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Valencia

Valencia is a city where centuries of Moorish heritage, Renaissance grandeur, and ultramodern architecture collide in the most beautiful way. The old town, threaded by the Turia Gardens—a lush ribbon of park that winds through the heart of the city along a dried riverbed—feels intimate and alive, while the City of Arts and Sciences rises at the city's edge like something from tomorrow. It is a place that takes itself seriously about beauty and innovation, yet never feels pretentious.

CountrySpain
RegionValencian Community
LanguageSpanish
CurrencyEuro (€)
Where it is
Spain · Valencian Community

Roughly where Valencia sits.

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From the magazine

What we wrote about Valencia

The map tells you where. These pieces tell you when to go, whether the place is for you, and what nobody mentions.

Read the Valencia guideValencia is a city built around a river that isn't there.
01When to go1
Valencia Explains Itself in Autumn, When the Rice Field Becomes a Mirror

It isn't the beach, nor only the fire of March. Valencia is a city of water, and autumn proves it: the huerta closes its harvest, the Albufera floods until it becomes a mirror full of birds, and the city looks again at what truly built it.

11 min
02Made for you1
Valencia for the Traveller Who'd Rather Explore by Bike

It's flat, it has a river turned into a car-free garden, and the countryside and the beach are an hour's ride away. Valencia is for the traveller who doesn't want to understand a city from the metro, but to cover it at their own pace on two wheels — as long as the August heat doesn't get in the way.

8 min
03Worth knowing1
In Valencia, Paella Is Not a Seafood Dish

The photo most travellers picture — prawns fanned over yellow rice, ordered at nine at night — is almost the opposite of what Valencians mean by paella. The original is a rice dish from the wetlands south of the city, cooked over an open fire, eaten at midday. Understanding why changes how you order it.

8 min
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