Valencia: Paella Country, Arts City
Valencia is where paella is from, and the city takes that seriously enough that learning to cook it properly is the single best excursion here. Around the food sit two very different cities: Calatrava's white City of Arts and Sciences with Europe's largest aquarium, and the Albufera lagoon ten kilometers south, where the rice actually grows. Prices run noticeably below Madrid and Barcelona for comparable quality.
Valencia rewards the unhurried. Ride a bike down the Turia riverbed park, take the paella class seriously (the pan is harder than it looks), and save one evening for the Albufera at sunset, when the lagoon turns the same gold as the rice fields around it.
See Valencia tours on GetYourGuide
6 curated excursions $24 to €72 /person 5.0 top traveler score See our picks ↓Our 6 picks in Valencia
Hand-curated, revisited quarterly. We only list excursions we'd tell a friend to book.
Last reviewed July 2026
Food & wine
Old Town Tour with Wine and Tapas in an 11th-Century Monument
An Old Town walk that ends with ten tapas courses and paired wines inside an 11th-century building. Over three and a half thousand reviews and Valencia's most distinctive food evening.
Food & wine
Valencian Paella Cooking Class with Ruzafa Market Visit
Shop the Ruzafa market, mix sangria, and cook true Valencian paella where the dish is actually from. The anchor food experience in Valencia: 5.0 across a thousand-plus reviews.
Evening & shows
Palosanto Flamenco Show
An authentic tablao in the Cabanyal fishing quarter with a drink included, around USD 24. Valencia's highest-reviewed evening product: 4.8 across 4,200 reviews.
Day trips
Montanejos Thermal Springs and Waterfall Day Trip
Swim in warm natural thermal pools and a canyon waterfall an hour inland, in groups capped at eight to sixteen. Figures from our crawl are mirror-sourced; prices vary by season.
Tickets & monuments
Oceanogràfic Entry Ticket
Europe's largest aquarium, inside Calatrava's City of Arts and Sciences. The single highest-volume Valencia ticket, 4.7 across ten thousand reviews, and a full day if you let it be.
Outdoors & water
Albufera Natural Park Eco Boat Tour with Transfer
A silent electric boat on the lagoon where Valencia's rice grows, with a traditional barraca visit and city transfer. The sunset departures are the ones to book.
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