Santo Domingo Tourist Trap Tips by Belsaita Top 5 Page for this destination

El Mercado Modelo

Even described in most tourist guides, as a "must do", we found this place really disappointing. An old market, once probably a nice place, converted to a huge tourist trap!!! It was Thursday morning, and it was nearly empty of customers. The worst of it was the salesmen/women following us all the time insisting in the "quality and good prices" of its products, most of them just the same items you can find (cheaper) in many other shops, and some of them objects of bad quality and more than "dubious" taste.

Unique Suggestions: Well, you can do some shopping, there are some nice items, but better compare prices first and ignore the most insistent vendors.

Fun Alternatives: We could not resist more than 15 minutes inside the market, just to see all the shops were more or les the same, and feeling really hassled by the vendors. Once in the streets, we found the real life out there far more interesting. A few more souvenirs shops... and round the corner, the "real" stores and street vendors were locals shop. No more harassment, no people insisting you to buy. Of course, I have writen more tips about these street vendors you can see in the "shopping" tips section.