As Spain’s third largest city, Valencia combines history and culture with a thriving food scene, stunning beaches and buzzing nightlife. The strikingly futuristic architecture of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias brings a touch of modernism to the city and has breathed new life into its bars and restaurants. It’s a city that certainly knows how to party, so you better be ready to pull some all-nighters, especially if there’s a festival in town.
Valencia is just under two and a half hours away, and the airport is only 25 minutes outside of the city centre. The city itself is pretty compact, so you can easily explore on foot, but if you could use a break from walking, the bus system is decent too. As you’d expect, the weather is pretty warm, but unlike Barcelona and other Spanish cities, there’s very little rain.
Explore the City
Old Town
Otherwise known as Barrio del Carmen, the Old Town is, by day, the city’s historic centre with its gothic cathedral, grand silk exchange and central market. At night, it becomes the city’s liveliest nightlife destination with plenty of bars, restaurants and cafes. Plaza de la Reina is particularly good for fast food, Irish bars and tourist spots.
Beaches
There are miles of beach in Valencia, perfect for a relaxing or exciting day out. The most famous is Malvarrosa, it’s spacious and only a short walk from the city centre. Next to it is Las Arenas Beach, with volleyball courts and plenty of sun loungers, it also has the nearby Maritime Promenade with cafes and restaurants where you can enjoy tasty paella and sangria.
Foodie paradise
If you’re a lover of wine or good food, Valencia is the place for you. As the third largest wine producer in the world, Spain is definitely a place to experience decent wine, or you can take it further and go on a vineyard tour and tasting. Learn to cook paella in the place where it originated, or just indulge in plenty of it plus various tapas dishes for a truly flavoursome holiday.
Fiestas and Festivals
Valencia has no shortage of fiestas - parties - and festivals all year long. The most famous is Las Fallas, which is a month of fireworks, fiestas, costumes, amazing giant puppets and incredible bonfires during March. For music fans, the Festival de les Arts is hosted in the cool City of Arts and Science building with food, art and design events. There’s even a Midsummer’s Day party with dancing, bonfires and moonlit swimming.
Eat Like a Local
Valencia is a great place for food lovers, a city bursting with flavour. It’s the birthplace of paella and home to plenty of places serving tasty tapas. It’s not just Spanish cuisine either, it has a cosmopolitan dining scene, so if you find yourself fancying a burger, you won’t have to miss out.
Paella
Valencia is where paella originated, and the authentic Paella Valenciana is actually made with rabbit, chicken, snails and white beans. Most restaurants will have some form of paella, but for the Valencian version try La Riuà in Ciutat Vella or book ahead at La Pepica, next to the beach where you can enjoy an expansive menu including both Valencian and their own house paella.
Tapas
It’s Spain, so of course, there’ll be countless places to sample a variety of different tapas dishes. Try Sagardi Valencia Centro in the city centre; there’s a huge range of tapas dishes and two spaces: the ground floor with the classic “pintxos” bar and the grill room, with an oak charcoal grill. Also located centrally is Tanto Monta, known for their sandwiches and Kaña Makan for budget-friendly options.
Nightlife Hotspots
Partying in Valencia, like most places in Spain, takes it to a new level. Nights start late and with most clubs, the party doesn’t get going until 1/2am, so it's customary to stay out until daybreak. Having a great night out might also need some planning since there’s no famous party strip and the best places are dotted around Valencia. Valencia has a vibrant bar scene, incredible clubs and plenty of wine - what more could you want?
El Carmen
The Old Town, in the north of Valencia, is the city’s most popular nightlife area with a mass of bars, restaurants and clubs. In this part of town, there’s the Calle Caballeros area, where there are fun and quirky bars and live music venues. There’s Hawaika, a Hawaiian-themed bar with tropical cocktails and an exotic interior, or head over to local favourite Radio City, with weekly flamenco shows.
L'Umbracle
To experience a stunning open-air club, check out L’Umbracle in the famous City of Arts and Sciences complex. It’s one of the more classier destinations that offers unbelievable views, great cocktails and house music. Dance with the backdrop of modern architecture and palm trees, with purple lights and giant candles to make it a truly unique place to party.
St Patrick’s Irish Pub
If you’re feeling a little homesick or want to watch sports, then this is the place for you. This friendly and spacious pub serves Irish whiskey, great beers on tap and of course, Guinness. Plus there are four TVs dotted around the bar to watch the latest live sports matches. There are also a number of other events held throughout the week.
