Coronation Market

Coronation, universally called Coronie, is the market that feeds Kingston and by most accounts the largest in the English-speaking Caribbean. Trucks come in overnight from every parish and by Friday morning the covered halls and the streets around them are packed solid with yam, dasheen, breadfruit, ackee, callaloo, scotch bonnet, thyme, sugar cane and every kind of ground provision, sold by higglers who have often held the same pitch for decades. It is loud, tight, chaotic and entirely functional. The market has been on this site since the 1930s and it is one of the few places where the whole agricultural country arrives in the capital at once.

What to look for

• Ground provisions - yam, dasheen, cassava and breadfruit in quantity.
• The higglers - the traders who move produce from country to city.
• Callaloo and scotch bonnet - the greens and peppers everything is cooked with.
• Friday morning - when the whole market is at full pitch.

When to go

Friday and Saturday mornings are the peak, with Friday the fullest. Go early, before eight, both for the atmosphere and the temperature. Midweek it operates at a fraction of the scale.

Practical notes

This is downtown Kingston in a crowded area with real crime risk, and visitors should go with a local guide or driver, carry almost nothing, and not photograph people without asking. It is not a tourist market and there is nothing to buy unless you are cooking. The crush and the noise are considerable. Many visitors will find it overwhelming rather than charming.

Nearby

Downtown Kingston and the National Gallery are east; Trench Town is south.