The 5 Best Free Things to Do in Valencia

Free tour of valencia

Meeting point Plaza de la Virgen
Duration 2h 30m
Language Spanish
Price Free

Discover the monumental complex of the historic center of Valencia on a walk that will allow you to appreciate the details that go unnoticed by visitors.

At the indicated time, this free guided tour of Valencia will start at the Plaza de la Virgen.

Two important Valencian traditions take place in this central square: the floral offering to the Virgen de los Desamparados during the Fallas and the meetings of the Tribunal de las Aguas.

We will complete our tour of the square by observing the Renaissance architecture of the palace of the Generalitat, current seat of the Valencian regional government.

We will continue this free tour of Valencia at the foot of the Miguelete, the popular bell tower of the cathedral of Valencia.

In addition, we will visit the Serranos Towers, which, together with the Portal de Quart, is the main testimony of the medieval walls remaining in Valencia.

After two and a half hours of sightseeing, we will culminate this guided tour of Valencia returning to the Mercado square.

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Arab baths of the admiral

In the Middle Ages and the following centuries, this is what the inhabitants of Valencia experienced.

Temporarily closed for restaurations work

It is the ideal place to live an experience closely linked to what the Arab Balansiya bequeathed us. Although it belongs to the Arab tradition, introduced in Valencia and throughout the peninsula by the Islamic influence on the customs and customs, its construction is much later than the conquest of the city in the thirteenth century.

It consists, in essence, of a vestibule and three vaulted rooms with lucernarium in the shape of eight-pointed stars sealed with pieces of glass, elements that allowed the entrance of natural light, but guaranteed the thermal insulation of the whole.

Its use began in the cold room, the only one that preserves remains of the medieval pavement, where bathers collected water.

As the floor was watered by buckets of cold water, the necessary steam was generated.

Valencia's town hall

The City Hall is made up of two connected blocks: the Casa de la Enseñanza (the old Mayoral School) and the section that was added by the architects Francisco de Mora y Berenguer and Carlos Carbonell Pañella at the beginning of this century.

The first block is characterised by its academic design, including baroque features on the front doors, while the newer part combines more traditional and mannerist styles.

The City Council has been based there since 1934, and the building also houses the municipal archives, a museum, and various offices of the administration.

The construction is modern, with lavish decoration and there is a clock tower in the centre of the building.

Inside, the reception area, assembly halls and the formidable marble stairway are worth mentioning, while outside the elliptical domes decorated with glazed tiles and the great balcony covering the main part of the first floor are the most outstanding features.

Fine arts museum

The second largest art gallery in Spain, with works from the 15th to the 19th centuries, including rooms dedicated to the magnificent oeuvre of the famous Valencian painter Joaquín Sorolla, as well as a room dedicated to Francisco de Goya.

The Gothic art rooms are very impressive, and the rooms of the painters and sculptors Pinazo and Benlliure are very representative of the Valencian school.

Furthermore the museum excels in its collection of Renaissance paintings, with Valencia being the entrance of the artistic influences of this style in Spain.

Neither must one miss the Courtyard of Ambassador Vich and the previously unseen work of Velázquez.

The historical building that houses the museum was originally the San Pío Seminary College, founded in 1683 by Brother Juan Tomás de Rocabertí, the Archbishop of València.

The architect Juan Bautista Pérez Castiel, master of works on the Cathedral, was responsible for its design.

Building work was carried out between 1683 and 1744, although the church was partly demolished in 1925.

The building has been used for three different purposes: A Military Cadet Academy, a Charity Centre, an army supplies storehouse and a Military Hospital, until 1946 when it was chosen to be used for the Museum of Fine Arts.

València water court

Schedules Every Thursday at twelve o'clock noon at the Puerta de los Apóstoles of the Cathedral of Valencia

In the Apostles' Gate of the Cathedral of Valencia, the Tribunal de las Aguas (Court of the Waters) acts developing a rite fervently preserved through a millennium. In it justice is imparted through an oral process and in Valencian language whose resolutions are unappealable.

The Tribunal de las Aguas is the only legislative structure that remains of those established by Jaime I.

The Arabs already practiced this irrigation system, which the monarch formally established, based on the distribution of the water of the Turia.

It is formed by eight farmers who still wear their black blouse typical of the people of the Huerta, which are democratically elected every two years by the remaining irrigators of the same.

Seated, in a circle, in wooden and leather armchairs of the 17th century, they are invested with a certain authority.

The structure of irrigation, the participation of the farmers and the speed with which problems are resolved, has projected the Water Tribunal to the international arena, considering it a model institution.

Without a touch of folklore, efficient and essentially Valencian, the Water Tribunal exercises before a curious public in which there is no lack of young university students and foreign visitors.