Madrid Community Region Guide

The Valencian Community has 500 kilometres of Mediterranean coast, the dish everyone thinks they know, and one of the most striking pieces of modern architecture in Europe.

Valencia itself is the reason to come: a city with a medieval core, a dry riverbed turned into nine kilometres of park running through its middle, Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences at one end, and a food culture that takes paella extremely seriously because this is where it was invented.

The coast runs from the quiet coves of the Costa del Azahar down through the Albufera wetland to the high-rise beaches of Benidorm and the cliffs and calas around Javea and Altea.

And in March the region burns several hundred enormous satirical sculptures in the street, which is worth planning a year around.

Valencia

The City of Arts and Sciences, Calatrava’s white complex of opera house, science museum, aquarium and planetarium in a shallow pool; the Gothic Lonja de la Seda, the silk exchange, UNESCO-listed and one of the finest civil Gothic buildings anywhere; the cathedral; and the Mercado Central, an iron-and-tile modernist market hall still doing its job.

The Turia

The river was diverted after the 1957 flood and its bed turned into a linear park running right through the city — nine kilometres of gardens, orange trees, sports pitches and a playground shaped like Gulliver, crossed by the old bridges.

The Albufera

A freshwater lagoon south of the city among rice paddies, best at sunset by flat-bottomed boat, with lunch at El Palmar.

The coast

Javea, Altea and Calpe for cliffs and coves; Benidorm for the spectacle of it; Peniscola for a sea castle.

Inland

Morella’s walled hill town, the Guadalest valley, and the caves at Canelobre.

The Valencian Community has its own language, its own institutions and a strong sense of not being Catalonia and not being Madrid.

Valencian

The regional language is a variety of Catalan, co-official with Spanish, used in schools, media and signage. Whether to call it Valencian or Catalan is a long-running and genuinely heated political argument, and the diplomatic answer is to use the name locals use.

Fire and noise

Valencian festival culture is built around gunpowder. The mascleta — a daytime display designed to be felt in the chest rather than watched — is a regional speciality, and correfocs, fireworks and bonfires run through the calendar from Fallas in March to the Fogueres de Sant Joan in June.

The huerta

The irrigated market gardens around the city are over a thousand years old and are still governed in part by the Water Court, which meets outside the cathedral every Thursday.

Coastal and inland

The coast is international and tourist-facing; the inland comarcas are conservative, agricultural and much less visited.

Water is the constraint here. The region is semi-arid and irrigated agriculture, tourism and a growing population compete for a diminishing supply. Short showers, no filled pools where a sign asks otherwise, and awareness that the green of the huerta is entirely artificial.

The Albufera is a fragile lagoon and rice-growing wetland with important bird populations. Use licensed boatmen, keep to the channels, and go at dusk rather than in the middle of the day.

Overtourism is a live issue on parts of the Costa Blanca and increasingly in Valencia, where short-term rentals have squeezed housing. Staying in licensed accommodation and eating away from the main squares both help.

Las Fallas produces a great deal of smoke and waste in five days; the commissions have shifted toward less toxic materials, and one ninot from each is pardoned and kept.

Buy oranges and produce from local markets rather than supermarkets; the smallholdings are under pressure.

April to June and September to October are the best months: warm, swimmable from late May, and without the July and August crowds.

15 to 19 March is Las Fallas, when Valencia fills and burns. Book many months ahead and expect no sleep.

July and August are hot, humid and very busy, with the coast at capacity and the city emptying of locals in August. Sea temperatures peak around 27°C.

November to February is mild rather than cold — days around 16 to 18°C, plenty of sun, and the city at its most liveable. Some coastal resorts shut down.

Late August to October is the gota fria season, when torrential storms can drop a season’s rain in a day.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Relative cost across the region

The region is noticeably cheaper than Barcelona or Madrid, and the menu del dia — three courses with wine at lunch for around 12 to 15 euros — remains one of the best-value meals in Europe.