The Mercat Municipal
Onda's food market has been in the same building for decades and has the same stalls it has always had. Fruit and vegetables from the local orchards, butcher-cut meat, fresh fish and the day's baked goods.
The Mercat Municipal is the most honest purchase you can make in Onda: prices from the source, produce from La Plana, and the butchers, fishmongers and greengroers who have been serving the same customers for years. In season there are oranges, persimmons, artichokes and fresh beans from the orchard. The pastry stalls carry pastissets de moniato, rollets d'anís and savoury coques you will not find in any supermarket.
If you are taking something home, choose a tray of pastissets, olive oil from the region or the savoury coques from the pastry stalls. Local products made to local recipes, and they travel well. The market is in the centre, a few minutes from the castle and the old town.
Town centre shopping
Commerce in Onda lives in the streets of the historic centre. No big chains: shoe shops, stationers, hardware stores and clothing boutiques that have been in the same premises for decades.
The streets Major, Sant Vicent and the area around the Almudín concentrate most of the local shops. Womenswear and menswear, footwear, accessories, stationery, a bookshop, and service businesses that have survived because the locals keep choosing them over the out-of-town retail parks.
The porxos (the stone-arched arcades of the old town) are the natural setting for many of these shops. On a Saturday morning the whole centre is open and fits into one walk.
In late September, the town council puts on the Fira de Sant Miquel: three days of local market stalls, food and live music through the centre. If your visit lands on those dates, the shopping district has more buzz than usual.
Ceramic crafts from the workshop
Onda has been making ceramics for centuries. The tile industry is its best-known face, but there are artisan workshops where people still work by hand, with traditional moulds and hand-applied glazes.
In artisan workshops people still work by hand: clay, wheel, kiln and enamel, the same process as always. What comes out (hand-painted tiles, tableware, decorative pieces) carries the marks of manual work and you will not find anything quite like it in a tourist shop.
If you are interested in industrial ceramics (tiles and flooring for renovation), there are also factory outlets in the industrial area with first and second quality products at factory prices. Onda produces a significant share of the tiles installed across Europe, so the choice is large and prices are direct.
Flavours of La Plana to take home
The bakeries in the centre always have more than is visible in the window. Pastissets de moniato, rollets d'anís and savoury coques are what people take home.
Pastissets de moniato are the essential purchase: small sweet pastries with a thin dough filled with sweet potato, cinnamon and lemon, crimped by hand. The bakeries in the centre have them. Those who arrive late sometimes find them sold out. Rollets d'anís are soft anise-flavoured ring biscuits made with olive oil. They keep well for a few days and travel fine.
Beyond the pastries: olive oil from the region and mountain honey from the market. Products bought at the market, in the centre's bakeries or directly from small local producers. Nothing that needs a middleman. If you want to see where to eat what is made here, head to the food guide to Onda.
Onda's local businesses are grouped under Onda Centre Comercial. Their website lists all members if you want to browse the full directory.