Sustainable natural, cultural and gastronomic experiences await in Valencia and its surroundings. Named European Green Capital in 2024, the city has a special ability to connect tradition with a green future.
Spain’s third largest city, Valencia, is catching up with big sister Barcelona and the capital Madrid. In the last few years, the city has been graced with prestigious titles. In 2022, Valencia was awarded the title of Word Design Capital and in 2024, Valencia was selected as European Green Capital by the European Commission. The latter because Valencia is highlighted for its sustainable initiatives that benefit both locals and visitors, as well as its ability to involve citizens in decision-making.
Find inspiration in my guide to sustainable experiences in Valencia. I myself will never be done with the city on the east coast of Spain.
1 Bike tour in Valencia’s green lung
The Turia Gardens are one of the most beloved green spaces in Valencia among the locals. I love breathing in the scent of flowers, trees and bushes on my bike. I rent my bike from Do Your Bike, which has a branch in Carrer de la Sang, right next to the town hall.
After just a few minutes of pedaling through the city center, the city pulse is replaced by birdsong.
The nine-kilometer-long Turia Gardens, located in a former riverbed, wind along the center of Valencia, where locals run, bike, practice yoga, read books and picnic under the trees.
The 120-hectare recreational oasis has small wooded areas, palm trees, orange trees, plants, rose beds, fountains, ponds, sports facilities, sculpture park and cafes. You can easily cycle through the gardens in half a day, including breaks.
Calatrava’s futuristic City of Arts and Sciences, which includes an experimental theater, opera house and art museum, is also located on the outskirts of Turia.
If you’re traveling with children, visit Gulliver Park, which features a 70 meter long and 9 meter high figure of the character Gulliver from ‘Gulliver’s Travels’.
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2 Enjoy birdlife on a boat trip on L’Albufera Lake
One of the most breathtaking sustainable experiences in Valencia is on the lake in L’Albuferra National Park, located 10 kilometers south of Valencia city.
The 211 square kilometer nature reserve is surrounded by forest and rice fields. It is also known as the place where paella was invented. Rice has been grown here since the Arabs occupied the area.
L’Albuferra is also the place where around 300 bird species seek shelter. They include flamingos, herons, grebes, grebes, terns, kestrels and hawks. Many of them used to fly to Africa in winter, but no longer do so because temperatures have risen in recent years.
You can enjoy the birdlife from L’Albufera Lake, a sea bay that has been developed into a 27 square kilometer freshwater lake and one of the most important wetlands in Spain.
Climb aboard one of the electric wooden boats that sail out onto the lake, get close to the birds and enjoy the meditative silence.
The boat trip is beautiful and lasts an hour, and you can easily get to the jetty from where the boat leaves by public transportation or by bike. The bike ride through the protected area is well worth it. For many years it has been the locals’ leisure and vacation spot.
You can book a boat trip on the lake in L’Albuferra on the Visit L’Albuferra website
3 Modern art in newly opened mansion
In Valencia’s city center, the focus in recent years has been on making most of the area easily accessible for pedestrians and cyclists and car-free.
Valencia’s tourist office has created a green walking route that I recommend following. You’ll pass some of the city’s most important monuments and museums. An important stop on the route is Valencia’s newest art center, which is housed in a completely renovated 17th-century mansion.
Opening in November 2023, the Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero is named after Hortencia Herrero, an art patron and wife of one of Spain’s greatest businessmen, Juan Roig Herrero, who owns the department store chain El Corte Inglés.
Hortencia has handpicked the collection of over 100 works based on the artists close to her heart. The works are spread across 27,600 square meters on several floors and celebrate both living and deceased 20th-century artists. From paintings and photographs to sculptures and installations.
The works are created by internationally recognized artists such as David Hockney, Anselm Kiefer, Anish Kapoor, George Baselitz, Mat Collishaw, Tony Cragg, Joan Miró and Olafur Eliasson. The latter has created the museum’s most Instagrammed work “Tunnel for Unfolding Time”
The multi-colored tunnel, consisting of 1,035 pieces of colored glass, seems to open up in front of you as you walk through it. However, you end up in a small enclosed space, so you have to go back through the now completely black tunnel.
Centro de Arte Hortensia Herrero (CAHH), C. del Mar 31
4 Sustainable dinner at the celebrity chef
Valencia has many restaurants that focus on green food and local produce. Celebrity chef Ricard Camarena is one of the chefs most dedicated to sustainability. Camarena runs several restaurants in the city. At Habitual, located in the basement of the Colón food market, greenery abounds on the plates and in the decor.
Habituals rooms are spacious and decorated with plants on the ceiling and walls, dim lighting and white tablecloths on the tables.
Camarena has great respect for Valencia’s agricultural tradition and inspires many of Valencia’s younger chefs. He uses only local ingredients and even has his own kitchen garden attached to his restaurants.
The menu changes seasonally and home-grown vegetables and herbs play the main role in the dishes, some of which are accompanied by local fish and meat.
The simply plated dishes include sun-ripened organic tomato tatin with herb dressing, fried eggplant with hollandaise sauce, feta cheese and pine nuts, fried leeks with smoked sardine and chickweed, and artichokes with vegetable juice and pork jaw.
