Valencia: what to see, where to stay and how to get around
On the 14th of October 1957 the Turia flooded and drowned the centre of Valencia under five metres of water; eighty-one people died. The state decided to divert the river entirely, around the south of the city, and the old bed was left empty — a nine-kilometre trench through the middle of town. Madrid planned a motorway in it. Valencia marched against that for fifteen years under the slogan "the riverbed is ours and we want it green", and won. The motorway was never built. Two hours, flat, and half of it is in the riverbed.
Live camera
All cameras in town (2) ▾
A short history of Valencia
In 138 BC the Romans founded Valentia on the banks of the River Turia. In 714 the Muslims captured it, and under their rule the irrigation system that still feeds the orchards around the city was developed. In 1094 El Cid captured it and held it until his death, and in 1238 it was finally taken by James I of Aragon. In the 15th century it was one of the most important trading centres in the Mediterranean, and the Silk Exchange built at that time has been declared a World Heritage Site. After the devastating flood of 1957 the river was diverted outside the city, and its old bed became a long park, at the end of which the City of Arts and Sciences opened in 1998.
The ten best sights in Valencia
1Catedral de Valencia€9, and a chapel in it holds what is claimed to be the Holy Grail
-
2El Micalet
€2.50, 207 steps, and the tower is exactly as tall as it is round
3Lonja de la Seda€2, free on Sundays, and the stone columns are twisted like rope
4Basílica de los DesamparadosFree, and the Virgin here is the one Valencia belongs to
5Iglesia de San Nicolás€8, and every surface is frescoed — they call it the Valencian Sistine
6Museo de Bellas ArtesFree, and the second-best picture collection in Spain
7IVAM€6, and it was the first modern art museum in Spain, from 1989
8Palacio de Dos Aguas€3, a carved alabaster doorway, and the ceramics museum inside
9Museu Faller€2, and it holds the one figure pardoned from the fire each year
-
10La Almoina
€2, Roman and Visigothic Valencia under a glass floor
Scan with your phone camera to open the map there
What is an audio walk?
Tours in Valencia →A guide in your headphones: open the walk on our site, walk from stop to stop, and at each one your phone tells its story. No guide, no group, and free. This is the first walk in Valencia:
Free walking tours in Valencia
The city that moved its river
On the 14th of October 1957 the Turia flooded and drowned the centre of Valencia under five metres of water; eighty-one people died. The state decided to divert the river entirely, around the south of the city, and the old bed was left empty — a nine-kilometre trench through the middle of town. Madrid planned a motorway in it. Valencia marched against that for fifteen years under the slogan "the riverbed is ours and we want it green", and won. The motorway was never built. Two hours, flat, and half of it is in the riverbed.
- Torres de Serranos · The main gate of the medieval wall, built in 1392, and it survived because the city turned it into a prison for nobles in 1586 — the rest of the wall was pulled down in 1865 and this was already useful. During the civil war the Prado’s paintings were stored inside it.
- Plaza de la Virgen · Every Thursday at noon eight farmers in black smocks sit in chairs outside the cathedral door and judge disputes over irrigation water, out loud, in Valencian, with no written record. The Water Court has met here since about the year 960 and is the oldest working court of justice in Europe.
- Catedral de Valencia · A side chapel holds an agate cup that the Vatican accepts as a plausible candidate for the Holy Grail — it dates to between 100 BC and 50 AD and came to Valencia in 1437. Two popes have said mass with it.
- Lonja de la Seda · The silk exchange of 1482, when Valencia was the richest city in the Mediterranean. The columns inside are twisted like rope and rise without capitals straight into the vault; around the top of the wall runs an inscription telling merchants not to lie, in Latin, where they had to see it.
- Mercat Central · Eight thousand square metres under iron and coloured glass, opened in 1928, and still twelve hundred working stalls rather than a food court. The weathervane on the dome is a parrot, which is a joke the architects never explained.
- Jardí del Túria · Nine kilometres of park where a river used to be, crossed by eighteen bridges that now span grass. One section is a playground in the shape of Gulliver, forty metres long, and children climb on him exactly as the Lilliputians did.
