Managua Shopping Summary

With three sprawling outdoor markets and just as many commercial malls, Nicaragua’s capital city hardly lacks for shopping opportunities. Take a walk through one of the sprawling markets and you could come away with a nifty souvenir, or find that your purse and pockets have been turned inside out by pickpockets. All three malls have cinemas and enough brand shoe and clothing stores to cure any shopping withdrawal symptoms.

Mercado Roberto Huembes is a major bus terminal for all destinations to the south of the country (Masaya, Granada and Rivas, among others) and is also known as one of the best places to shop for arts and crafts, if you can find your way through the market’s dirty lanes and chaotic stalls to right corner, that is. Huembes vendors sell everything from balls of twine to racks of pork ribs; crafts from across Nicaragua pour into the northwest corner. Huembes is not as dangerous as the Mercado Oriental, but there are still those who would gladly relieve of you valuables, so you’d do well to leave them in your hotel room.

As the largest, busiest and most dangerous open market in Nicaragua, Mercado Oriental is not the place to wander without a local guide. If you plan to enter this labyrinth of stalls, leave your valuables behind, tuck your money in your shoes and be aware that anyone bumping by you may be trying to rob you. A safer way to catch a glimpse of the market is by way of the buses between Centro Commercial to Plaza Intur, which pass through Oriental’s furniture corner, where armoires and child-sized chairs are piled on top of bed frames.

Plaza Inter mall has clothing stores, ATMs a movie theater and a food court with all the fast food classics: Subway, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, American Donuts, Pollo Estrella and Tiptop, among others. The food court is also where Plaza Inter hosts a range of evening events, from karaoke and dice games to Chinese writing classes.

MetroCentro may have been knocked off the top shopping spot by Galleria, but the often referenced city landmark is still a buzzing commercial center. MetroCentro, a short distance from the UCA bus stop, has an airy atrium, more than 50 shops, a small food court and Cinemark theater. There are no shortages of places to buy department store clothing or get a cheap haircut at MetroCentro, but if you’re looking for higher end items or local crafts, there are better places to shop.

With the prow of a cruise liner and the interior of an airplane hanger, Centro Comercial Galerias Santo Domingo (505-2-276-5080, Fax: 505-276-5086, www.galerias.com.ni) has become Managua’s premier place to see and be seen (preferably with shopping bags, of course). The city’s newest mall is filled with top brands, art galleries and a Cinemark. Leather couches, fountains and a flock of paper birds fill the mall’s voluminous interior while, along the cobbled lanes of the food court, 14 of the city’s finest restaurants serving everything from sushi and tapas to buffalo wings. Galereias Santo Domingo also hosts events such as runway shows and demonstrations most weekends.

Managua has a range of small galleries and boutique shops. Mama Delfina, on Camino a las Nubes (just north of Ave. Jerusalem), has one of the loveliest selections of higher end Nicaraguan arts and antiques (505-2-267-8288, titulacayo@hotmail.com; open Monday to Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.).