Our 7 Favourite Experiences

in Valencia, Spain

1. Must-do in Valencia: visit the Oceanographic,

it’s the Largest Aquarium in Europe!

One of the symbols and jewels of Valencia, the Oceanographic is a marvelous and gigantic complex of aquariums where it is possible to learn and observe marine species from all over the world.

Sharks, belugas, penguins, giant turtles, seals, eels, and anything you can think of, here there is!

Living corals? Yes!

Giant jellyfish? Yes!

Marine birds? They are there too!

The whole complex counts 17 pools with over 42 million liters of water, and the largest delphinarium in Europe with 24 million liters too.

Me and Isa we’ve been astonished over and over, and we’ve seen plenty of aquariums around the world, but this one was so humongous!

Visitors were many, but still, we never felt overwhelmed by crowds, the management of the spaces has been luckily very thought after!

A visit to the Oceanographic takes at least three hours and I would suggest it for both children and adults too!

In addition to the chance to witness so many different animal species, what we loved was the emphasis and proactivity the aquarium is putting toward promoting the sustainability and preservation of the natural ecosystems (the institute carries out many projects also outside the aquarium!).

All in all, if you’re visiting Valencia, be sure not to miss out on this wonderful learning experience! 🙂

2. Take a Pottery Class and learn

about Valencia’s Pottery Heritage

3. Visit the Cathedral of Valencia

to Witness what is believed to be the True Holy Grail!

The Cathedral of Valencia, also known by locals as “La Seu”, is not your average church, but a stunning and chaotic mix of Gothic, Romanesque, and Baroque styles located in the heart of the city.

Being Italians, me and Isa both grew up surrounded by gigantic churches, and when we are traveling we often skip them as “we saw too many of them!” and we honestly find it hard to still get surprised by churches. 

Still, we gave the Cathedral of Valencia a go, and while not being able to place it in our top 10 of the best European churches, we surely should give it credit: the melting of different styles is impressive, and climbing up its bell tower (“El Miguelete”) offers a great panoramic view of all Valencia.

What got our attention most though, it’s the fact that this cathedral houses what is claimed to be the Holy Grail, the lost chalice used at the Last Supper by Jesus.

So how does it look like such a curious and legendary artifact?

Honestly, it looks damn pretty (it’s held in a transparent box all surrounded by gold)… perhaps way too pretty for how would you imagine glasses were 2000 years ago (here is a photo of the Grail).

Nobody knows for sure if that’s the real and true Holy Grail, some historians agree (time and materials seem just right), while others as often happens disagree.

Still, a short visit to the Cathedral and an eye gaze at the chalice is something interesting to do once in a life, also just to witness a little piece of what is believed to be one of the holiest artifacts in the history of mankind!

4. Get Mezmerized by Contemporary-Art

at the Bombas Gens Art Center

Another hidden gem in Valencia is not so known by tourists: if you like contemporary art, you will love the Bombas! 🙂

Located in a beautifully restored industrial factory, about 30 minutes from the city center, the Bombas Gens Art Center is a space where history, art, and humanity come seamlessly together.

The museum is very sensorial and specializes in digital art.

While there are many interesting sections (an underground wine cellar, a medieval garden, modern art, etc.), the highlight of this place and the reason why you should decide to visit it is a giant virtual reality room, where you can get completely immersed 360° in art.

The theme of the exhibitions varies and evolves with the seasons, during our visit, there was a projection about the history of mankind and ancient Egypt.

The projectors, the music, the colors, the immersion, it’s unbelievable how all flows so well to bring history and art to life!

The VR Room makes you feel like being teleported through worlds, it’s like being the main character of a videogame, hard to explain, but awesome to experience!

All in all, we both LOVED this place and we would recommend it for an hour in Valencia!