White concrete at the end
Santiago Calatrava was born twenty kilometres from here and in 1991 his own city gave him the far end of the empty riverbed to fill. What he built took eighteen years, cost roughly four times the estimate, and left the region in debt that is still being argued about in court — and it is also the thing the world now knows Valencia for. Everything in it is white, there is water everywhere, and it looks like a skeleton. Two hours, no shade at all.
- Ciutat de les Arts · The whole complex sits in shallow pools, which is not decoration — the water reflects the buildings so that each one appears to be a complete shape rather than a half cut off by the ground. Walking round the outside costs nothing and is most of the experience.
- Hemisfèric · Built as a human eye: the dome is the pupil, the pool is the other half of the eyeball reflected, and the whole glass shell on one side lifts open like an eyelid. It was the first building of the complex and opened in 1998.
- Museu de les Ciències · Two hundred and twenty metres long and modelled on the skeleton of a whale, with the ribs visible from inside. The motto on the door is "forbidden not to touch", and it is a working rule — nothing inside is behind glass.
- Oceanogràfic · The largest aquarium in Europe, forty-two million litres, and it is arranged as the world’s climate zones — you walk from the Arctic to the tropics. The underwater restaurant sits inside one of the tanks, and the roof of the entrance building is a warped concrete shell eight centimetres thick.
- Palau de les Arts · The opera house, seventy-five metres tall, with four auditoriums inside a shell that is not attached to the ground along most of its length. Its ceramic cladding started falling off in 2013, nine years after it opened, and the region sued the architect.
- Marina de València · Valencia dug a channel through the old port in 2007 to host the America’s Cup, the first time in a hundred and fifty years the race had been held in Europe. The city then held a Formula 1 street race here until 2012, and has spent the decade since working out what to do with the result.
Rice, water and fire
Paella is not a Spanish dish but a Valencian one, and it is from the lagoon south of the city where rice has been grown in flooded fields since the Arabs brought it in the tenth century. The original has rabbit, chicken and beans in it and no seafood at all; it was a field lunch cooked over orange wood by men who were working. The other thing Valencia burns is itself — every March it builds hundreds of wooden sculptures in the streets and sets them all alight on the same night. Half a day, and the lagoon needs a bus.
- Museu Faller · Every March the city builds hundreds of satirical wooden monuments in the streets, some twenty metres tall, and burns all of them at midnight on the nineteenth. One figure a year is voted a pardon by public ballot and comes here instead — the museum is a room of survivors going back to 1934.
- Ruzafa · The name is Arabic and means garden; it was an estate outside the walls until the city reached it. During the Fallas this quarter puts up the monuments that win, and the rest of the year it is where Valencia eats and drinks.
- El Cabanyal · A fishermen’s quarter of low houses faced entirely in coloured tiles, which the city council condemned in 1998 to drive an avenue through it. Residents fought it for seventeen years; the plan was annulled in 2015 and the quarter is now protected.
- Playa de la Malvarrosa · The beach is a hundred and thirty-five metres wide, which is unusual, and the restaurants along it have cooked paella since the 1890s. The painter Sorolla grew up here and spent his life painting this exact light on this exact water.
- L’Albufera · A freshwater lagoon separated from the sea by a sandbar, and the largest lake in Spain. It was a royal hunting reserve for seven centuries — albufera is Arabic for "the little sea" — and the rice fields round it are flooded and drained by sluices on a calendar that has not changed.
- El Palmar · A village on an island in the lagoon, reached by one road, where the paella is cooked over orange and vine wood because the smoke is part of it. Flat-bottomed boats take you out among the rice at sunset, and the birds come in to roost in thousands.
Getting to Valencia and getting around
- Valencia Airport · Metro lines 3 and 5 to the centre, 25 minutes, €4.90
- Estació del Nord · A 1917 modernist station covered in ceramic oranges, and free to walk in
- Joaquín Sorolla · The high-speed station. Madrid in 1:40
- Estació d’Autobusos · Across the dry riverbed, and the buses to the beaches go from here
Cheap eats in Valencia
Eight counters where Valencia eats standing. Two things are local and nowhere else: horchata, a cold drink pressed from tiger nuts that are grown in one small district north of the city and nowhere else in Europe, and the esmorzaret — a second breakfast of a filled roll and a small beer taken at about half past ten, which is a working custom and not a tourist one.
