Are you planning to visit Valencia? Last year just before I left Spain, my sister-in-law aka Cuñada and I went to Valencia for a quick girls’ getaway. Follow along for our suggestions and keep an eye out for more because I plan on going back!

A Guide To Valencia

How To Get To Valencia

One of my favourite things about Spain is their high-speed train system Renfe. Even if you’re in a crunch for time, you can have a quick getaway. My cuñada suggested we take the train to Valencia since it’s only an hour and a half away. If we drove it would take about 5-6 hours but on the Renfe, we could be on the coast in a fraction of that time.

A high-speed Renfe train

We left on a late Saturday morning from Madrid’s Atocha Station and took a high-speed train. We arrived in Valencia just shortly after noon. As a treat, I booked a room for us at the Westin Valencia so we hailed a cab at Valencia Joaquin Sorolla Station to take us there. 

 

Where To Stay

The lobby of the Westin Valencia with traditional Las Fallas costumes

We checked into the Westin and the property was awesome, better than I thought from the online photos. It was more of a standard large chain hotel but the rooms were updated and spacious considering how small hotel rooms can be in Europe. We were thrilled! We took a quick tour of the grounds and were excited by the pool, spa area, and gym. Being the gym rat that I am, I love a good hotel gym and I was excited by this one. 

Read more: Westin Valencia: A Property And Suite Review Of My Stay

Our spacious suite and real queen beds!

What To Do

After our tour, we walked to the center of the city. Sadly I didn’t research hours for Mercat Central so it was just closing as we walked up and is closed on Sundays. Sad horns. Don’t forget to research hours of operations for your must-dos before arriving!!! Since I was devasted about the market being closed (I love markets), I wallowed in some….paella! Paella which is a famous Spanish dish is actually from Valencia, so of course, I had to have some here. 

 

 

After lunch, we walked around and did a bit of window shopping. Many shops and business still close during siesta hours and after a bit of research, some businesses close on the weekends too. If you have big plans for shopping, keep this in mind. 

In Valencia’s center and the narrowest building in Europe

A Must Do!

City of Arts And Sciences

Alas, it didn’t matter so much because what I really wanted to see was Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias! What is it? It’s a cultural and entertainment complex designed by world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. The complex comprises of L’Hemisfèric, El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, L’Umbracle, L’Oceanogràfic (designed by Felix Candela), El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, El Pont de l’Assut de l’Or, and L’Àgora. 

I’m a huge fan of Calatrava’s work and whenever I have a chance to visit, I do. I’ve seen his work in Bilbao, Sevilla, Barcelona, Laguardia, Toronto, Calgary, and New York. Call me a super fan! Obviously, I wanted to see his work in his hometown of Valencia. Something about his structures amazing me. We walked the length of the area and took loads photos of course. 

If I died, heaven would like Calatrava designed it

We went back to our hotel after tons of walking (I checked our total mileage for the entire time and it was about 26km!) to relax. For dinner, we went to Goiko Grill, a burger chain, which was not too far from the hotel. It had a lot of interesting and inventive burgers. Because I had been in Spain for almost 3 months, it wasn’t imperative for my sister-in-law or I do have more Spanish food. Thus, the burgers for dinner haha. 

I’ll admit that sometimes I need a break from local food when I’m travelling and crave burgers 

For breakfast, we didn’t do the Euro morning buffet so I found a quaint little cafe a few blocks from the Westin called La Roda Espai. Nothing hipster but perfect for what we were looking for. I had the typical Spanish breakfast of toast with tomatoes, coffee, and orange juice. Because I’m a member of Starwood Hotels I was able to request a late check out so we didn’t have to rush out of our suite and be able to leave our bags in the hotel and still have time to explore. 

After breakfast, we walked over to a shopping area where Mercado Colon is located. Since I missed out on Mercado Central, we went here because I love my European markets! Because it was late February and out of sheer luck we caught a Las Fallas parade. Las Fallas is a Valencian festival that happens in March in celebration of Saint Joseph but some events start as early as late February. After watching the quick parade and taking photos, we had lunch at one of the many restaurants and cafes in the market. 

Mercado Colon 

Beautiful outfits for the Las Fallas Celebrations

After Mercado Colon, we walked back to the Westin and then took a taxi back to Joaquin Sorolla Station and made our way back on the Renfe to Madrid. It was more than 24 hours but you can make this a 24-hour itinerary for sure! 

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