Traveling in the city of Valencia in Spain
General Description
Valencia is one of the most beautiful and surprising cities in Spain. A diverse city that combines old with new, history with nature, food, culture, and also beach vacations.
It is a wonderful city for family trips, and it is advisable to dedicate at least 3 full days to it. If you are also interested in a vacation, much more is recommended.
Valencia is a city whose leaders decided to turn it into a vibrant tourist city to compete with Barcelona and Madrid, and they are investing huge resources to establish it as a popular tourist destination. Without a doubt, they are succeeding in the task, and tourism in the city is thriving and blossoming, and rightfully so!
Valencia is the third city in Spain in terms of importance and population size, and the 15th largest city in the European Union. About 800,000 residents live in it. The city is located on the Mediterranean coast, about a four-hour drive south of Barcelona and three hours east of Madrid.
Valencia was founded by the Romans in 138 BC and even served as a capital city for 11 months during the Spanish Civil War, until Madrid became the capital from 1936.
The city features a combination of ancient historical buildings alongside modern and unique architectural structures. No wonder it won the title in 2022: "World Design Capital" World Design Capital
City of Arts and Sciences:
Turia Fountain in the central square of the Old Town:
♦ Guided tours in Valencia:
The city has several world "records": it has the largest aquarium in Europe (considered one of the largest in the world with about 45,000 animals from 500 different species) alongside the narrowest building in Europe (107 cm) and the second narrowest in the world (only in Brazil is there a narrower building than it). Its famous market: Mercado Central, located in an impressive Art Nouveau building, is considered the largest market in Europe and one of the oldest markets in the world that also enables online shopping and deliveries.
The Market of Valencia:
Did you know? Valencia was chosen in 2020 as the best city for foreigners to live in thanks to the low cost of living, excellent healthcare system, weather, and friendly residents.
Valencia is also known for its food and is considered the birthplace of paella, the Spanish rice stew brought to the city by the Moors in the 10th century and which became the most popular dish in the city alongside tapas, of course.
It is a flat city and particularly friendly for bicycle riding with excellent bike lanes, however finding parking in the city center, especially in the Old Town, is quite challenging and expensive.
City Hall:
Sites declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Valencia:
Llotja de la Seda
An iconic 15th-century Gothic building that served as the silk trade center and now serves as a museum.
Tribunal de las Aguas de Valencia
The literal meaning of the name is "Water Court", which since Roman times has been used to resolve disputes between local farmers at the entrance of Valencia's impressive cathedral.
Valencia Cathedral:
Las Fallas
Valencia's famous, world-renowned festival symbolizing the arrival of spring, which lasts for 19 days starting at the beginning of March. It is a celebration combining tradition, satire, and art, culminating in the last five days with parades, fireworks, and plenty of pyrotechnics.
Recommended hotels in Valencia:MYR Palacio Vallier – A 5-star hotel in the center of the Old Town with a restaurant and bar. Excellent breakfast. Double rooms and suites only. Some rooms have a balcony with a city view. Free internet. Parking for a fee and advance reservation is required. Caro Hotel -A 5-star hotel in the center of the Old Town located in a 19th-century palace. A combination of a historic building with modern design. It features an outdoor pool, restaurant, free internet, and parking for an additional fee. Palau Apartments Valencia - A quality suite hotel with studio apartments or one-bedroom and living room apartments suitable for 2-4 people. Each unit has a kitchen. Convenient location, less than a kilometer from the Turia Gardens. The hotel offers bicycle rental service. Free internet and parking for an additional fee. MYR Puerta Serranos - A 4-star hotel in an excellent location. Adjacent to the Turia Park at the edge of the Old Town. Excellent breakfast. Free internet. Parking for an additional fee.
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Main tourist sites in the city:
The Old Town of Valencia
The Old Town of Valencia (Ciutat Vella) is a perfect place to wander on foot among alleys, small restaurants, impressive buildings, churches, towers, walls, squares, markets, murals, and cute shops (some of the destinations were mentioned in the introduction to the article).
Wonderful for fans of culture, history, and food. Also perfect for families. It was built by the Romans over 2,000 years ago, ruled by Visigoths and Muslims over the years, and many of its buildings are well-preserved. Very successful to tour it by Segway as well.
Ceramics Museum:
This is the place to eat paella, the dish invented in the city, and of course tapas, to drink the refreshing alcoholic drink of the city: "Agua de Valencia" - a winning combination of fresh orange juice with vodka or gin, and its wonderful nut drink: Horchata.