For dessert, you can enjoy an orange salad with horchata ice cream made with tiger nuts. Horchata is a milk-like drink popular in Valencia and available in most cafes. Of course, the wine list also features Spanish labels and we choose an organic white wine from Penedes.
HABITUAL by Ricard Camarena, Mercado de Colón, Carrer de Jorge Juan 19
5 Shop Spanish blackberry products
If you want to shop sustainably, Valencia has plenty of shops with local products to choose from. One of them is El Almacen de Estraperlo, which is sandwiched between two restaurants, close to the Joaquín Sorolla station and therefore easy to miss.
This lovely little shop is owned and operated by restaurateur Segio Mendoza, who opened the shop during the corona pandemic as a backup in case his two restaurants were threatened with closure. It didn’t work out that way, but the small shop, which resembles a warehouse, now serves both as a supplier to the restaurants and customers coming in off the street.
Mendoza himself says that the items in the shop are so rare and hard to find that you have to pay as much for them as if they were sold on a black market. You get exclusivity at Mendoza, who carefully handpicks the items that you won’t find in every shop. You also get the story behind each item when you shop in the store.
On El Almacen de Estraperlos Instagram, Mendoza also generously shares the stories behind the products. The selection of luxury goods is varied and includes food and gift items from ham, sausage, compotes, oils, cakes and wine to soap, tarot cards and ceramics. Everything is Spanish and most of it comes from Valencia.
El Almacen de Estraperlo, C. de Jeroni Munyós 15
6 Eat paella at a local farmer’s house
The county of Huerta, which stretches 120 km2 around the city of Valencia, is known as the vegetable garden of Valencia. It is sprinkled with country houses that grow vegetables for the entire region.
Just outside the village of Meliana is the country house and restaurant Barraca Toni Montoliu, owned by Toni Montoliu, who has been a farmer since he was 12 years old.
Every weekend, at lunchtime, he opens the doors of his small, humble country house to serve homemade authentic Valencian paella. Invented in the region, the paella consists of rice, rabbit, chicken, snails, beans, saffron and rosemary. Toni cooks it over an open fire with ingredients from his own fields.
Before lunch, you’ll have the opportunity to join Toni and his staff in the fields and see how they grow vegetables using old-fashioned methods. It’s a unique way to get a truly local experience and insight into traditional farming life in the Valencia region.
In addition to being a farmer, Toni is also a cycling guide through Valencia and Huerta and appears on TV programs. In 2024, he won the “Premios Turisme Comunitat Valencia” award for being the first farmer to invite tourists into agriculture.
You can get to Toni’s restaurant by bike or by bus.
Book your visit to Barraca Toni Montoliu in advance. Book by phone +34 629 689 805 or email barracatonimontoliu@gmail.com Open Wednesday to Sunday from 14-17, except in August.
Barraca Toni Montoliu, Partida de l’Ermita, Polígon, 1, Parcel-la 25
7 Shop local products at the market
Back in Valencia’s city center, the green route also passes the city’s beautiful food market, Mercat Central, located in the historic center.
The food market is a mecca for foodies, with over 1,200 stalls brimming with local produce in a multitude of colors and flavors. Fresh fruits like the famous local oranges, giant tomatoes and peppers, freshly caught fish, meats and a host of local delicacies like rice, ham, cheeses, spices and olive oil. There are also stalls selling local design.
The food market is a great place to shop for delicacies and gifts to take home in your suitcase.
Also try a tapa at Central Bar, owned by Ricard Camarena.
The architecture is a masterpiece in itself and worth a visit on its own. Built in the early 1900s, it consists of an iron structure with glass and a wealth of local colored tiles.
Mercat Central, Plaza Ciutat de Bruges
8 Dive into the history of Valencia
Valencia’s Archaeological Museum is also on the green pedestrian route in the city center. It is located in a beautiful and quiet square, right next to the cathedral.
The museum used to be a home for the disadvantaged, hence the name Almonia, which means alms in Valencian. Inside, you can delve into the history of Valencia from its founding in 139 BC to the 14th century.
The museum is located on top of the ruins of a Roman city, which is integrated into the museum. In addition, in the 2500 m2 exhibition area you can see several objects from the Roman period, the first Christian city and a Moorish period.
Centro Arqueológico de L’Almoina, Plaza Décimo Junio Bruto
9 Relax on the wild beach
El Saler Beach on the edge of L’Albuferra, a short bike or bus ride outside Valencia. The tranquil beach is the perfect place to relax in the dunes and enjoy a dip in the Mediterranean. Here you are surrounded by a beautiful natural area with pine forests. It’s no wonder El Saler is one of the locals’ favorite beaches.
Shop for a picnic basket at the food market or satisfy your hunger and thirst at one of the cafes and restaurants in the area.
Platja del Saler
Follow Valencia’s green routes
Valencia has created three green tourist routes that go through the Turia Gardens, the historic center and to L’Albufera, the sea and L’Horta. Find the routes at visitvalencia.com.
