A river with no water in it
The river on your map of Valencia is dry. After the flood of 1957 the Turia was sent round the south of the city, and its old bed became a sunken park where bridges cross over joggers and football pitches. The white Calatrava buildings everyone photographs stand in that riverbed, so the newest corner of Valencia is, strictly speaking, at the bottom of a river.
Picture-board paella and every ticket at the Ciutat
I would not order paella for dinner from a picture board in the lanes around the Plaça de la Reina. Valencians eat rice at lunch, and a pan that turns up fast at nine in the evening was not cooked for you.
I also would not buy a ticket for every building at the City of Arts and Sciences. The architecture is the show, and walking round it costs nothing. Pick one interior; that ticket also unlocks the €7 day in the car park underneath.
Horchata and fartons behind the cathedral
Horchatería Santa Catalina has served horchata for about two centuries, on the little square behind the Plaça de la Reina, every day 08:15–21:30. Order a horchata, the cold tiger-nut drink, with fartons, the long soft buns you dunk in it. I go mid-afternoon, when the square outside is too hot to stand in.
Register the plate before you cross the Bulevard Sud
The ZBE covers 27.8 km², almost everything inside the Ronda Nord, Avinguda dels Tarongers, Serradora and the Bulevard Sud, 24 hours a day. Article 7.3 of the ordinance is blunt: foreign-registered motor vehicles of any kind must be entered in the municipal register before entering. The procedure is on movilidad.valencia.es, which would not load for me; no fee or waiting time is published. Do it before the trip.
Banned today: cars Spain would rate label A (petrol before 2001, diesel before 2006) registered outside the province, which a foreign plate is. The fine is €200, reduced for prompt payment. From 1 January 2027 the ban reaches the rest of the province, from 1 January 2028 every label-A car.
From the Micalet to the dry riverbed
The Plaça de la Reina is where to start. Rebuilt and reopened in July 2022, it shows you the Micalet, the cathedral's bell tower, and the tower of Santa Catalina from the same spot.
The Mercat Central is a morning sight, open Monday to Saturday 07:30–15:00. Look up: the weathervane is a parrot, a joke about the noise below.
The Llotja de la Seda faces the market: the Gothic silk exchange, steps from the fish stalls.
The Turia gardens are how to cross the city. The old riverbed runs from the centre to the City of Arts and Sciences under a string of bridges; I would walk it rather than drive.
The City of Arts and Sciences is Calatrava and Candela's white complex. Inside the Hemisfèric, two people at opposite pillars can talk quietly to each other. It has been a film set, for Andor among others.
Paella over wood, and lunch in the market
Paella is a lunch dish, and the Valencian original is chicken, rabbit and beans, not seafood. My pick is Casa Carmela at Malvarrosa beach, cooking over a wood fire since 1922, now in its third generation. Ask for the leña when you book.
Quicker: the Central Bar inside the Mercat Central, run by the chef Ricard Camarena. It keeps market hours, so go before three.
A marathon in the riverbed and five days of fire
The Valencia Marathon runs on Sunday 6 December 2026 from 08:15, finishing on the walkway over the water at the City of Arts and Sciences. The city posts road closures the Wednesday before; I would not plan on the Umbracle car park that morning.
Las Fallas peaks 15–19 March 2027. From 1 March the mascletà goes off daily at 14:00 in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament, the flower offering fills 17 and 18 March, and on the night of the 19th the monuments burn. In 2025 the city suspended blue-zone charges from 10 to 20 March and made the orange zone residents-only; the 2027 rules are not announced yet. Streets close for the monuments: a week for València Sud and the metro.
What's on
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 6 December 2026 | Valencia Marathon, from 08:15, finishing on the walkway over the water at the City of Arts and Sciences; road closures posted by the city the Wednesday before |
| 1 January 2027 | The ZBE ban widens to label-A cars registered elsewhere in Valencia province |
| 1–19 March 2027 | Las Fallas: mascletà daily at 14:00 in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament, main days 15–19 March, flower offering 17–18 March, the Cremà on the night of the 19th |