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A guide to Valencia: European Green Capital 2024

Spain’s third-largest city is a hub of local gastronomy, culture and the outdoors. Here’s how to make the most of it…

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Words by Laura Field

Photo by Laura Field

Valencia is green by nature – and now also by title, crowned European Green Capital 2024. The seeds were sown when the Turia River was redirected around the city after a flood in 1957. Valencia’s citizens rejected the motorway proposed to run along the river’s former course, which was instead transformed into a 9km-long park, Turia Garden, now the city’s lungs.

 

Valencia has blended past and present with ease – for evidence, just gaze from the 14th-century Serranos Towers to the ultra-modern City of Arts and Sciences. Then there are the city’s profuse natural gifts. Nourished by the Mediterranean sun, Valencia is fringed by the sea, rice fields, orange groves and Albufera Natural Park, a protected area of coastal lagoon that hums with birdlife.

 

Experiencing these delights is now easier and more sustainable than ever, thanks to four Green Routes designed to showcase the Green Capital. One roams the 120ha expanse of the Turia Garden; the second explores the historic centre; the third uses bike or public transport to delve into Valencia’s fertile and beautiful hinterland. A fourth integrates highlights of the other three for a succinct introduction to this verdant city.

Photo by Laura Field

Marvel at diverse architecture

Valencia is undeniably spectacular. The futuristic City of Arts and Sciences transformed the urban skyline when it was completed in 2009, but this complex has substance to back up the flash. Within lies L’Umbracle, which houses plant species native to Valencia; the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, an opera house and performing arts centre; and the Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, which offers an interactive take on a science museum.


This sense of discovery continues across the city squares. Near Plaza de la Reina lies the Gothic Valencia Cathedral, which is thought by some to be home to the real Holy Grail, while the Plaza del Mercado is the setting for Valencia’s bustling Art Nouveau food market. Even more invitingly, many of these plazas have been pedestrianised in recent years, making them more pleasant to stroll and helping lower emissions for the city.

Photo by Marisa Cornelsen

Photo by Shuishi Pan

Photo by Juan Gomez

Taste fresh local flavours

Food miles are important here. Valencia has been the birthplace of several culinary gems, including paella. The local take includes rabbit, chicken, veg and more, which would traditionally all have come from La Huerta (The Orchard), the vast belt of farmland that lies on the outskirts of the city. For many local restaurants today, this is still the case.

 

Valencia is also home to vibrant orange trees, so try sampling some freshly squeezed juice or Agua de Valencia, a cocktail from the city that fuses fresh orange juice with Cava (plus gin and vodka for the more ambitious).

Traditional Valencian paella

Traditional Valencian paella at La Marítima restaurant (Laura Field)

Learn about heritage crafts

Make the most of Valencia’s artisans. This is a city of crafts, and the small boutiques and ateliers are a link to its past. Ensedarte, for example, sells naturally dyed and hand-painted silk garments that hark back to Valencia’s history as a key port on the Silk Route.

 

Elsewhere, the González Martí National Ceramics Museum is a great place to spend a few hours admiring porcelain and ceramic works, as well as other decorative arts such as textiles, furniture and traditional costumes.

Lady painting on a table

Ensedarte workshop and boutique

Photo by Dave Galifianakis

Albufera Natural Park (Laura Field)

Go boating on a wetland lagoon

Albufera Natural Park is a biodiversity treasure trove just 10km from the city centre. Surrounded by rice paddies, this is where paella was born and adventures are found.

 

Guided boat tours of the Albufera lagoon, the largest freshwater lagoon in Spain, reveal the depth of its diverse birdlife as well as the traditions of the local fishermen, who have worked in these waters for generations. Best seen at sunset, this park provides one final example of just why this city is so green.

Boat sailing in the river with a pink sky drop

Need to know

Getting there & around

It’s possible to fly directly to Valencia from London and Manchester airports. The flight takes 2 hours and 15 minutes from London. Valencia is just under two hours by train from Madrid, and about five hours by ferry to Ibiza. The Valencia Tourist Card can be bought for 24, 48 or 72 hours (£13–21) and includes free entry to municipal museums and monuments, as well as free public transport around the city.

Photo by Jonny James

Where to stay

For accommodation, Hotel Puerta Serranos (doubles from £120pn) is a lovely boutique hotel that lies next to the Serranos Towers in the historic centre. Parador de El Saler (doubles from £175pn) is a splendid beachfront hotel set within Albufera Natural Park.

Languages

The region has its own dialect, Valencian, which is similar to Catalan, but most people in the city will likely speak Spanish.

Photo by Lynn Van den Broeck

Event

Valencia comes alive every March for its Fallas Festival, a celebration of the coming of spring involving fireworks, light shows, dancing and parades. UNESCO has declared this festival to be part of Spain’s Intangible Cultural Heritage, and locals painstakingly prepare the costumes, dresses and sculptures that are key to the festivities.

Glossary

The quality of being able to continue over a period of time, or the avoidance of the depletion of natural resources in order to maintain an ecological balance (Camrbdige Dictionary).

This refers to ‘the variability of living organisms, between and within species, and the changeability of the ecosystems to which they belong’ (The Convention on Biological Diversity).
According to the Responsible Tourism Partnership, ‘Responsible Tourism requires that operators, hoteliers, governments, local people and tourists take responsibility, and take action to make tourism more sustainable. Behaviour can be more or less responsible, and what is responsible in a particular place depends on environment and culture’. The concept was defined in Cape Town in 2002 alongside the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
The process of protecting an environment and returning it to its natural state; for example, bringing back wild animals that used to live there (Cambridge Dictionary).
A movement reducing the distance between producers and sales and consumer establishments to a radius of under 100 kilometres, with the aim of minimising the effects that large-scale industry have on the planet, including soil erosion, water pollution, and habitat loss for wild species.
Being ‘green’ is used to describe actions or initiatives that are conducted in a sustainable way, in an attempt to reduce impact on planetary resource limits. However, the word can be used to describe actions or initiatives that do not actively do this, but rather convey an ethos of being planet-friendly; eg being outside, walking or riding a bike. This can be considered ‘greenwashing’ (when an individual or company paints an action as credibly sustainable when, in fact, it is an action that beenfits them, or that should be considered the bare minimum).