Valencia City In Three Days. My Favourite Parts

For the past couple of decades, mum and I have enjoyed a once-a-year mini holiday in Valencia. It has become an annual habit and would seem odd if we didn’t get our fix of this fabulous city at least once a year. Our last few visits have been during the January sales. We started going at this time of year when we owned the shop. January was our quietest month and after an exhausting Christmas period we would reward ourselves with a spot of retail therapy along with a few nights in a jolly nice hotel.

Until this year we have continued to visit Valencia in January, but due to restrictions we had to reschedule our trip to March. And I’m glad we did. Without the allure of the “rebajas” we spent our time frequenting all our favourite spots that we’ve come to love over the past years. And as you’ve possibly gathered, I’m going to tell you all about them 😁.

It’s hard to know where to start. I was even thinking of writing part one and part two posts, there are that many places we love. But I shall keep my writing brief and mainly share a few (hundred) photos with some info along the way. I hope you like them.

First off, a few photos of the city centre, including the Town Hall Square, the train station and anything else I think fits into this category.

Carrying on from the Town Hall square we go deeper into Valencia’s historical centre. I love wandering around these streets, admiring old buildings, perusing the stalls in the “Mercat Central” (a great indoor market) and generally savouring the ambience of the old town. The “Barrio Del Carmen” is the centre of the historic quarter, its bohemian, arty vibe is what I love most. Quirky shops and chic eateries are to be found amongst its labyrinth of streets. A wonderful area to get lost for a few hours (and we normally do).

Trending

The Albir Lighthouse Walk And Lunch At The Indian Restaurant “Tiffin”

Gosh, so many photos and I’m not even half way through. As I mentioned in the previous paragraph before all these pics (such a long time ago), we love to have a nose at the different produce in the Mercado Central. It’s not quite as grand as “La Boquería” (Barcelona’s famous municipal indoor market) but it’s still worth visiting. Construction began in 1914 but due to disagreements and modifications, the building wasn’t finished until January 1928.

On the edge of the historical centre are the only two city gate towers that remain from the ancient walled city of Valencia, the Torres de Serrano and the Torres de Quart. They’ve stood alone since the city walls were demolished at the end of the XIX century. On our last visit we were just about to pass through the Torres de Quart, heading to our next favourite spot, when we noticed that the towers were open to visitors and the entrance was free. Can’t miss an opportunity like that!

Once we’d seen all there was to see we were looking forward to visiting one of our favourite parts of Valencia, one that provides Valencia with some much needed oxygen. I have visited the Jardín Botánico (botanic gardens) four times now, I wouldn’t mind if I visit another 4 either. With all the hustle and bustle in Spain’s third largest city, the gardens are a wonderful way to wind down, relax and enjoy the restorative powers of nature.

The entrance fee is 2,50€. Pensioners, students and kids between 7 and 16 benefit from the reduced rate of 1,50€ and for children under 7 the entrance is free. Extremely reasonable rates for such delightful gardens. They date back to the XVI century, plants and trees from all over the world extend over 4 hectares “más o menos”. This is the link to their webpage (there is an option to read it in English) with all the information you could ever wish to know about its history, collections, research and also cultural events that take place inside. It is the setting for a summertime jazz festival as well as numerous events throughout the year. You can also see timetables, maps, etc.

After we’d recharged our batteries amongst all this glorious flora we were ready to take on the city once again, including some modern culture in our holiday. The IVAM is Valencia’s museum of modern art (website here). We hadn’t been for a few years and seeing as it’s relatively close to the botanic gardens we thought we’d pop by to see what the current exhibitions were. I don’t know much about art but I love to see and appreciate it, especially more modern art. I was lucky enough to visit the Reina Sofía museum in Madrid 10 years ago or so. Walking into the room where Pablo Picasso’s Guernica adorned the wall just blew my mind. Here’s a wee tour of what we saw on our last trip to the IVAM.

There was one more exhibition but we didn’t have much time left so had to give it a miss. If you enjoy modern art it’s worth checking out the IVAM when you’re in Valencia next. Entrance was free when we went although if you look on their website there is usually an entrance fee, unless you go on certain days. We didn’t go on any of the days that you don’t need to pay so I’m not sure why we didn’t have to. I’m not moaning though.

