If you only have 1 day in Valencia you’re going to need to have a plan to ensure you don’t miss out on any of the main attractions. This article will help you figure out what to see and do in Spain’s third largest city. 

You’ll notice that I’ve also included some tour recommendations to help you best utilise your time should you be someone who enjoys guided tours.

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What are the highlights of Valencia?

Fallas

✅ You can’t consider a trip to Valencia without knowing about the Fallas – an annual celebration from 15 – 19 March where there are processions, fireworks, parties and more. The Fallas are held to celebrate the arrival of spring (originally with the burning of old furniture) and to commemorate Saint Joseph of Valencia.

I imagine that the Fallas are to Valencia as Feria is to Sevilla. The Fallas was declared a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2016. 

🔥 You’ll find fallas (monuments) across the city. These monuments consist of sculptures (ninots) that tell a satirical story – often of current affairs. On the 19th March the sculptures are all burned. On the 18th March is Nit del Foc (Night of Fire) and on the 17th and 18th it is the Offering of Flowers to the Virgin of the Forsaken. If you’re in town for this you’ll see thousands of people in traditional costume parading in the streets.

El Tribunal de las Aguas

💦 The Aguas de la Vega meets at midday every Thursday at the Apostles Gate by the cathedral. If your one day in Valencia happens to fall on a Thursday, don’t miss this peculiar Valencian tradition. It was established in the Roman era and has been solving water conflicts between farmers ever since. In 2009 it was recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage.  

➕ This could be a deciding factor if you’re trying to decide between visiting Valencia or Seville – I didn’t get to see this tradition and wish I had.

Ciutat de les Artes i les Ciències / City of Arts and Sciences

✅ For many, the highlight of Valencia is the City of Arts and Sciences at one end of the gorgeous Turia Gardens (Parc del Túria). Here you will find Valencia’s science museum, Europe’s largest aquarium, the Hemisiferic Imax theatre, the Queen Sofia Palace of Arts (and opera house) and the Caixa Forum. 

The modern architecture (by Santiago Calatrava) is most definitely worth seeing but if you’re not exploring Valencia with kids I wouldn’t recommend spending too much time here.

➡️ We spent 2 full days in this area and although we loved the beautiful architecture, we felt that the science museum was not as good as others we’ve visited. The kids did enjoy aspects of it but there were plenty of moments where they were just hitting buttons for the hell of it. It certainly didn’t hold their excitement like the science museums we’ve visited in Mexico or other parts of Europe. 

🐠 The aquarium is large and generally considered to be excellent. However, I was disappointed to find beluga whales in miserable conditions and dolphin being made to perform. I thought we’d moved on from whales and dolphins in captivity. It did provide a good opportunity to talk to our children about how we treat animals, I guess.

⭐️ My recommendation is to take a stroll around these futuristic structures and the park but don’t make this the focus of your 1 day in Valencia unless you’re visiting with children. If you have 2 days in Valencia, use one of them here.

➕ If you are in town with kids, don’t miss the free Gulliver’s Travels playground about a 15 minute walk from here.

Valencia Ciutat Vella (Historic Old Town of Valencia)

If you have time, I recommend beginning your 1 day Valencia itinerary with a walking tour. This will help you to get your bearings in this gorgeous old city. 

If you aren’t into walking tours, be sure you don’t miss the following as your wander around the city.

Valencia Cathedral

✅ Valencia’s 13th century cathedral, like so many others around the world, was built atop earlier religious sites – first there was a Roman temple on this spot and later a mosque.

🏆 The cathedral is interesting to visit (although, honestly, I did not visit) because it holds some important Renaissance art as well as pieces by the likes of Goya. Apparently there’s also a Holy Chalice in the cathedral. The Vatican claims it was used by Jesus at the Last Supper so there’s that.

🔔 If you do choose to visit, don’t miss out on climbing the Miguelete tower, the cathedral’s bell tower. Quite apart from the fabulous views from the top of the tower, climbing gives you the opportunity to also see another local tradition that has been declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO: the manual ringing of the bells. In the Miguelete tower you’ll get to see one of the best sets of Gothic bells in Spain including a bell from 1305. 

Mercado Central (Central Market)

This is the largest market in Europe and its fresh produce is outstanding. Even if you don’t care much for Spanish markets, the beautiful building is worth exploring. As ever with Spanish markets, go in the morning to see it at its bustling busiest.

La Lonja de la Seda (Silk Exchange)

This gorgeous 15th century building is Valencia’s only UNESCO World Heritage Site (unlike Córdoba, which has multiple UNESCO sites). Here, silk and olive oil were traded.

