Valencia: The City That Invented Paella and Still Does It Best

Valencia is Spain’s third-largest city, on the Mediterranean coast 350 km south of Barcelona, and its tourist profile is substantially more modest than its cultural importance warrants. The city that invented paella – the original version uses rabbit and snails, not the seafood version that tourist menus everywhere else push – also has an extraordinary piece of contemporary architecture in the City of Arts and Sciences and a historic centre that is considerably less crowded than Madrid or Barcelona. That combination makes it one of the best-value major European cities.

El Carmen and the Old City

The barrio of El Carmen in the historic centre is the most interesting neighbourhood on foot. The streets around Plaza del Tossal and Carrer dels Cavallers have Gothic and Renaissance buildings, street art, independent bookshops, and bars that open onto the street in warm evenings. The neighbourhood feels like it belongs to residents rather than tourists.

The Valencia Cathedral on the Placa de la Reina claims to hold the Holy Grail. This sounds like a tourist pitch, but the Valencia chalice has a reasonably strong scholarly case – among the several claimants globally, it is the one that most closely matches the historical period and material. The cathedral’s Miguelete bell tower is climbable for views over the old city. The Silk Exchange (Llotja de la Seda), a UNESCO World Heritage Site two blocks west, is a 15th-century Gothic trading hall with a magnificent spiral-column central hall. Entry is modest and crowds are light compared with equivalent sites in other Spanish cities.

The Central Market (Mercado Central), an Art Nouveau building from 1928, covers 8,000 square metres with around 300 stalls selling Valencian produce: oranges, fresh seafood from the Albufera lagoon, cured meats, and local vegetables. Open mornings until 2:30pm, closed Sundays.

Paella and Where to Eat It Properly

The original paella valenciana – rice, rabbit, chicken, green beans, large white beans, tomato, rosemary – is cooked over a wood fire in a wide flat pan and takes 20 to 30 minutes. The socarrat (the caramelised rice layer at the bottom of the pan) is the mark of well-made paella; if you do not get it, you are not getting paella properly. The coastal restaurants south of Valencia toward El Palmar village, on the edge of the Albufera natural park where the rice is grown, serve the most authentic version. Casa Salvador in El Palmar is frequently cited by Valencians themselves as one of the best.

In central Valencia, La Pepica on the Malvarrosa beachfront has been making paella since 1898 and remains the historic address.

Horchata (orxata in Valencian) is made from tigernuts (chufa) grown in the Valencian hinterland – not the Latin American horchata made from rice, which is a different drink. It tastes like a sweet, nutty, cold milk and is drunk alongside fartons (long soft doughnuts) in summer. Horchaterias Daniel and Santa Catalina are the established addresses.

City of Arts and Sciences

Santiago Calatrava’s Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias is built in the dry bed of the Turia river, which was diverted after catastrophic flooding in 1957. The complex includes the Hemispheric (an IMAX cinema in an eye-shaped building), the Museo de las Ciencias (a science museum in a whale-skeleton structure), and the Oceanografic, which is Europe’s largest aquarium. The architecture is genuinely spectacular from the exterior, best appreciated early morning when the white concrete reflects over the shallow pools.

Getting There

Valencia has an airport with connections across Europe. The city is 1.5 to 2 hours from Madrid by AVE high-speed train and 3.5 hours from Barcelona. The integrated tram and metro system covers the city centre and connects the airport.

Las Fallas festival (March 1 to 19) is one of the largest pyrotechnic events in the world, culminating in the burning of giant papier-mache sculptures on March 19. The city is extremely crowded, extremely loud, and extraordinary. Book months in advance.