Can anyone give me their impressions and feelings about Valencia? I'll be near that region soon, it'll be my big city near the place where I'll be living.

What kind of.. ahmm.. world seems to exist there? Conservative? Liberal? Very Spanish? Kind of European? Many immigration from other places? Is there a gypsy population? Are there many tourists and foreigners who live or visit there? How does it compare to Barcelona or Madrid? etc.

Hi Sunspot, you are very likely to have a ball in Valencia, and come away liking it very much. It a smaller city, and is not as popular as other cities of course, but it has a bit of everything, and of course you aren't far away from Madrid by train, (or anywhere else by plane from Manises airport). See my website page on Valencia - www.edhuse.com/Valencia.html

Sunspot,

I’ve been in Valencia twice. In the fall of 1987 I spent a semester studying at the Universidad de Valencia and in the summer of 2000 I revisited the city for a day with my wife (it was 3 hours or so by train from Madrid).

I defer to GuiaGuiri’s expert review of the city (his website is worth seeing). I think Valencia is a great city if you want a genuine feel for Spain’s history and culture. There are loads of historical sites, the older sections of the city are well preserved, the beach is convenient to get to (I loved El Saler) and, as I recall nightlife was great. I believe that during weekdays there’s a great open air market around the corner from the Estació del Nord train station. My wife and I found some of the vendors a little pushy, but we scored some great deals.

Definitely make an effort to see Valencia.

Answering your questions:

Valencia is smaller than Barcelona or Madrid and cannot be compared to these cities. Its population is about 800.000 people or maybe a little more.

It's not as cosmopolitan as Barcelona neither as full of places to visit as Madrid. It hasn't many restaurants or theaters. Despite the traffic is horrible and parking is difficult (even being not a great capitol), it is a more calm city than Madrid or Barcelona, usually has sunny weather -the winter is not very cold- and it can be a nice city to walk through or to go to the beach. Not as beautiful as castillian or northern cities, but taking a walk won't be unpleasant. Especially through the "river", that is, the former Turia river's bed, which was dried some years ago and fullfilled with a park of some kilometers long (this park is usually called "el río", The River)which ends at the Oceanogràfic aquarium.

The city is not very popular among tourists, except during the "Fallas" celebration (march 14-19th). You know, when they build those colored wood and paper sculptures all over the cities (about 400 "fallas" are built, and about 300 little infantile "fallas"), and then burn the sculptures on march 29th (St. Joseph). In those days, the city is full of people -specially the town center-, many streets are closed to traffic, and many people throws firecrackers. Don't miss the "Fallas" celebration, I guess you'll enjoy it.

Of course, the meal to eat is the paella. Tourist use to prefer the seafood paella, but ideally the best thing is to find someone who cook a real traditional valencian paella, with chicken, and, if you like it, rabbit and, rarely but advisable, duck.

I don't think that Valencia represent exactly the idea that a tourist have about a "typical spanish city" (for example Toledo, Cádiz, Segovia, etc...) , and it's not a cosmopolitan city with many touristic places like Madrid or Barcelona, and is not a small pretty city sorrounded by beautiful landscapes as some cities in northern Spain. But it's a sunny city with an easy walkthrough. There are some places to see, maybe not the usual touristic spots, but you could, for example, take a small boat trip through the Albufera or visit some not well-known old buildings and small art museums.

Don't miss the "Oceanogràfic", actually the largest aquarium in Europe.

Some "Río" park views.

The "Music Palace".


The "Hemisfèric" (Imax teather) and "Science Museum" buildings.


Some city views

The "Quart Towers", an ancient city wall remaining entrance (the wall was destroyed).


The "Serrano Towers", another city wall entrance.


The "Micalet" or "Miguelete" ("Little Michael") tower, from 1400.


The train station, at the left, almost out from the picture, the "Plaza de Toros" (bullring)


"Plaza de la Virgen" (virgin square)

The city hall.


"La Malvarosa", the Valencia town's beach.


"Port Saplaya" neiborhood, some kind of "little Venice" in the Valencia's north sorroundings .


More Port Saplaya.


"La Albufera" lake, with and old typical (and in these days, rare) valencian peasant's house, the "barraca".


Taking a small boat trip on the Albufera.


An aerial view.

During Las Fallas

Hey, MadridMan, do you like street lights? take a look to Sueca Street's ones.




This is the big city hall Falla, a wood and paper made monument, being visited by people
and ready to be burned (yeah, why?)


A smaller falla. In those days, there are hundreds along the city.


Another one.


Another big falla with Groucho Marx and Woody Allen in it.


Every year, The Virgin's dress is made of fresh flowers offered in a parade by young women and children.


This is a "ninot", the wood figures that are in the fallas. Every year, one of them is saved from
the fire by popular vote, and then is brought to a museum, the "museo fallero", which shows all the previous saved "ninots".

Some other places near Valencia

Sagunto's roman teather.


Sagunto's castle ruins. Mixed roman, arab and medieval spanish ruins. From there, you can watch roman theater from above, and have a good view of sea and oranger's fields.


Cullera Beach. Avoid it in summer (too many people), but I like to go there in spring and fall.


Buñol's castle ruins.


Peñíscola village and its castle.

Some great pictures from Spaniard there!
One thing about Valencia is it is nearly always warm. Okay so you won´t be able to sunbathe in January, but I remember one March there when the temperature reached nearly 30 C.

WOW! Some great pictures in here!!! It definetely seems like a very unique and interesting place. Can't wait to get there.

I do agree with someone else about it not being a tourist destination. Don't know if thats good or bad. I guess since I'll be living there, its probably better, and I can do the tourist thing when I visit the other cities

These pictures are great though!!