27 Incredible Things to Do in Valencia Spain

Every entry below is the real thing — places that justify the flight, meals that redefine a dish you thought you knew, experiences that genuinely stick. Valencia will fill every hour with something worth your time.

Explore the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias

Santiago Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences is one of the most arresting pieces of contemporary architecture in Europe — a futuristic complex of white and blue mosaic stretching along the former Turia riverbed. The Hemisfèric houses an IMAX cinema and planetarium; the Museu de les Ciències is an interactive science museum that impresses adults as much as children; the L'Oceanogràfic is Europe's largest aquarium, complete with a submerged glass tunnel that puts you inside the deep ocean. Visit the official City of Arts and Sciences website for combined ticket deals — genuinely good value for a full day here.

Wander the Barrio del Carmen

Valencia's medieval heart is best experienced on foot, without a plan. Roman walls run alongside street art murals; 14th-century palaces shelter independent bookshops and cocktail bars. Duck into the Centre del Carme Cultura Contemporània, a contemporary arts space housed inside a former convent — the cloisters alone are worth the detour. Come evening, Carmen buzzes with a genuinely cool crowd, and the Moorish archway of the Torres de Quart looms magnificently at the western edge.

Eat Paella Where It Was Born

Valencia invented paella — not opinion, geography. The dish originated in the rice-growing flatlands of the Albufera, and eating the real thing in its birthplace is transformative. Authentic Valencian paella uses rabbit, chicken, flat green beans, and garrofó beans. No seafood, no chorizo. The rice should be short and dry, with the socarrat — that darkened, caramelised base crust — treated as the whole point. Head to the Albufera lake district or Ruzafa for restaurants taking it seriously. For a full breakdown of where and what to eat, our Ultimate Valencia Food Guide goes deep on the city's food scene.

Visit the Mercado Central

The Mercado Central de Valencia is one of the finest covered food markets in the world. Opened in 1928, its Art Nouveau stained-glass dome floods over 900 stalls selling jamón, saffron, olives, and more varieties of Valencian orange than you knew existed. Arrive at 9am on a weekday to watch professional chefs filling their baskets. Order a horchata at one of the market bars. Buy something you can't identify and ask the stall holder what to do with it.

Cycle the Jardines del Turia

After a catastrophic 1957 flood, Valencia diverted the Turia river and transformed the nine-kilometre former riverbed into a green corridor threading through the entire city. The Jardines del Turia is where Valencia runs, cycles, plays football, and practices yoga. Hire a bike from a Valenbisi station and follow the path from the City of Arts and Sciences to Cabecera park — one of the great urban cycling routes in southern Europe, car-free, flat, and beautiful.

Climb the Torres de Serranos

The 14th-century Torres de Serranos are the finest remnant of Valencia's medieval walls — twin Gothic towers that once served as the city's main northern gate and later as a prison for noble inmates. Climb to the top for a panoramic view across terracotta rooftops, the Turia gardens below, and, on a clear day, the shimmer of the Mediterranean beyond. Admission is cheap and the view rewards the climb absolutely.

Experience Las Fallas

If you have any flexibility on dates, come in March. Las Fallas — 15th to 19th of March — is Europe's most explosive festival, a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage event in which enormous satirical sculptures, some 30 metres high and costing hundreds of thousands of euros to build, are ceremoniously burned to the ground on the final night. A daily mascletà — a midday firecracker bombardment in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento — is felt in the chest before it's heard with the ears. Visit Visit Valencia's Fallas guide for dates and schedules.

Spend a Morning at the Albufera Natural Park

Twenty minutes south of the city, the Albufera is a freshwater lagoon and nature reserve of extraordinary calm. Take a wooden boat across the still water at dusk, when the sky turns pink and the rice paddies glow gold, and you'll understand why this landscape inspired paella. The surrounding village of El Palmar serves rice dishes worth a dedicated trip alone. This is the kind of place that resets the nervous system.

Discover the Cathedral and the Holy Grail

Valencia's Gothic cathedral — built on the site of a Roman temple and later a mosque — is architecturally extraordinary. Its octagonal tower, the Miguelete, is the city's most iconic silhouette. The cathedral's most remarkable claim lies in the Capilla del Santo Cáliz: a small agate cup the Church officially recognises as a candidate for the Holy Grail. Whether or not you're a believer, the history layered here — Visigothic foundations, Romanesque portals, Gothic nave, Baroque chapels — makes it one of the most genuinely fascinating churches in Spain.

Drink Horchata in Its Spiritual Home

Horchata de chufa — cold, milky-white, made from tiger nuts grown in the Valencian village of Alboraya — is earthy, sweet, refreshing, and nothing like the stuff sold in cartons elsewhere. Drink it at the famous Horchatería Santa Catalina in the old town, paired with fartons — soft, sugar-glazed pastry sticks designed for dipping. This is not tourist theatre; it's a Valencian daily ritual.

Hit the Beaches

Valencia's coastline is the city's open secret. While the rest of Europe bundles into Barcelona's overcrowded Barceloneta, Valencia's beaches stretch for kilometres with considerably more breathing room. Malvarrosa and Las Arenas are closest to the centre, with good infrastructure and lively restaurant strips. Venture north or south and the crowds thin dramatically. Our guide to the best beaches in Valencia covers everything from family-friendly stretches to quieter coves worth seeking out.

Lose an Afternoon in Ruzafa

Ruzafa is Valencia's creative neighbourhood — the place that attracts young chefs, independent designers, and anyone who finds the old town slightly too polished. The streets around Calle Cuba and Calle Cadiz are dense with serious coffee shops, vintage boutiques, ceramics studios, and ingredient-focused restaurants. Saturday morning here, with a coffee from a local roaster and a slow wander, is one of the city's great simple pleasures.

Explore the Silk Exchange (La Lonja de la Seda)

A UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the finest examples of Gothic civil architecture in Europe, the Lonja de la Seda was built in the late 15th century at the height of Valencia's power as a Mediterranean trading hub. The trading hall's twisted stone columns spiral upward to a vaulted ceiling with almost impossible elegance. Stand in the central hall on a quiet weekday morning and the silence has genuine weight — this is a building that makes you understand what civic ambition looked like 600 years ago.

Visit the Museo de Bellas Artes

Housed in a 17th-century seminary, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia holds one of Spain's most important fine art collections — Valencian primitives, Flemish masters, Goya portraits, and an entire room dedicated to Joaquín Sorolla, the great painter of Mediterranean light. Admission is free. It's consistently overlooked in favour of the City of Arts and Sciences, which is entirely visitors' loss.

Take a Day Trip to Xàtiva or Peñíscola

Valencia is exceptionally well-placed for day trips. The hilltop castle town of Xàtiva, 60km south, rewards a half-day with its dramatic fortress and medieval streets. Peñíscola — a walled old town perched on a rocky promontory jutting into the Mediterranean — is one of Spain's most visually striking small towns. Both are easily reached by train or car. Our guide to the best day trips from Valencia covers a thorough selection of the surrounding region.

Watch a Valencia CF Match at Mestalla

Mestalla is one of European football's most atmospheric old stadiums — steeply raked, loud, and passionate in a way that new purpose-built arenas rarely manage. A home match here is a genuinely charged experience. The crowd is knowledgeable, the stadium is walkable from the old town, and the ninety minutes leave you understanding something true about the city's character.

Catch a Performance at the Palau de les Arts

Calatrava's opera house — the building that resembles a giant helmet rising from the City of Arts and Sciences — is properly world-class. The Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía hosts opera, ballet, and orchestral performances throughout the year, with tickets considerably more accessible than equivalent venues in London, Paris, or Milan. Check the programme at the Palau de les Arts official site when planning your trip — an evening here raises the whole holiday by several notches.

Eat at the Breakfast Counter of a Local Bar

One of the most honest things to do in Valencia costs almost nothing: walk into any working-class neighbourhood bar at 9am and eat breakfast at the counter. A café con leche, a fresh roll with olive oil and tomato, a small glass of fresh orange juice. Watch the bar fill with builders, retired men reading newspapers, market traders on a second coffee. This is the city's actual daily rhythm — more revealing than any museum.

Travel by Rail from Madrid

Renfe's high-speed AVE service connects Madrid Atocha with Valencia's Joaquín Sorolla station in under two hours. The journey through the Castilian plains into the more dramatic Valencian interior is worth the window seat alone. Travelling by rail is the greener choice and drops you in the city centre, ready to eat immediately.

How to Make the Most of Your Time in Valencia

Valencia rewards depth over breadth. A three-day minimum gives you the space to move at the city's own pace — long lunches, evening strolls, spontaneous diversions into a ceramics shop or a neighbourhood bar that caught your eye. The compact old town is easily covered on foot, but the Turia gardens cycle route, the Albufera, and the beaches all benefit from a little planning. A well-structured Valencia itinerary will help you prioritise without losing the spontaneity that makes this city so addictive. However you plan it, come hungry, come curious, and come ready for a city that will insist — firmly, warmly, and with considerable culinary force — that it has been underrated for long enough.