We found Valencia before we ever lived in Spain. When I first wrote this post in March 2023, a couple of months before we moved, I called it the world capital of oranges. That was more enthusiasm than fact, but the enthusiasm has held up.
These days we live in the countryside near Torrent and go into Valencia about once a week, usually to see friends and almost always with our son, who is five now. So this is Valencia with kids from a family that goes in every week rather than once: the parks he asks for, the squares we walk through, how loud the Fallas get, and what it costs us to get there.
The short version: Valencia is an easy city with children. The big park runs straight through the middle, the beach is a metro ride away, and if you stay in the city you can walk to almost everything.
The Turia Gardens: where our son wants to go
Most of our visits include a walk through the Jardí del Túria, the Turia Gardens. It’s a park laid out in the old bed of the river Turia, which Visit València says (opens in new tab) was diverted south of the city after the floods of 1957. What’s left is a green strip of more than nine kilometers through the middle of Valencia, sunk below street level, with bridges crossing overhead.
For our son, it’s simple: the playgrounds. He loves the parks for playing, and he loves that we’re all there together. A short walk through the Turia with a stop at a playground is most of what he needs from a day in the city.
There’s more going on if you look. On Saturdays I’ve seen a dance class running in the gardens. I never joined, but I did ask, and it was about 5 euros.
The park also ties the city together. Bioparc, the zoo, sits at the western end, and the City of Arts and Sciences marks the eastern end, according to Visit València. The photo at the top is the Umbracle there, a long walkway of palm trees under white arches.
The old town: Plaza de la Reina, Plaza del Ayuntamiento and the Mercado Central
Plaza de la Reina, the square in front of the cathedral, and Plaza del Ayuntamiento, the big town hall square, are where we end up walking when we’re in the center. Just around the corner from the cathedral is Plaza de la Virgen, which is a good spot to sit down with a drink and catch your breath.
The Mercado Central, the Central Market, is the one we’d tell visitors not to skip. Visit València (opens in new tab) calls it Europe’s largest fresh produce market, with more than 250 stalls in a modernist building of iron, tiles and stained glass. It’s open Monday to Saturday from 7:30 to 15:00 and closed on Sundays, so don’t plan it for a Sunday outing. Prices are a little higher than at a regular market, but it’s a great place to shop anyway.
Malvarrosa beach
On the east side of the city is Malvarrosa, the city beach, with a long promenade that’s a good place to walk off lunch. You can get there by bike, by metro or by bus. Visit València lists (opens in new tab) Metrovalencia lines 6, 7 and 8 and a handful of city bus lines, and notes walkways and ramps down to the shore, which helps with a stroller.
If you want a quieter beach day north of the city, we lived for a month in Port Saplaya when we first arrived, and it’s still one of our favorite half days out.
Las Fallas with kids: the mascletà is very loud
If you can, come in March for Las Fallas. It’s the best time to be in Valencia, and we wrote about the festival itself in our Las Fallas post.
One warning from experience: the mascletàs are very loud. A mascletà is a daytime firework display that’s more about noise and vibration than color, and the big one happens in Plaza del Ayuntamiento at 2 pm every day from 1 to 19 March, according to Visit València’s listing (opens in new tab) for 2026. The same page promises a “thunderous roar” and says the ground vibrates, and that isn’t an exaggeration. If you have small ears with you that don’t like bangs, watch from further back, or skip it and see the fallas themselves, the huge papier-mâché sculptures, instead.
Where to eat in Valencia with kids
We don’t have one restaurant we always go back to, and that’s partly the point. Our only rule is to avoid the most touristy places. A busy place full of locals is a better bet for tapas, and a menu del día, the fixed-price set lunch, usually costs us around 15 to 20 euros a person.
When it’s paella, we’d always go for the paella valenciana, the local version. It’s made with chicken and rabbit rather than seafood, as Visit València’s recipe (opens in new tab) shows.
For something sweet, we like the Horchatería Santa Catalina (opens in new tab) on Plaza Santa Catalina, which describes itself as a house with two centuries of tradition. It’s the place for horchata, the cold tiger nut drink, with fartons, the long soft pastries you dip into it, or hot chocolate with churros when it’s cooler.
Getting into Valencia from Torrent: car or metro
For a long time we drove in, and we still usually do. The catch is parking: in Valencia it costs us about 25 euros for a day.
Since our niece came to live with us, we take the metro more often. There’s parking at the Metrovalencia station in Torrent, which costs us up to 5 euros for the day, and from there the metro takes us straight into the center. The line through Torrent was out of action for months after the October 2024 floods (the DANA, as the storm is known here), which we wrote about in our DANA post. El Periòdic reports that the section between València Sud and Castelló, used by lines 1, 2 and 7, reopened on 27 June 2025 (opens in new tab).
If you stay in the city itself, you barely need either. Almost everything is within walking distance, and the metro and buses cover the rest. If you’re looking for a calmer base just outside the city, we wrote about Torrent too.
What a day in Valencia costs us
- Parking in Valencia: about 25 euros for a day.
- Parking at the metro in Torrent: up to 5 euros for a day, plus the metro ride.
- Menu del día: around 15 to 20 euros a person.
- Saturday dance class in the Turia: about 5 euros when I asked.
- The Turia Gardens, the beach and the old town squares: free.
We don’t have current prices for the Oceanogràfic or the other paid attractions, so check their own sites before you go.
Is Valencia worth it with kids?
Yes. For us it isn’t even a day trip anymore, it’s just where we go most weeks. Our son would be happy with the Turia and a playground every time, and on the busier days, the market, the squares, a menu del día, he’s mostly happy because we’re all out together.
Valencia also has plenty for when the kids are in bed. El Carmen and Ruzafa are the neighborhoods for bars and nightlife, and in the old post I said you could fill a couple of weeks here without running out of things to do. Three years later, I still think that’s true.
Hasta luego, mis amigos!
