ONE: BIOPARC
You can call it a zoo, but that would be a gross understatement. This is true bio-immersion: you walk and picnic into the animals’ world. In downtown Valencia, Africa comes alive: savannas, baobabs, and roaming wildlife, poof! the city has vanished.
TWO: Turia – the riverbed transformed into park
Turia is the ultimate urban playground. The river that once flooded the city was redirected and its dry bed transformed into nine kilometers of pure delight: orange trees and fountains, playgrounds and bike paths, bridges that tell the story of centuries, and futuristic wonders like the City of Arts and Sciences rising at the far end. It’s Valencia’s living room, garden, and stage all at once, where locals jog, picnic, flirt, nap, or simply wander.
THREE: Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias
Valencia’s futuristic cultural complex has stolen the show in a city that is already filled with all kinds of wonders. Calatrava’s Hemisfèric, shaped like a giant eye, houses an IMAX cinema, planetarium, and laserium. The Science Museum invites hands-on exploration ad literam: it’s science made playground, perfect for curious minds of any age. The Oceanogràfic is Europe’s largest aquarium, with underwater tunnels where sharks, rays, and tropical fish swim overhead. Once you’ve done visiting, take a stroll the landscaped grounds and reflective pools to capture the best shots.
FOUR: Valencian treats
Agua de Valencia – don’t let the name fool you, this is no mineral water. It’s the city’s own golden potion: cava or champagne shaken up with vodka, gin, and the sweetest Valencian orange juice. Best served icy cold in a jug, it’s meant for sharing – though one round often turns into three. Light, sparkling, deceptively innocent… until it isn’t. Pair it with Valencia’s culinary highlights: traditional paella cooked over a wood fire with rabbit, chicken, and fresh local vegetables, fideuà (a noodle version of paella) by the harbor, and horchata with fartons for a sweet twist. The rest is tapas.
FIVE: Jardin Monforte
Of all the parks and green spaces in the city, Jardín de Monforte is Valencia’s secret garden. Tucked away behind walls, it’s a neoclassical fantasy of marble statues, trimmed hedges, fountains, and pavilions. It’s the kind of place where lovers kiss, an afternoon walk feels intimate, and you suddenly understand why the 19th-century bourgeoisie built themselves little Edens like this.
SIX: Estació del Nord
Estació del Nord in Valencia is more than a pretty train station, it’s a celebration. Step inside and make sure you don’t miss your train: you’re dazzled by Art Nouveau splash: ceramic mosaics, orange blossoms, palm motifs, and agricultural symbols – a nod to Valencia’s identity as the land of oranges and light. Look up and around: ornate chandeliers, patterned floors, elegant wooden details and soaring ceilings will make even a quick transfer feel like a grand entrance.
SEVEN: Cabanyal-Malvarossa beach
I think this might be the best city beach in Europe. It’s so vast, and wide, and open, with enough space for the whole city to play without that cramped tourist-beach feel. The promenade hums with cafés, horchaterías, and local life. Cabanyal is the chatty, traditional part with colorful houses and a village feel; Malvarrosa stretches further east, calmer, perfect for long walks along supersoft sand and superblue sea and a zen state of mind.
EIGHT Palacio Dos Aguas
Maybe the most beautiful building in Valencia and surely the most mysterious and theatrical. The Gothic bones were dressed up in full Rococo excess, crowned by that outrageous alabaster entrance with two sexy river gods spilling water. Inside, gilded salons and frescoed ceilings lead into the Ceramics Museum, where medieval tiles sit next to Picasso. Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas is pure over-the-top splendor, and absolutely unmissable.
NINE: Ciutat Vella
Valencia’s old quarter is the labyrinth you need. Every corner is a delightful hide-and-seek: the silk-exchange Gothic grandeur of La Lonja, the baroque swagger of palaces and churches, the Moorish traces woven into alleyways, and cafés spilling out into sunlit plazas. At its heart, Plaza de la Virgen is where everyone eventually ends up, day or night, and Barrio del Carmen is the quarter that never sleeps – gritty, buzzing, full of tapas bars, street art, and the kind of nightlife that tumbles into morning. It’s messy, alive, unapologetically Mediterranean. It’s you.