The courtyard is delightfully full of orange trees and the main hall, the Columnario, will take your breath away (if you like old buildings). If you want to climb the Silk Exchange tower (I did) then you’ll need to be brave and make a phone call -695 500 290- to reserve your spots. I didn’t know this so just showed up expecting to be allowed up. I was not.

Top Tip: Every Sunday (10 am – 1 pm) you’ll find a flea market outside the Lonja. 

Museu de Prehistorìa de València

🗿 This free museum might not be how many choose to spend their one day in the centre of Valencia but it really is fabulous. We spent a good few hours here learning about the region’s history from its first inhabitants right up to the extremely moving exhibition about the Spanish Civil War and the thoughtful exhibition about the excesses of the modern world.

If you’re interested in history and love a museum, I highly recommend carving out a few hours for this place (and it’s free!).

⭐️ Check out this complete list of museums in Valencia

Climb the defensive walls

Anyone visiting Valencia must climb at least one of these two gates, knees permitting, of course. The views over the city from both are great.

Torres dels Serrans

This 14th century gate and part of the medieval wall offers wonderful views over the city from the tower and the architecture of this defensive structure is a joy to behold. 

Portal del Quart

We climbed this section of the wall and had a great time marvelling at the views and taking photos on the Escher like stairs. 

Apart from the Torres dels Serrans, this is the only remaining medieval entrance to city of Valencia. It was built in the 15th century.

➕Walking from here down Calle Quart to the centre is a perfect way to get a feel for this lovely city. 

La Almoina Museum

We didn’t have time to visit this incredible museum but next time I’m in Valencia I’ll be sure to check it out. It is home to a collection of archaeological remains that include Roman ruins that were discovered on this site. 

What else might you see with 1 day in Valencia?

➡️ While you’re strolling around town admiring the historic architecture, quickly check out the Plaza Redonda, the Plaza de la Reina and the Plaza de la Virgen, all delightful plazas in which to sit and watch the world go by.

➡️ Be sure to keep your eyes open for street art in Valencia as there is plenty to enjoy. 

➡️ If you enjoy gardens and nature, there is a Botanical Garden and the Parc del Turìa, the large park that winds around the city. Both are delightful for a stroll.

  

What to eat in Valencia

Paella

🥘 With only 1 day in Valencia you can’t try everything and you’re unlikely to have more than 2 sit down meals in the city. Obviously, at least one of these meals needs to be paella since this is where it comes from.

We chose to eat ours at Restaurante Pizca del Sal next to the Portal del Quart and it was fabulous. 

There are seafood, meat and vegetarian paella options.

Horchata de Chufa

For my family, horchata is a Mexican rice-based drink so it was interesting to find this sweet drink for sale in Valencia. Here it is made from tiger nuts, which is actually the root of a wetland plant called a sedge.

It’s generally drunk accompanied by a sweet pastry. 

We tried it on the plaza as we walked around the city but then we came across the gorgeous Horchateria de Santa Catalina that was certainly grabbing everyone’s attention. 

Where next? 

🏖 The beach

If you’ve only had 1 day in Valencia you’re unlikely to have used it visiting Valencia’s beaches even though there are beaches within walking distance of the city (Malvarrosa beach for example).

The autonomous region of Valencia has 520 km of coastline so you have your pick of beaches to explore while in the area. The big names include Benidorm and Alicante, which have long been enormously popular beach holiday destinations.

Smaller beach towns such as Calp and Altea are also easily visited from Valencia and make for great next destinations.

🏙 Cities

Using public transport (buses or trains) or hiring a car, it’s easy enough to reach other excellent city destinations from Valencia.

Getting Around Valencia

Walking

Valencia is a city of around 800,000 people. As you enter the city it feels huge and bustling (and indeed, it is the 3rd largest city in Spain after Madrid and Barcelona) but the areas that tourists are likely to visit are quite compact and mostly walkable.

Public transportation

Valencia has both a decent bus service and metro. If you buy a Valencia tourist card it includes access to the public transport systems. There is even a special beach bus (to Pinedo and El Saler) that leaves the centre of Valencia (called the Shady). Ask in the Tourist Information for more details.

Getting to and from Valencia

🚂 Valencia’s train station is called Estació del Nord and it’s nicely central to the city. The metro stop for this station is Xàtiva.

🚌 The main bus station (Estación de Autobuses) in Valencia is on Avenida Menéndez Pidal. The nearest metro is Turia and the direct bus to the airport is #150 from this bus station.

✈️ Valencia’s airport is a short 20 minute drive from the city centre or 30 minutes from Xàtiva metro station.