La Paz trades at 3,640m: aguayo cloth sold by the metre in Max Paredes, baby-alpaca knitwear off Sagárnaga, vicuña couture in San Miguel and mega-ferias in El Alto. Three days of markets, artisan cooperatives and boutiques, all priced in bolivianos.
Street market climbing Calle Rodríguez, busiest Saturday from 06:00 and running daily until about 18:00. Cholitas in bowler hats sell chuño, dozens of quinoa and potato varieties and Andean herbs; upper blocks turn to kitchenware.
Wholesale textile warren spilling across Calle Isaac Tamayo, open roughly 08:00-18:00. Bolts of striped aguayo cloth are cut by the metre alongside pollera skirts, embroidered mantas and the sequinned costumes worn at the Gran Poder parade.
Fair-trade cooperative shop run by more than 30 rural artisan groups, open Mon-Sat 09:00-19:00. Alpaca sweaters, Jalq'a and Tarabuco weavings and Cochabamba ceramics carry tags naming the community and weaver behind each piece.
Small atelier off Sagárnaga selling scarves, ruanas, hats and gloves in baby-alpaca and pima-cotton blends, generally open Mon-Sat 09:30-19:30. Prices sit well above street stalls because the fibre micron grade is stamped on every label.
Art-nouveau mansion turned cultural centre on Av. Ecuador, typically open Mon-Fri 09:00-12:30 and 15:00-19:00. Its shop stocks Bolivian art books, letterpress prints and design objects, and surrounding Sopocachi streets hide independent boutiques.
Multi-storey mall on Calle Rosendo Gutiérrez, open around 10:00-22:00. National chain fashion, a Ketal supermarket stocked with singani, coca tea and Bolivian wines from Tarija, and a food court where a set almuerzo runs about Bs 35.
Bolivian luxury label in the San Miguel boutique district, roughly Mon-Sat 10:00-20:00. Vicuña coats, alpaca tailoring and silver jewellery are produced with Andean artisan cooperatives, with vicuña pieces sold under CITES export paperwork.
Bolivia's largest mall, down in Irpavi and open about 10:00-22:00, with cinema screens, a bowling alley and national brands. Most useful here are the Bolivian chocolate counters and the ground-floor electronics floor.
Thursday and Sunday mega-feria spreading over 40-plus blocks around the Ceja from roughly 07:00 to 17:00: secondhand clothing sold by weight, tools, car parts, llama-wool blankets, salvaged phones and stacks of vinyl and cassettes.
Covered market beside Av. Camacho, open roughly 07:00-20:00, rebuilt with orderly stalls of Andean grains, highland cheeses, dried fruit and single-origin coffee — the simplest place to buy quinoa, cañahua flour and coca-leaf tea to carry home.
Restored colonial lane of ochre walls where tiny workshops sit between the museums, open roughly 09:30-18:00. Silver filigree from Oruro, charangos, tin-glazed ceramics and hand-bound notebooks sell from doorways barely two metres wide.
Cacao cooperative from the Alto Beni selling 68% and 80% bars, nibs, cocoa butter and drinking chocolate at its city outlets, generally Mon-Sat 09:00-19:00. Bars run Bs 15-30 and survive luggage far better than street-stall sweets.