There is a particular kind of Saturday morning that only happens at a market. You go out for bread and you come back two hours later with bread, a bunch of flowers you did not plan on, and half a conversation about how the apricots are this year.

Innsbruck has more farmers' markets than most people who live here could name. They are spread across the districts, each one has its own day and its own personality, and a few of them only exist for part of the year. Once you know which is which, you stop shopping at the supermarket on weekends almost by accident.

Here is the full map, market by market.

MARKTHALLE

The One That Is Always There

When you only ever go to one, make it this one. The Markthalle on the Inn river is not a weekly market but a permanent hall, open six days a week, and it has been the food heart of the city for over a century.

The farmers' stands are a morning affair. Come before noon and you get the full picture: cheese from the Tyrolean valleys, smoked trout, Speck cut in front of you, vegetables that were pulled out of the ground the day before. Come later and you will still find plenty, but the best of it will have gone.

The other thing the Markthalle gives you is weather-proofing. When it is raining sideways in November, this is the market that still works.

Herzog-Siegmund-Ufer 1–3. Monday to Saturday, mornings for the farmers' stands.

SPARKASSENPLATZ

Friday in the Middle of Town

Every Friday morning the square fills with farmers and small regional producers, right in the centre where you would least expect to find someone selling their own honey.

This is the market to build a lunch out of. You can put together bread, cheese, something smoked and a punnet of whatever is ripe, and eat it fifteen minutes later somewhere along the Inn.

Two things worth knowing: it does not run on public holidays, and it takes a winter break from just before Christmas until the end of January.

Sparkassenplatz. Fridays, from nine in the morning until early afternoon.

WILTENER PLATZL

Small, Loyal, Entirely Local

The market at Wiltener Platzl is not big, and that is precisely why people love it. A handful of producers, most of them there every single Saturday, most of the customers on first-name terms with them.

Fruit and vegetables, flowers, jams, juices, honey, sausage and Speck, cheese, Almbutter, natural yoghurt, fresh milk, and fresh or smoked trout and char. Sauerkraut from Arzl when the season is right.

Wilten wakes up slowly on a Saturday, so pair it with a coffee afterwards and you have your whole morning sorted.

Wiltener Platzl. Saturdays, eight until around midday.

ST. NIKOLAUS

For People Who Are Up Early Anyway

Across the river in St. Nikolaus, the Saturday market starts early and finishes early. When you are the sort of person who is awake at seven on a weekend, this one rewards you.

It is a neighbourhood market in the truest sense, tucked into one of the oldest and prettiest corners of the city. Nobody is here as a tourist. Get there by ten or you will be looking at empty tables.

Hans-Brenner-Platz. Saturdays, early morning until late morning.

HÖTTING WEST

The Neighbourhood Version

Up in Hötting West the market runs along Viktor-Franz-Hess-Straße on Saturday mornings, and it is about as unglamorous and as useful as a market gets.

Vegetables, sausage, Speck and cheese, mostly from producers who have been coming for years. When you live on that side of town, this is your market and there is no reason to go anywhere else.

Viktor-Franz-Hess-Straße. Saturdays, from half seven in the morning.

AM HAFEN

Summer Only, and Worth the Detour

The market on the Hafen site only exists from May to October, which makes it the one to catch while you can. It is small and vegetable-focused, and the setting could not be less picturesque, which is somehow part of the appeal.

Salad and vegetables straight from the grower, at the point in the year when Tyrolean produce actually tastes of something. Right now is the season.

Hafengelände. Saturdays, eight until twelve, May to October.

NEU RUM

The One You Can Reach After Work

Every other market in this guide happens while you are at your desk. Neu Rum is the exception: Wednesday evening, an hour and a half, and then it is gone.

When your week never lines up with a Saturday morning, this is your answer. Go straight there, buy for the next two days, and be home for dinner.

Innstraße 48. Wednesdays, half five until seven in the evening, from the end of April until late November.

DEZ AND SILLPARK

A Farmers' Market Inside a Shopping Centre

It sounds like a contradiction, and then you go and it makes complete sense. Both big shopping centres host farmers' stands on Fridays, all day, indoors.

The range is genuinely good: bread, lamb, sausage, Speck, vegetables, schnapps, jams, juices, cheese, cake, potatoes, honey and honey products, eggs and Knödel. Some producers will put together a gift basket or a buffet if you order ahead.

It is the least atmospheric option on this list and by far the most convenient. On a wet Friday in February, convenience wins.

DEZ and Sillpark. Fridays, through the day. The Sillpark market pauses in December.

WHICH DAY, WHICH MARKET

Wednesday evening: Neu Rum. Friday: Sparkassenplatz, DEZ, Sillpark. Saturday morning: Wiltener Platzl, St. Nikolaus, Hötting West, and Am Hafen in summer. Monday to Saturday: the Markthalle.

Bring cash and your own bag, and go early rather than late. Market times shift with the season and with public holidays, so a quick check before you set off is never wasted.

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