5 Best Markets in Daegu

One of the oldest traditional markets in South Korea, Soemun Market was one of the country’s 3 major markets during the Joseon Dynasty. It contains 6 zones with more than 4,000 shops selling handicrafts, clothes, silk goods and dried seafood. Daegu is widely known for its high-quality fabrics and textiles, and this is considered the best place to find them. 

This market is always crowded, especially in the evening when it transforms into a night market with food vendors frying up street foods like spicy tteokbokki rice cakes. 

Gyodong Market is a small market in Daegu’s downtown with a highly particular set of offerings. You’ll find mainly 3 types of shops: jewellery shops, import stores and military supply stores. There are also several secondhand shops, including electronics stores that sell vintage audio equipment. 

Find yourself a sturdy pair of cargo trousers or trade in your old gold chain for a shiny new treasure. When you get hungry, snack on nabjak mandu, jumbo-sized flat dumplings filled with glass noodles and fried until crispy.

Old-fashioned Bongdeok Market is a network of zigzagging, crowded alleyways where the residents of Daegu sell a little bit of everything at bargain prices. Shoes, crockery, specialist sesame oils, second-hand furniture: you name it, you’re liable to find it. There are a lot of vegetables, tofu and fresh-cut meat for sale too. 

It’s about a 50/50 ratio of shops to restaurants here, with largely snacks and street foods on the menu. Locals sit shoulder to shoulder eating steaming bowls of kalguksu, a noodle soup with a hearty anchovy broth. 

Chileseong Market consists of 7 smaller open-air markets within Daegu’s Taepyeong-ro area. This shopping area dates back to the Japanese occupation period and has since been a popular trading place for farmers and fishermen.  

This is a great place to purchase fish and produce, and the market is especially known for its quality and variety of apples. Cookware, home appliances and furniture are also for sale. Visit in the early morning for the freshest foodstuffs or come by in the evening for low-priced seafood at the small night market. 

Yangnyeongsi Market, also known as the Daegu Herbal Medicine Market, has been around since 1658. The first of its kind in South Korea, the market is home to more than 100 stores, clinics and medicine brewing shops and continues to supply herbal medicine throughout the country. 

Locals and out-of-towners come here for quality herbs like ginseng, goji, ginkgo and mushrooms. Shops also sell tools to collect and store your herbs and old books on herbal medicine. Every May the market runs a popular Medicine Festival which hosts exhibitions on medicinal herbs, herb-cutting competitions and folk music performances.