The Best Markets On Earth

Flowers are deeply rooted in India's cultural and religious traditions, but nowhere else are they as important a trade as in Mysore, in Karnataka state. The region boasts fertile soil that produces more than 75% of all flowers sold in the country. For 120 years, the Devaraja flower market has immersed more than 20,000 daily visitors in a sea of vibrant colors and intoxicating scents.

The city of Mandalay, Myanmar, is known as the "city of jewels." And for good reason! This is where you'll find the world's largest jade market, where some 100,000 vendors, buyers, brokers, cutters and jewelers congregate every day to make and trade the coveted precious stone. The market contains 1,100 shops offering raw and polished stones, jewelry, statuettes, figurines, and medallions.

The pagne, also known as the wrapper or lappa, is an iconic African garment. Traditionally worn in West Africa, it comes in countless colorful patterns, and each country has its own version. One of the continent's biggest pagne markets, the Dantokpa market, is located in Cotonou, Benin. Every day, the vast 15-hectare market welcomes one million visitors!

Tea is both accessible to all and highly sophisticated. It is everywhere in Chinese culture, and people respect and revere it as they would an emperor. The enormous Maliandao tea market embodies the rich tradition, with 6,000 shops covering more than a kilometer. Tea merchants and vendors of supplies like teapots, utensils and boxes share this great commercial hub.

The gleaming black of ebony wood reflects all Tanzanian culture. The Mwenge woodcarvers' market is located in downtown Dar es Salaam, on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Ebony carvings, masks, and boxes share crowded shelves under the stalls' corrugated roofs. Despite slowing business and the gradual disappearance of raw materials, ebony carving continues, deeply rooted in Tanzanian tradition.

Before the arrival of the Incas and later the Spanish, the indigenous people of Ecuador were making beautiful textile crafts. Every day, in the city of Otavalo's Ponchos Square, 1,500 merchants set up their temporary stands, adorning them with garments, hats, hammocks, blankets, slippers and silk dolls, to the delight of the market's 500,000 annual visitors.