Karachi Old Bazaars

Old City Bazaar

The old part of Karachi contains at least a dozen major bazaars. Apart from the big ones, there are smaller clusters of shops lining the streets in between the bazaars. Such is the profusion and confusion of shops in this part of the city, and such is the proximity of most of these bazaars to each other, that it is impossible to determine where one bazaar ends, and the other begins. Therefore, do not be surprised to find yourself in the midst of shops and stalls in a narrow street, with our list of bazaars in your hands, wondering which part you are in at that moment. Perhaps even we will find it difficult to tell you for sure! Instead of driving yourself the best thing would be to hire a taxi, since the taxi driver is more likely to be well-acquainted with the various bazaars.

Botal Gali

Botal Gali (Bottle Lane), should be relatively easy to find. It is just another name given to Hasan Ali Lane, a narrow lane, across M.A. Jinnah Road (Bunder Road) from K.M.C. Office building. The ideal time to visit this particular bazaar, is between 12 noon and 6 pm. Here you will find shops that sell recycled bottles, bottle caps, oils, and perfumes. If you are lucky you can find the occasional rare and beautiful bottle.

There are a host of shops which sell not only the traditional itr (perfume), but also cheap non-alcoholic modern perfumes resembling famous designer fragrances such as, Chanel No. 5, Cool Water, Escape etc. The prices of bottles vary: 25 ml bottles are sold in the range of 80-100 rupees, decanters cost 250 rupees, and so on.

Light House Bazaar

Adjacent to the K.M.C. Head Office Building, off M.A. Jinnah Road (Bunder Road) is the Light House Bazaar district. This district is famous for shops selling old rugs, bicycles, recycled paper, picture frames, fabric lengths, shoes and medicine. Particularly good bargains are second-hand hardly-worn woolen apparel, coats and jackets for winter months. To describe the area seen from an expatriate's eye, we can do no better than to quote from Welcome to Karachi, a Guide by The American Women's Club and The British Women's Association: "Prepare to have an experience of a life time. One will definitely get dirty, but you will have fun finding ball gowns, ski outfits, boots, sweaters, clothes for Halloween costumes, blankets for your chaowkidars, jackets and much more. Think of it as being on a treasure hunt. If you have ever sent anything to good will or charity shops look hard, and you might find it. Prices are cheap, be ready to bargain. Take a friend."

Khori Garden

The market around Khori Garden is dedicated to cheap, second hand magazines and old books in good condition. A variety of magazines outnumber books available here. You can also find, at amazingly low prices, new books published abroad, but without their cover, which for some reason were rejected for sale.


Khajoor Bazaar / Sarrafa Bazaar etc.

There are several bazaars, that twist and wind through each other. In Sarrafa (Silversmith's) Bazaar you can find old silver jewellery being sold by weight, and in Bartan Gali small shops are stacked up high with pots and pans selling every conceivable traditional kitchenware. Around Khajoor Bazaar shops sell a variety of merchandise, for example, colorful Muslim prayer mats, fabric lengths, clothes for toddlers, brightly colored sarees, imitation jewelry, hair accessories, lace, thread reels, toys, tea, buttons and bags. Hawkers sell anything from embroidered Sindhi hats to colored pyjama cords and strips of walnut bark traditionally used for cleaning your teeth, and said to keep them extraordinarily white. In the Kapra Market (Cloth Bazaar), you will find a most colorful array of all kinds of fabrics. In addition to the usual lengths you will be able to get a wide variety of traditional hand printed Ajrak, colorful, hand-woven Sussi and the Bandini (tie-and-die) cloth in a variety of color combinations.