Valencia city guide
Jonny James
Valencia is known around the world for paella, but that one dish barely scratches the surface of the city. Wedged between the Mediterranean and the wetlands of L’Albufera, the city’s food culture grows straight from its landscape: the rice fields that feed its kitchens, the fishing boats along the harbour wall, and the markets where people haggle over the best oranges of the season.
Spain’s third-largest city, Valencia is a city that feels both spacious and intimate in its geography and architecture. From the Jardín del Turia running through its centre to the wide boulevards cut with narrow lanes, to the sharp, modern forms of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, or Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences), to the maze-like streets of the old town and the long reaches of golden beach where people swim before work and stay until sunset.
Polina Kocheva
Jardines del Turia.
Valencia’s wide open space
The Turia river once cut through the city until a catastrophic flood led to its diversion. Instead of filling the old riverbed with roads, Valencia turned it into a park, the Jardín del Turia, that runs almost 9 kilometres through the city. It is where people run before work, where families spend relaxed afternoons, and also a way to cross the whole city. The path curves under medieval towers and modern walkways before leading you straight to the futuristic spines of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. Rent a bike from EcoBikeRent and cycle the full length in the early morning or evening when the heat is lowest.
Jaser Cervantes
L’Albufera.
South of the city is Parque Natural de L’Albufera, a vast freshwater lagoon surrounded by rice fields. The bus from the centre of Valencia takes around 45 minutes and drops you in El Palmar, a tiny village laced with canals and old fishing boats. Book a sunset boat trip and glide across the water while herons skim the reeds. L’Albufera is one of the best places to try traditional Valencian paella, and many restaurants ask you to order 24 hours ahead (usually by phone), so they can prepare the exact amount of ingredients and rice stock in advance. Arrocería Maribel, recommended in the Michelin Guide and popular with people from El Palmar, serves a line-up of hearty, homemade regional rice dishes on its canalside terrace.
Veres Szilard
Valencia’s beach promenade.
Valencia’s beaches run for kilometres and are easy to reach by bus from the centre, with services every few minutes and late departures in summer. Malvarrosa Beach suits anyone who wants liveliness and amenities. It has soft white sand, volleyball courts, wide bathing areas and seafood restaurants along the promenade. After a swim, stop at Boa Beach for açai bowls, smoothies and chill vibes on tropical-style swing seats facing the sea.
Patacona Beach is a short walk north. The atmosphere is calmer and slower: chiringuitos (beach bars) playing low music, surf schools setting up early, and older houses behind the front instead of big hotels. It’s a good choice for longer, quieter days or for staying until the crowds thin out at dusk.
Alex Rizzardi
Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències.
Futurism, silk and stone
The Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències looks like it arrived from another planet, with its enormous white structures curving out over pale pools of water. Designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, it houses museums including the Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe with interactive science exhibitions, L’Hemisfèric, an IMAX cinema, and L’Oceanogràfic, the largest aquarium in Europe. Even if you just sit outside, the futuristic space is impressive.
Northleg Official
La Llotja de la Seda.
La Llotja de la Seda (or La Lonja), the 15th-century silk exchange and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located in the historic centre and shows Valencia at its peak as a trading city. The hall is held up by stone columns that twist like rope stretching up to the ceiling. Morning is the best time to visit when sunlight falls through the tall windows and everything glows.
A few streets away, Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas is a Rococo masterpiece with a carved marble façade and figures emerging from stone. Inside the grand rooms, sits the National Museum of Ceramics, tracing daily life in Valencia through bowls, tiles and painted plates from neighbourhood workshops. After visiting, eat nearby at Casa Vani, a tiny candle-lit room threaded with fairy lights, serving tapas including vegan croquetas and vegetarian albóndigas that are absolutely delicious.
Jan Harenburg/CC BY-SA 4.0
Paella.
Eating Valencia
Valencia is the birthplace of one of Spain’s most famous dishes, paella, and locals will tell you that the original version has chicken, rabbit, garrofón (lima) beans and flat green beans. No seafood. No chorizo. At Casa Carmela near Malvarrosa, paellas are cooked slowly over orange-wood fires and served when ready, not when you ask. Fideuà is another regional dish that you shouldn’t miss, using short noodles instead of rice and usually cooked with seafood.