Places to Stay
Whatever your budget, you’ll find somewhere decent to rest after an all-nighter partying. You need to decide whether you’d rather be close to the city centre, the beach or a little further out for some extra savings. There are plenty of hotels that offer twin or triple rooms, making it great value for money. This includes Hotel Turia next to the park and the modern Silken Puerta Valencia.
Valencia offers some truly great activities
Overview:
Valencia is undoubtedly one of the most stylish, beautiful and awe-inspiring cities in Europe. With unequivocal beauty, incomparable nightlife and jaw-dropping senoritas concentrated throughout the bars and sprawled liberally across the magnificent beaches, this is a truly unmissable stag destination.
In a Nutshell:
- Valencia is the 3rd biggest city in Spain.
- It has a population of approximately 800,000.
- The locals speak Spanish, although many of them will have a good grasp of English- probably far better than your Spanish at any rate!
Getting There:
You can fly to Valencia from most major UK airports. A whole host of airlines fly to Valencia airport including Ryanair and Easyjet. The airport is 9km outside of Valencia. We highly recommend booking your flights as early as possible. The later you leave it, the more you'll end up paying. Flight time is around 2hr 20min.
Getting Around:
There's no need to worry about getting to and from the airport and your activities, as we arrange it all for you. Whilst other stag groups wander around aimlessly with no idea of where they're going or how to get there, you'll be greeted at the airport by an event manager who'll accompany you throughout your trip. Valencia is a compact city and can be explored on foot with relative ease. If you want to give your feet a rest after a night clubbing, the city has a great bus network and it is the preferred way of getting around Valencia. The tickets are €1.20 and you can by travel cards for a number of trips that will work out cheaper the more you buy. The Metro Network in Valencia is excellent, but not too helpful for small scale travel. It doesn't go anywhere in the centre for example (due to the consistency of the soil), so it is most useful when you need to cover a long distance. In particular, it is the best way to get to the beach. Taxis are plentiful, but we recommend you agree a price with the driver before travelling.
Accommodation:
We offer a range of accommodation options to suit all budgets. Whether you want to sleep in the lap of luxury or just want a place to rest your spinning head between drinking session, we know the place for you. We have a range of top hotels, guest houses and hostels on our books so tell us where you want to stay and we'll do the rest.
Daytime Activities:
As well as the usual stag weekend favourites such as quad biking and paintballing, Valencia offers some truly great activities. Scuba diving, abseiling waterfalls, Spanish football tickets and much much more.
Nightlife:
From Friday night till some obscene time on Sunday morning it's pure annihilation. So much so that the Valencians actually have a name for this part of the week - ‘La Movida' meaning ‘the movement'. If you struggle to stay awake for last orders at your local boozer, you better up your game as in Valencia it's customary to stay out until daybreak. The city's bars and nightclubs are always packed with partygoers who have an almost fanatical dedication to lashing so go hard or go home! The Valencian girls are absolutely stunning, certainly no Picasso faces on show here, you'll be drooling into your sangria as the sexy senoritas stroll past.
Eating:
Valencia has a myriad of mouth watering restaurants. It may be a Spanish cliché, but you really can't visit Valencia without eating paella - and, to the region that invented the dish, if you haven't eaten it here, you haven't eaten it at all. The authentic version - Paella Valenciana - is with rabbit, chicken, snails, butter beans and broad beans, "paella" anywhere else in Spain is merely rice with meat and vegetables. They border on the fanatical when talking about the hardness of the water required to perfectly cook the rice - which must be grown locally, of course.. There are also a host of excellent tapas bars which will often give you complementary tapas with your drinks.
Drinking:
Valencia has a vibrant bar scene. Spain is the third largest wine producer in the world so if you like a drop of vino you'll be spoilt for choice. Sangria is staple drink of many a tourist, although it is comparatively expensive. If you're a beer monster you can't go wrong with San Miguel, a pint of which will set you back around €2.
Weather:
Valencia has a very changeable Mediterranean climate, with warm dry summers, mild humid winters and stormy autumn and springs.
Currency:
£1=€1.27 (03/08) We recommend you buy some Euros before you depart, but there are plenty of places to change money in town and ATM machines where you can get cash out, so don't forget your cards. In comparison to other cities in Spain, Valencia can be on the pricey side. However, compared to London and Paris, the cost of eating, staying and getting around the city is extremely reasonable.
What Do Chillisauce Do For You?
We organise your entire trip, except for flights. You tell us what you want to do and we'll do our best to make it happen. From the moment you land until your flight home we take care of everything. You will have an event manager with you in Valencia to ensure everything goes without a hitch, so you can concentrate on having an unforgettable trip.