Turia Park (Jardín del Turia)
Considered one of the longest urban parks in the world. It is 7 km long, bordered on one side by the Old Town and stretching from the City of Arts and Sciences to the Bioparc. What is special about it is that there used to be a river in the place where it is located, bearing the same name, which caused many floods in the city, damage, and fatalities, until it was decided in 1957 to divert the river channel to another place, away from the city center, and dry up the river. After years of discussions and fights over the purpose of the dried riverbed (there were plans to turn it into a section of a highway), the residents defeated the authorities and it was decided to turn it into an urban park.
Above the park are 17 different and diverse bridges connecting the old city to the new.
The park features walking paths, running tracks (with a special surface), and bicycle paths. It has various buildings (such as a performance hall), picnic areas, a variety of trees and flowers, playgrounds, including the famous and largest of all, Gulliver Park, which features a giant statue of Gulliver with slides, ladders, additional amusements, and more. A perfect place to stretch your legs and do sports in nature in the heart of a big city.
Gulliver Park:
City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias)
An amazing architectural gem and one of the highlights of a visit to beautiful Valencia. Most of its impressive and special buildings were designed by Santiago Calatrava, the architect who designed the Chords Bridge in Jerusalem.
Among the buildings are an amazing opera house where it is recommended to finish your visit, a science museum, an aquarium, an IMAX cinema, and more. The location also features lovely gardens, and between the buildings are turquoise reflection pools designed both to cool the air and allow kayaking or SUP boarding. If there is time, you can dedicate several days to the place and visit the various buildings (especially ideal for families), but even for those arriving for a short visit to the city - it is a must to at least walk among the buildings (on foot, by bike, or Segway) and be impressed.
Among the buildings worth visiting:
Oceanogràfic
Considered the largest aquarium in Europe with 45,000 animals from 500 different species.
Built from various buildings with unique architectural structures, among them open areas with gardens, paths, and viewpoints.
It features diverse and varied climate environments: the Mediterranean, wetland areas, tropical regions, oceans, Antarctica, the North Pole, islands, and the Red Sea. It also has a dolphinarium and an underground restaurant.
Prince Felipe Science Museum (MUSEO DE LAS CIENCIAS PRINCIPE FELIPE)
An interactive science museum with a variety of exhibits in the fields of science and technology. It also features changing exhibitions and several shops. Entrance to the ground floor is free. Tickets must be purchased for the rest of the museum. The building itself is extremely impressive and resembles a whale skeleton. The unique structure is surrounded by pools.
Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia
The newest and most impressive building in the City of Arts and Sciences, resembling a giant Roman soldier's helmet.
It serves as a diverse cultural center for opera, concerts, and various performances. Do not miss a guided tour of the opera house located in the City of Arts and Sciences. The building is impressive not only from the outside but also from the inside, featuring three different halls: an opera hall, a concert hall, and a smaller hall for private events. The tour visits all halls and statue-rich lobbies, offering wonderful views of the City of Arts and Sciences.
Hemisfèric
An impressive structure in the City of Arts and Sciences whose shape resembles an eye: "Eye of Wisdom". It serves as a sophisticated 3D IMAX cinema that also includes a planetarium. The curved screen covers an area of 900 square meters, and various films, mainly educational and documentary lasting 45 minutes each, are screened daily.
Bioparc Valencia
A large and successful zoo where the animal habitats are designed to match as closely as possible the natural habitat of each individual animal. In addition, educational activities are conducted at the zoo aimed at raising public awareness of the importance of nature conservation and animal welfare. Located in the western part of Turia Park. The emphasis in the park is on African animals, featuring thousands of animals from 150 different species. Open every day of the year.
Valencia's beaches:
Valencia has a long and wonderful coastline with pleasant, warm water and wide, soft sand. It has three organized beaches: Cabanyal, Malvarrosa, and Patacona . The beaches are quite close to the city center as well as the cruise port and marina. They have parking lots, bicycle paths, and city buses. Along the entire length of the beaches are plenty of restaurants, cafes, bars, and many shops. The beaches offer a variety of sailing, surfing, and marine recreation options.
Guided tours in Valencia:
The best way to get acquainted with Valencia and its various neighborhoods, from the Old Town to the modern City of Sciences and Arts, is on a guided bicycle tour or a guided Segway tour.
Guided bicycle tour
A highly successful bicycle tour lasting 2-3 hours is offered by the company Happy Tourist Center Valencia
This is a comprehensive tour starting in the Old Town at the central square, Virgin Square, which features a cathedral, a basilica, a bell tower overlooking the entire Old Town, and a large, impressive fountain-statue.