The last of our favourite parts of the city (at least that I’ll mention on this post) is the “Jardín del Turia”, another of Valencia’s oxygen producers. The 9km long garden is built on the former Turia riverbed and is another great place to take a break from city madness. There are separate tracks for cyclists, runners and walkers. Also hundreds of metres of grassy areas where you’ll see people practicing yoga, Tai-Chi, pilates, etc. I suppose it’s Valencia’s largest outdoor gymnasium. We just like to stroll along it, walking under the 18 different historical bridges that cross over the old riverbed. Some of these bridges date back to the XV and XVI century. The riverbed links all kinds of places not to be missed in Valencia so if you have time this is a fantastic way to get from one to another.

Well, I’ve almost reached the end of our wonderful little break. As you can imagine, we did rather a lot of walking. To keep our energy levels high we visited some of our favourite cafés and restaurants. To end this post I shall share with you the places we like to frequent for some much needed calories. Also our hotel of choice to stay at when we visit Valencia, you need to have a decent night’s sleep when you’re walking for miles every day 😊.

One of our favourite restaurants just happens to be vegetarian. Restaurante Oslo (website here) serves a weekly lunch menu for 11,90€ (plus drinks). This is pittance considering the elaboration of their dishes. The menu changes daily and the options always surprise me. It’s just that little bit different but scrumptious all the same. Thankfully you don’t have to choose from the starters, they serve all 3. But it’s so hard to have to decide between the different choice of main course and dessert. There are usually 2 main courses so we mostly order both and share. The difficulty comes with the puddings though. Usually there is a choice of 3!!

Some of the menu is gluten free or has an option to be gluten free. There are vegan dishes too. They also have quite an extense a la carte menu. We love eating there so much, we went twice on this last trip 😁. Here’s a few photos of the restaurant and the food. Enjoy.

We couldn’t eat out at night due to restrictions so we’d have a snack in our room. One restaurant I must mention though is San Tommaso (website here), Pep’s favourite Italian. It sits in the heart of the Barrio del Carmen and has wonderful pizzas and pasta, along with other Italian delicacies. It can be quite hard to get a table and they didn’t use to accept reservations. I think that might have changed though but can’t be sure.

If you’re after a drink that will keep you going for a few hours, Horchata is a good option. I spoke about it in my post here, also including a recipe to make it. Tiger nuts are the main ingredient, it’s a wonderful way to cool and fuel the body. Alboraya, a town just outside Valencia, is home to this delicious drink. Daniel is a famous horchatería in Alboraya and it just so happens they have 2 little cafés in Valencia. One is a little take-away shop on the C/ San Vicente Mártir. The other, my favourite one, is in the Mercat de Colón.

The Mercat de Colón (website here) was built between 1914 and 1916. It’s full of cafés, horchaterías and gastrobars as they like to call them. I love this building and always try and go for one of my favourite drinks whenever I’m in Valencia. Thankfully we made it this time.

There are more horchaterías dotted about Valencia. The previous day we tried one from another famous horchatería, Santa Catalina. This establishment won an award for best flavour ice cream in 2018. I haven’t tried it. Yet. Another ice cream parlour that won an award for best flavour is Véneta. It’s also in the old town and is well worth going now the weather is warming up nicely.

But there are literally hundreds of bars, cafés and restaurants that need to be sampled in this great city. I’m hoping to go again in the not too distant future and have a meander round the old town, in search of new eateries. But for now I’ll relish the memories of our last little trip there. Cheers.

Talking of hotels, we’ve stayed at the Vincci Lys (website here) during most of our holidays in Valencia. It’s right in the centre and has parking underneath (for a fee, of course) so you can shove all your stuff in the lift and take it right up to your room. Staff are helpful and friendly and, although we’ve stayed in other great hotels in Valencia we always end up coming back to this one.

Right, I think that just about sums up our short break so I’ll say cheerio for now. Let me know what your favourite parts of Valencia are, I’m always eager to find new ones. Thanks for reading. Any questions or suggestions please don’t hesitate to get in touch, we’d love to hear from you. Take care you lot. See you soon. Lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx