – if you want exceptional quality fruit, veg and fresh produce, you want well priced clothing and shoes or you’re after a unique item such as a kilim or a piece of furniture then explore the markets of Northern Cyprus and see what bargains and treasures you can unearth.