Last but not least, I was almost forgetting: the access is 13Euro (9,50 reduced ticket) and it includes a guided tour to help visitors savor at best their experience! 🙂

5. Hunt for Treasures in the

1-Euro Second-Hand Flea Markets in Ruzafa

We already talked about how bustling the Ruzafa neighborhood was: every time we crossed this place, there was always something catching our eye.

One morning, while talking about the science museums, we took a detour in Rufaza as we noticed Flea 2nd-hand Market (Isa LOVES clothes and 2nd-hand!), and long story short we spent almost 90 minutes treasure-hunting! 🙂

The Flea market in Rufaza offered endless tables of second-hand goodies—all for just one-two-three euros each.

The prices here are just UNBELIEVABLE, truly!

We’ve seen many Flea markets during our 3-month tour of Spain and Portugal, but never so cheap (and still of quality!) as in Rufaza!

The low prices made me reflect on how deep the re-use culture is in Valencia, and that left a smile of hope for humanity on my face 🙂

The atmosphere of the pop-up market was buzzing—music, chatter, and people digging everywhere in piles of vintage clothes and quirky items: worth seeing even just for the atmosphere! 🙂

Remember: the market takes place every Sunday and during public holidays!

6. Discover how electricity works,

by joining a Show in the Museum of Sciences

The Science Museum (“Museu de les Ciències”) was one of the places I wanted to visit more of Valencia (as I LOVE science!), but sadly also one of the places that underwhelmed me the most.

I love hands-on expositions, but the Museum of Science of Valencia seemed to me just a huge playground for children: very few explanations, many interactive-machines broken and out-of-use, overall very crowded in general (maybe we’ve been unlucky, but we did not visit in high-season neither!). 

Personally, I was disappointed and almost regretting getting the bundle-ticket with the Oceanographic, until a little theater got our attention with an istructive show called “High Voltage”.

The entry was included in the price, and strictly 18+. Mmmh, curious!

We thought of getting a break from the children screaming and give it a go… this show saved our whole experience at this museum!

The show is held by a friendly woman, which explains in a very entertaining and funny manner how electricity works.

The show is very visual, with lightnings, shocks, flying magnets, lights effects and lot of laughs! Isa tried first-hand what electricity can do to your hair (in the photo above!), while I got quite a shock when I had to take her down from there xD

All in all, an amazing experience, only this show is worth the whole otherwise pretty average museum.  

7. No visit to Valencia is complete,

without trying a true Valencian Paella!!

Did you know that the famous Spanish dish “Paella” originated from Valencia’s rural areas in the 18th century?

This traditional dish was initially born as a humble meal cooked by farmers over an open fire, using available ingredients like rice, rabbit, chicken, green beans, and sometimes even snails!

Today, paella is perhaps the most well-known Spanish signature dish in the world, and there is a great variety: fish paella, meat paella, mixed paella, veg paella, black-rice paella, saffron-paella… and the list goes on!

Valencia is the best place to try this dish as it gave it its origins and THE experience you cannot miss while in this city!

Fun Fact: did you know that in 2003 Valencia got the Guinness world record for the largest paella in the world? It did not feed 100 people, or 1000 people, nor 10.000 people… but a whooping 110.000 people – all the inhabitants of Valencia! (here is a jaw-dropping photo of the event!).

A great restaurant in the city center that we can recommend for trying a paella is Pelayo Gastro Trinquet, very friendly and authentic! 🙂

Conclusion

And here we come at the end of this article 🙂

In this article, we’ve seen our 7 favorite things to experience in Valencia along with some fun facts that we hope will enrich your visit to this lively and bubbly city 🙂

Before going, I would like to ask you:

• What do you think about the article?
• Have you had the chance to travel to Valencia?
• How was your experience?

Let us know in the comments below! 😀

Hereafter I will leave you a few articles that you might also be interested in checking out:

•  Blog: Travel Curiosities, Fun Facts and Travel Tips
• Destinations of the World: Discover More Cool Destinations!
• Travel Italy: All you Need to Discover the Bel Paese!

Thank you for reading, and see you in the next article!