- Horchatería de Santa Catalina · €3 with the long biscuits you dip, and standing is cheaper
- Central Bar · €6-9 a roll, and closed by three
- Casa Montaña · Tapas €4-8, and book for the evening
- Mercat Central · 1,200 stalls, open seven to three, and closed Sundays
- Mercat de Russafa · Where the quarter shops, and the bar inside opens at eight
- La Pepica · On the beach since 1898, and Hemingway ate here
- Casa Carmela · Paella over orange wood since 1922. Lunch only, and book
- Horchatería El Siglo · On the cathedral square, and open from nine
Museums in Valencia
The city museums here are mostly free or two euros, which is unusual in Spain, and several of them are empty on a weekday afternoon.
- Museo de Bellas Artes · Free, closed Mondays, and never crowded
- Palacio de Dos Aguas · €3, and free on Saturday afternoon and Sunday
- La Almoina · €2, free on Sundays, and twenty minutes is enough
- IVAM · €6, free Sundays, and a stretch of Arab wall in the basement
- Banys de l’Almirall · €2, Arab baths from 1313, and in use until 1959
- Museu Faller · €2, and every figure in it was voted out of a fire
- Iglesia de San Nicolás · €8 with an audio guide, and 1,900 square metres of fresco
- Sant Miquel dels Reis · Free, a Hieronymite monastery, and a prison until 1966
Nature and day trips near Valencia
- Jardí del Túria · Free, lit at night, and bikes for hire along it
- L’Albufera · Bus 25 from Russafa, 40 minutes, and the boat is €4
- Playa de la Malvarrosa · Free, tram 4 or 6, and 135 metres of sand wide
- Playa del Cabanyal · The same beach, the near end, and closer to the quarter
- Jardí Botànic · €3, from 1802, and cats live in it by arrangement
- Jardines del Real · Free, and the summer concerts are in it
- Parc de Capçalera · Free, a lake with rowing boats, and the quiet end of the park
- Sagunt · 30 minutes by train, a Roman theatre still used in summer
Things to do in Valencia with kids
- Oceanogràfic · €36, children €27, and four hours is realistic
- Museu de les Ciències · €9, "forbidden not to touch", and nothing is behind glass
- Gulliver · Free, open 10 to 8, and shaded in parts
- Hemisfèric · €9, a dome screen 900 square metres, and films in Spanish
- Torres de Serranos · €2, free Sundays, and the back of the towers is open air
- Playa de la Malvarrosa · Free, shallow for a long way out, and lifeguards in summer
Live music in Valencia
- Palau de la Música · From €12, and the foyer looks out on the park
- Palau de les Arts · Opera from €20 in the upper tier, and four halls in it
- Teatre Principal · From 1832, Italian horseshoe shape, and tickets from €10
- Jimmy Glass · A jazz cellar in El Carmen, live six nights, and no cover before ten
- Radio City · Flamenco on Tuesdays since 1982, and it is free
- Mestalla · Valencia CF, and the upper tier is a 55-degree climb
Nightlife in Valencia
- Ruzafa · The quarter that goes out, and nothing starts before eleven
- El Carmen · Bars from ten, and the lanes are the venue
- Carrer dels Cavallers · The one street in El Carmen that is all bars
- Benimaclet · The student quarter, and a beer is €1.80
- Marina de València · Where the summer clubs are, and only in summer
- Mercat de Colón · Cocktails under a modernist roof, and it is open late
Frequently asked questions about Valencia
What is there to see in Valencia?
The top sights in Valencia are Catedral de Valencia, El Micalet and Lonja de la Seda. The full list on this page has 10 sights, each with a photo and a short note.
How many days do you need in Valencia?
Three to four days are enough to see the best of Valencia without rushing, including at least one walking tour.
Is there a free walking tour in Valencia?
Yes. sleepntrip has 3 free audio walks in Valencia, with no guide and no group: your phone tells the story at every stop. The first one: The city that moved its river.
How do you get to Valencia and get around?
The main ways are Valencia Airport, Estació del Nord and Joaquín Sorolla. Full details are in the transport section on this page.
Where to stay in Valencia, and for how much?
sleepntrip shows only rooms in Valencia that meet nine conditions: a good location, high guest scores, cleanliness, and a price of up to $80 a night for two. Pick your dates and see what is free.
Looking for a hotel in Valencia for your dates?
Only rooms that meet nine conditions, up to $80 a night.