Juan Gomez
Mercado Central.
Valencia’s markets are at the centre of daily life in the city. Mercado Central, one of the oldest and largest fresh-food markets in Europe, is housed inside a striking modernist building topped with patterned tiles and a domed roof of glass and iron. Traders shout orders across aisles, ice buckets clatter as fishmongers restock turbot and red prawns, and the smell of citrus hangs over crates of oranges from nearby groves. It’s the perfect place to grab some sliced jamón, olives and a wedge of semi-cured queso for a picnic in the park.
Vlado Paunovic
Mercado de Ruzafa.
Over in Ruzafa, Mercado de Ruzafa is a 1960’s brutalist structure in the middle of a residential district, surrounded by apartment blocks, small groceries and independent cafés. It has a neighbourhood feel with stalls selling mushrooms for foraging fans, tubs of marinated artichokes, empanadas warm from the oven and stacks of local cheeses. When the market closes, wander into the surrounding streets and try La Bella de Cádiz, a bar with mismatched lampshades, vintage sofas and glasses of vermut poured over ice with orange peel.
Adrienne Salmon
Horchata and farton at Horchatería Daniel.
Mercado Colón is polished and airy, a restored modernist building that was once a market and is now filled with cafés and flower stalls. Inside, Horchatería Daniel (Orxateria in Valencian), is often packed with families and older couples on weekends. It’s an institution for horchata, a cold milk-like drink made from tigernuts. Order it with a farton, a long soft pastry that soaks up the drink almost instantly.
Forget sangria. Agua de Valencia is the city's drink, made with local oranges. It mixes cava, fresh orange juice, gin and vodka in a jug to share, and it’s sharp and cold enough to cut through the heat after a day of exploration. Café de las Horas serves one of the best in an opulent red interior, with chandeliers and walls packed floor to ceiling with frames.
Caro Hotel
Caro Hotel.
To stay
For those who like a side of history with their design, Caro Hotel, near the Turia gardens and close to the centre, is built inside a restored 19th-century palace with Roman and medieval walls running through the architecture. There is a small pool tucked into a courtyard, and a fine-dining restaurant, Alma del Temple, built alongside a preserved Roman mosaic.
Caro Hotel
Caro Hotel.
MYR Palacio Vallier sits on Plaça de Manises in the historic heart. The rooms feel grand without being fussy, some with balconies overlooking the quiet square. The rooftop has views across the old town, especially beautiful at dusk. It's ideal for travellers who want to walk everywhere.
MYR Palacio Vallier
MYR Palacio Vallier.
If you prefer mornings by the sea, Hotel Boutique Balandret sits right on the Malvarrosa beachfront with a restaurant facing the promenade and rooms that open to the sound of waves. There is a terrace for long breakfasts and easy access to buses back into the centre.
Stefan Scheepmake
Estació del Nord.
Where next
Valencia’s main station, Estació del Nord, is an imposing modernist building covered in tiles and stained glass, but more importantly, it links the city to much of Spain by regular rail services. From here, you can head inland to Cuenca, a small city perched between deep river gorges. The Casas Colgadas (hanging houses) sit on the cliff edge above the Huécar gorge, and the Museum of Abstract Art is housed inside one of them.
Cuenca.
Travelling south takes you to Murcia, known for its huerta, the fertile farmland that surrounds the city. It has a relaxed centre, a strong food identity, and sights worth the journey: try pastel de carne from a local bakery, then visit the Real Casino, part social club, part palace, with rooms that shift from Moorish courtyards to French salons.
High-speed trains from Valencia also reach Madrid in around two hours, opening up galleries, parks and big city energy. Other rail routes continue into Andalusia for flamenco, Moorish architecture and coastal towns, or north into Catalonia for seaside journeys and mountain lines that connect to hiking and cycling routes.
Enjoy a slow travel adventure through Spain's ancient cities to Valencia, or check out our other Spanish holidays by train.
Read about the art of slow travel, or why we love to take the local train.
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