Valencia, in its best light.
Paella over orange-wood fires in the Albufera, the Calatrava shells at golden hour, a catamaran off Malvarrosa, the gorge walk at Chulilla. Here is which ones deliver, what they cost, and where to book them.
Seven you will be glad you booked.
First visit or fifth, these anchor the trip: the aquarium under Calatrava’s white ribs, a paella pan you cook yourself, the flat-boat that drifts into an Albufera sunset while the herons lift off the rice.
Oceanogràfic Entry Ticket
Step into Valencia’s Oceanogràfic aquarium complex with timed entry to Europe’s largest sea-life center, from belugas to a shark tunnel.
From $44 per person
Read the review →
★ 3.9Safe bet24 or 48-Hour Hop-on Hop-off Bus TicketFrom $315,611 reviews
★ 4.8Sells out earlyPalosanto Flamenco Show TicketFrom $253,876 reviews
★ 4.7Crowd favouriteFull Day Tour to Montanejos & Thermal PoolsFrom $522,452 reviews
★ 4.7Worth every euroCity Highlights Guided Bike TourFrom $262,373 reviews
★ 4.6Easy winCueva de Sant Josep Boat Tour with GuideFrom $692,319 reviews
★ 3.9Local favouriteSunset or Daytime Catamaran Cruise with DrinkFrom $182,201 reviews
The Mediterranean is a tram ride away.
Valencia turns its back on no coastline. Catch the tram to Malvarrosa, walk the promenade past the paella terraces, then push off from the marina for a catamaran afternoon: sails up, city skyline shrinking, the sun going down over the harbour cranes. Back on land for dinner in the Cabanyal.
Where is your paella?
Valencia gave the world the dish, and there are three good ways to have it properly. Pick the one that sounds like your kind of afternoon; every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Where it was invented
In the Albufera
4 hours · from $69 · 698 reviews
Twenty minutes south, the rice paddies open out and the lagoon goes gold at dusk. Lunch is paella cooked over an orange-wood fire in a lakeside barraca, then a flat-bottomed boat glides you out among the herons. This is the dish at its source, eaten where the rice is grown.
See the Albufera trips →
Hands on the pan
You cook it
4 hours (approx.) · from $84 · 1,150 reviews
Start with a shop through the Central Market, then a wide flat pan, the right stock, and a local showing you how to coax the socarrat crust off the bottom. You eat what you make and, better, come home able to make it again for people who will never believe you.
See the cooking classes →
Market to table
On a food tour
4 hours (approx.) · from $96 · 3,234 reviews
For the traveller who would rather taste than cook: the Modernista Central Market first, then tapas, a proper paella, and a glass of horchata poured cold, led by someone who orders in Valenciano and knows which counter does the best.
See the food tours →
Valencia keeps its own hours.
Dinner starts late and the night starts later. A flamenco tablao in the old town, then the bars of Ruzafa and El Carmen where the tables spill onto medieval lanes and nobody checks the time. Go with someone who knows which door is worth the queue.
A flat city, built to be ridden.
The old riverbed is now nine kilometres of car-free park threading the whole city, and Valencia is dead flat besides. Roll it from the Bioparc to the sea in an afternoon, or let a guide join the dots between the landmarks.
The bodegas are closer than you think.
Utiel-Requena and its Bobal vines sit an hour inland, but you can taste the region without leaving town: a tapas-and-tasting through the old quarter, a horchata stop, or a proper cellar day out among the barrels.
Nine hundred years inside the walls.
The cathedral keeps a cup that some believe is the Holy Grail; the Lonja de la Seda still smells of stone and silk-trade money; the Micalet tower rewards the climb with the whole terracotta skyline. El Carmen’s lanes hide all of it, and a good guide opens the doors.
Pick your Valencia, corner by corner.
The city reads best in pockets. El Carmen for the medieval lanes. The City of Arts for the white future. The Turia gardens for the ride. The Central Market for lunch, and Malvarrosa when the afternoon calls for sand.
Already know your kind of day?
Twelve ways into the same city. Pick the one that sounds like you, and every option behind it is reviewed, rated and priced.
The sierra is closer than the beach traffic.
An hour inland the province turns to gorges, thermal rivers and hanging footbridges. Swim the warm Montanejos springs, walk the vertigo trail at Chulilla, or point the day at the Costa Blanca coves.
Three days is enough.
Valencia is compact and flat, so a first visit does not need to rush. Old town on day one, the future and the sea on day two, the rice fields on day three. This is the order to hand a friend flying in tomorrow.
Day 1
Into the old town
The cathedral and its Holy Grail chapel, the climb up the Micalet, the Lonja silk exchange, then lunch in the Central Market and a cold horchata in the shade.
Plan day one →
Day 2
The future and the beach
Morning under Calatrava’s white shells at the Oceanogràfic, bike the Turia gardens the length of the old river, then finish on the sand at Malvarrosa.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Paella at the source
South to the Albufera for paella cooked over orange wood, a slow boat through the rice paddies, and the lagoon turning gold as the light goes. The right way to end the trip.
Plan day three →
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