Eviva Valencia

Esther Linares
3 feb 2022
3 minuten om te lezen

Our trip to Valencia was a last-minute trip and I’m so glad we visited this beautiful city. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain and often underestimated compared to the famous city Barcelona. It’s the kind of place that’s filled with thousand of years of history but it also has a totally modern side. We managed to see all the monuments and hidden treasures in Valencia.

How did we do this? Before we left I looked up some things we definitely wanted to see or do. We just explored the city on our own. Since I’m half Spanish it was easy for me to ask something to the inhabitants. My boyfriend also likes geocaching a lot so while doing this, we discovered more places in Valencia.

We purchased a Valencia tourist card because we were going to spend 4 days in Valencia. This card gives you discounts for museums, tours, restaurants and unlimited use of public transportation.

I highlighted the most important things below.

Futuristic Valencia

We spend our first day soaking up the futuristic part of Valencia, as it’s known as one of the 12 treasures of Spain. This futuristic complex was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava (except l’Océanografic) and it’s extremely beautiful. During summer, you can also do some activities in the water that surrounds the building like kayak or paddleboard. Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias is one of the most popular attractions in Valencia. We’ve spend a full day exploring this part with an e-bike admiring Jardín del Turia and we also visited the largest aquarium in Europe with more than 40,000 animals. The highlight in L'Oceanogràfic was definitely the glass walk through enclosure. There’s also a restaurant where you are surrounded by sharks and fishes.

Ancient Valencia

Plaza de Toros - this place is inspired by the Colloseum architecture and it’s a very busy attraction. The most important bullfights take place during the Fallas festivities and in July "La Feria de Julio".
Torres de Serranos - this monument was one of the 12 gates built as part of the city’s defence structure. These gates surrounded the city and to this day, only two of them still exist: the one to the north of the city and Torres de Quart to the west. When standing on the top of this building, you could even see Jardín del Turia and above all, it was free to visit with a tourist card.
Plaza de la Virgen - you can’t miss Plaza de la Virgen, it’s surrounded by some of the iconic buildings like the Valencia Cathedral and Torre del Micalet. Valencia’s impressive cathedral is the most prominent landmark in the old town and features a famous painting by Goya. If you want to have the best view of Valencia, Torre del Micalet is your place to be. You’ll need to climb approximately 200 steps to reach the top but the view is definitely worth it though.
Mercado Central - visit this place for the best local fruits, vegetables and fresh caught fish. In my opinion this is a good option when staying in an airbnb. We drank some fresh juice and ate a bocadillo con jamon serrano *chefs kiss* 👌🏼