From there, you continue to one of the ancient city gates, of which only two out of 12 remain.
You can admire up close the intact, restored, and impressive gate (the second gate is elsewhere in the Old Town in worse condition and not included in the tour). The restored gate is adjacent to what used to be the Turia River and is now a park of the same name. After a leisurely ride along the park, you reach the particularly new and impressive area of the city:
Center of Art and Science, featuring several particularly impressive modern buildings, an opera house built in the shape of a Roman soldier's helmet. A guided tour of it is possible and recommended. This center also includes an interactive science museum and a giant aquarium, the largest in Europe. Among the impressive buildings are turquoise water pools where you can sail in boats or SUP boards. There is also an IMAX cinema, botanical gardens, and a hall for changing exhibitions.
On the bike ride, you overlook the entire modern center, ride among the buildings and pools, and continue towards the old port with its many yachts, alongside Valencia's long sandy beach. The city also has a large new port where cruise ships sailing the western Mediterranean arrive.
Guided Segway tour
Another successful way to tour and experience Valencia is on a 2-hour Segway tour by the company Segway Anyway . The Segway can also ride in pedestrian zones where bicycles are not allowed. To book the tour from Viator: Valencian Main Attractions Group Segway Tour.
The tour focuses on the Old Town, starting with an exterior view of the archaeological museum above which is a shallow pool beneath which the antiquities can be seen. The museum is located close to the basilica and cathedral. You admire the graffiti in the heart of the Old Town, which the municipality encourages instead of pirate scribbles and even pays painters for it.
The guide talked about the ancient buildings, churches, balconies, and more.
You admire the large market (Mercado Central) where vegetables, fruits, fish, meat, and more are sold.
Nearby, you observe (from the outside) the bullfighting arena, which unfortunately is still active twice a year. The arena is adjacent to the old railway station located in an impressive building, and opposite it is the commercial building, which today serves as the Silk Museum. It resembles a church and features sculptures different from those in regular churches, with naked figures in erotic poses.
You continue with the Segway towards the large Turia Park, pass by Gulliver Park and continue to the Arts and Science Center, where you also stop to taste the popular local drink: horchata, a drink based on local nuts ground with water and sugar.
You return back to the Old Town through the park and other, less touristy neighborhoods in the city center.
Food tours and cooking classes:
Valencia is very proud of its food, and therefore there are many food tours and cooking classes for typical dishes. Particularly successful:
♦ Valencian Paella cooking class, Tapas and Market Visit – Paella cooking class, accompanied by a tapas tasting and market tour. The tour duration is three and a half hours.
♦ The 10 Tastings of Valencia With Locals: Private Food Walking Tour – A successful food tour lasting about 3 hours including tasting ten different dishes and drinks.
Getting there:
Valencia has an international airport (airport code: VLC), but unfortunately, there are no direct flights to it from Israel. The airport is located about 10 kilometers west of the Old Town.
Valencia is located about 340 km (3.5-4 hours drive) southwest of Barcelona (which has plenty of direct flights from Israel) and about 360 km (approx. 3.5 hours) southeast of Madrid (which also has direct flights from Tel Aviv).
It is successful to combine it with a visit to one of these cities or both. It is also successful to combine it with a trip to southern Spain in Andalusia.
Valencia has a large port that also includes a passenger pier for cruise ships. In recent years, it has become a popular destination for cruise ships, including the large ones, arriving for a full day as part of a western Mediterranean cruise, a cruise to the Canary Islands as one of the ports along the way, and even transatlantic cruises. The port is located near Valencia's beaches and about 4 km from the city center.
Weather:
The weather in Valencia is typical Mediterranean. Comfortable on most days and can be visited in all months of the year. However, it is important to know that in summer, especially in July and August, it is hot and humid, and like Tel Aviv, it is advisable to be either in air-conditioned places or at the beaches. Summer temperatures are about 30-32 degrees Celsius. The coldest month is January with an average minimum temperature of 5 degrees Celsius and a maximum of about 16 degrees. The most pleasant temperatures are in spring and autumn, making these the best months to visit the city. Precipitation is low and the city is mostly sunny. In summer, rain is rare (a day or two at most) and most months of the year average 4 rainy days a month. The rainiest months are March-April and September-October, with an average of 6-7 rainy days. It should be taken into account that when it rains it is usually heavy with a lot of precipitation and clears up relatively quickly.
