Mercado de la Esperanza is one of the most emblematic places in Santander. Along with the usual activity, it is often frequented by tourists and visitors, in search of typical products from the city and Cantabria, such as quesada, anchovies and cheese, which makes the market a great tourist attraction. 

The market currently has about 80 stalls distributed on two floors, where you can find a wide variety of products, from meat, fish and vegetables, to a small fruit market in the Plaza de la Esperanza, which gives its name to this market. However, the star products are seafood and fish, whose stores occupy the entire first floor of the building. 

Thanks to the new technologies to count people, we can know the number of visitors who come to the most representative buildings and places of Santander, which will allow you to know what are the hours when they are less busy and to visit them with more confidence.  

If you want to know all the advantages that this new technology will provide, do not miss the post where we explain everything. (Link to:  Know the degree of occupancy of people in the most representative buildings of Santander and feel safe in front of the Covid-19). 

Regarding the number of visits, since the implementation of this technology in mid-August last year, the month that received the most visits was last August, where the average number of people exceeded 80,000 visitors.  

This number of visits to the market usually varies depending on various factors such as weekdays and weekends, mornings and afternoons, bank holidays and festivities..., but the preferred day for the people of Santander to make their shopping are usually Saturdays. About 2,000 people make their purchases in the market throughout the morning. 

During the week the trend of visits is usually the same: Mondays are the days with fewer visits to the market because the seafood does not reach the market until Tuesday, one of the busiest days, where more than 1,200 people usually come, especially between 12:00 and 13:00 hours. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, the number of people who come to shop decreases by 41%, but from Friday onwards, the visits increase again towards the weekend, until Saturday, the busiest day. 

Even within the context of the pandemic and mobility restrictions, the nice weather and the summer vacations of 2020, produced a good number of visits to the Mercado de la Esperanza: since the measurement of the data began, in August, September and October, there were many visitors to the market due to the tourists and visitors that the city receives, and the great tourist attraction that this place represents. 

From November the trend began to decline due to the second wave of the Covid-19 and the new mobility restrictions that were adopted, but Christmas and the shopping that is usually done on those days meant a small upturn in the number of visits. 

The year 2021 is also leaving noticeable differences about visits between the winter months, where mobility restrictions have been harsher, and the beginning of good weather and the spring, from March on, where the restrictions have been softened as the number of new cases of Covid-19 infection has decreased. As a result, visits to the market are gradually increasing, as the municipal borders are reopening, registering an increase of around 20,000 visitors between February and March. 

Thanks to this new technology to count people, you can access this data on the occupation of the most emblematic places of your city, from the different channels that we will put at your disposal, so you can choose the best time to visit them, both for your safety in front of the Covid-19, and to avoid queues and waiting in certain places and to visit them more quietly.