How to Visit Australian Markets

Most guides to a market tell you what to buy. This one is about not wasting the trip. The single most common way an Australian market visit goes wrong is turning up to a closed car park, because the market runs on the second Sunday and you came on the third.

So before anything else: check the trading pattern on the listing, arrive earlier than feels reasonable, and bring a bag and a bit of cash. That covers most of it. The rest is detail.

Why is the market closed when the listing says it exists?

Because most Australian community markets are monthly, not weekly. A market that trades "first Saturday" or "fourth Sunday" is dark for the other three or four weekends of the month, and the listing will say which one. City produce markets like Queen Victoria Market or Adelaide Central Market run several days a week. The monthly pattern is the one that catches people, and it is worth a ten second look before you drive anywhere.

Seasonal closures are the other trap. Darwin's markets, including Mindil Beach Sunset Market, run from about April to October and shut for the wet season. Twilight and evening markets across the southern states tend to be a summer thing and close over winter. Every listing notes the season where we have confirmed it.

If your dates are already fixed, work the other way. Markets on today and markets this weekend take the monthly maths and the seasons into account and just show you what is trading.

How early is early?

Earlier the further north you go. Brisbane and Cairns markets are a pre-breakfast activity. Rusty's Markets in Cairns opens at 5am and the serious shoppers are there for it. In Brisbane, a farmers market at 7am is already busy and the good stone fruit is gone by nine.

Melbourne and Sydney are gentler. Eight or half past is fine for a Saturday farmers market, though the best bread and the cut flowers do sell out. Perth sits in between.

The exception is the browse-and-buy-a-coffee market. Flea, vintage and craft markets like Rozelle Collectors Markets run into the early afternoon, and there is no reward for being first through the gate.

Cash or card?

Card works almost everywhere now. The holdouts are the smallest stalls, a grower with a table of eggs and one box of lemons, and they tend to be cash only because the fees eat a two dollar sale. Market ATMs are scarce and charge for the privilege. Carry twenty or thirty dollars in small notes and use the card for everything else. Nobody at a farmers market enjoys breaking a fifty at 7:30am.

What to actually bring

• A sturdy bag, or two. The tote you forgot in the car does not count.

• Small notes, as above.

• A cooler bag if it is summer and you are buying meat, cheese or fish. Queensland and the Territory in particular.

• Sun cover. Most markets are outdoors and shade is thin.

• Your own coffee cup if you care about that. A lot of markets now charge extra for a disposable one or do not offer it.

Leave the giant pram at home if you can. The aisles at a popular market get tight, and Salamanca Market on a Saturday is a slow shuffle by mid-morning.

Which market do you actually want?

They are not interchangeable. A weekly fruit and vegetable shop, a Friday night out for dinner, and a Sunday spent going through other people's old records are three different outings, and they happen at three different kinds of market. The types of markets in Australia guide breaks down the six categories and what each is good for. If you already know, the directory lets you browse by type.

A few unwritten rules

Do not haggle at a farmers market. The person behind the table grew the thing, set a fair price, and will be there again next week. At a flea or vintage market, haggling is the whole point, and a reasonable offer in the last hour usually works.

Ask before you photograph a stallholder or their setup. Most say yes. Being asked is the courtesy.

Bring the dog to outdoor markets on a lead, but check first if the market has an indoor food hall or a fresh produce section, because those are often off limits under food handling rules.

Getting there and parking

Assume parking is a problem and plan around it. The well known markets fill their car parks early and the streets around them soon after. Eumundi on a Saturday is a genuine parking event. Public transport is usually the better call for anything in a capital city: Carriageworks Farmers Market is next to Redfern station, South Melbourne Market is on the light rail, and most inner city markets are close to something.

Using the directory

Four ways in, depending on what you know:

• If you know roughly where you are, start from the state pages under the directory and work down to a suburb.

• If you know what kind of market you want, browse by type.

• If you just want to know what is open, markets on today and markets this weekend.

• If you know the name or the suburb, the search box takes either.

Every individual listing shows the trading days, the hours, the market type and, where we have it, parking notes and what to expect. Read that one page before you go and you have done the homework.