Well, they are all about shopping so if this is the only thing you need to know, you might want to skip reading this part and start shopping right-away at Habatiq.
But if you’re interested in knowing the difference, read on…
A Souq is long; a Khan is square; a Bazaar is a maze of lines, squares and rectangles, and in all, you feel as if you’re going around in circles. You leave one shop selling ceramics, to the neighboring selling ceramics to a third shop selling ceramics. Then to the leather, green slippers in one shop, the best slippers in the other, pointed slippers in a third, again and again until your eyes get hazy with the sights, your nose gets enough of all the ‘natural’ leather smells and your ears have their fill of Please Come In’.
Other than that:
Souq is the Arabic word for the open air markets common in the old cities of the Middle East and North Africa (Unless you’re somewhere like Dubai where it is now more open air-conditioned than open air ).
Bazaar is the Persian word for a covered, enclosed market with a rich collection of goods. ( This has nothing to do with the other bazaar, the word used for charitable sales events and fairs)
Khan is an Arabic word meaning inn or hotel. The khan was a rest house, one for traveling merchants to rest along their journey on the trade trails. Khans then grew into permanent places for some merchants and travelers, hence the Soap Khan, the Tailors Khan etc…
Khan el Khalili is a different story though. It’s a khan, a souk, and a bazaar, but its story will wait for another post. For now, click here to see our finds from Khan Al Khalili.
N.B.The picture above, taken in Turkey, is neither of a Souq nor of a Khan but you can call it an all-in-one bazaar.
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