Valencia

Valencia is one of Spain’s biggest and most vibrant cities, sitting on the sunny Mediterranean coast where the food is incredible and the people know how to celebrate in style. It is the home of paella, a golden rice dish cooked with saffron that has become famous all over the world — and in Valencia, locals will tell you that nowhere else makes it quite right.

The city has an amazing mix of old and new. You can wander through a stunning Gothic silk exchange with twisted stone columns that spiral up to the ceiling, then step outside and find yourself looking at a futuristic complex of gleaming white buildings housing a planetarium and one of Europe’s largest aquariums. In between, a nine-kilometre ribbon of parks and playgrounds winds through the city where a river used to flow.

Every March, Valencia throws one of the world’s most jaw-dropping festivals, where enormous hand-crafted puppet sculptures are paraded through the streets — then burned in a blazing city-wide bonfire. Valencia is bold, beautiful, and never boring.

Valencia Puzzle Set

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Quick fact

Valencia is Spain's third-largest city and the birthplace of paella, the famous rice dish cooked with saffron, vegetables, and sometimes seafood or chicken.

Fun fact

Every March, Valencia's Las Fallas festival ends with a spectacular night called La Cremà, when hundreds of giant puppet sculptures are set on fire all across the city!

Landmarks

City of Arts and Sciences

This futuristic complex of gleaming white buildings looks like it belongs in a science-fiction film and houses a planetarium, an IMAX cinema, and a huge aquarium.

Valencia Cathedral

Valencia's grand cathedral is said to hold the Holy Grail — the cup that, according to legend, Jesus used at the Last Supper — making it a very famous and special place.

Central Market

One of the biggest and most beautiful food markets in Europe, Valencia's Central Market is housed under a gorgeous mosaic dome and overflows with fresh fruit, vegetables, and seafood.

Turia Gardens

These long, winding gardens were cleverly built inside an old riverbed, giving the city a green ribbon of parks and playgrounds that stretches for nine kilometres.

La Lonja de la Seda

This gorgeous Gothic building was once a busy silk trading hall and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site because of its amazingly tall twisted stone columns.