Top Five things to do with Kids in Valencia

We’ve been to Valencia twice with our three kids, and we all love it. It’s such a vibrant, varied and fun city. Perfect for a mini-break.

The architecture is stunning - the mix of old and modern buildings is really interesting to look at.

We loved walking around the city - soaking up the sights, especially in the evening when the streets get a little less busy and the streetlights and buildings light up. We’d walk down streets full of big groups of people enjoying Tapas and it felt really buzzy. It also feels really safe with lots of families and different generations enjoying evenings out and about.

Plus if you want a bit more space, fresh air or natural surroundings there’s also the beach and botanical gardens.

There’s so much to pick from - we’re already planning another visit in a year or two’s time - for now, here’s our top five favourite things to do as a family with kids of different ages.

1. Oceanogràfic València

It was our second visit to the amazing Oceanarium. We hopped on the tram and then walked up through the city of arts and science. This feels like an experience in itself.

The trams are super-clean and nice to use, and the striking modern structures in the city of arts and science are jaw-droppingly amazing. The kids love them as they are such huge contemporary buildings. And the white fresh look of all the buildings pops against the blue sky!

The Oceanogràfic is the largest aquarium in Europe and is home to over 45,000 individual animals. It is divided into major marine zones, including the Mediterranean, Arctic, Antarctic, Red Sea, and more. Our highlights of both visits have been watching the Beluga whales swimming and looping and making eye contact with visitors. It’s mesmerising to see them,. And to hear them using their echo location is a special treat.

We also love the fun dolphin show - which is really educational and enlightening about the dolphins and the conservation work.

The Oceanarium is lovely just to walk around too - with lots of plants and animals, such as tortoises, flamingos and sea lions to see outside.

There;s so much to see here that you could easily spend a full day visiting.

2. L’Hemisfèric Imax

We headed here after visiting the oceanarium to watch a 3d blue planet film - so it was the perfect end to our day of sight seeing.

The building itself is amazing. It was Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava to resemble a giant human eye opening over a 24,000-square-meter reflective pond.

Inside it features Spain’s largest cinema hall, housing a massive 900-square-meter concave screen with over 300 seats.

Each ticket includes headphones, so you can select the language you need to watch the film. We found the whole experience great - the screenings only last about 45 minutes, so good for kids. The seats were comfy and after a long day walking around, I managed to nod off for a few minutes, despite the amazing sensory experience! So it was a good, restful stop before going for dinner and heading home.

3. The Museu de les Ciències

As a family we’re not massive fans of museums, particularly science ones but The Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe was fab. It’s really interactive and fun.

The kids loved the dance and movement exhibition where they could take part in interactive exhibits that got them dancing and jumping around. We had to drag them away from this section in the end to try and see some of the rest of the museum, as it was massive. My son particularly loved the space exhibit as they had a replica of the Mars Rover

The building was also designed by Santiago Calatrava to resemble a giant whale skeleton and is pretty amazing to walk around too. We grabbed a drink and snack in the cafe.

4. Biopark Zoo

This was a fab day out and the zoo itself was really cool and different. They use invisible barriers like moats and rocks instead of traditional pens, so it feels much more immersive. Like you are seeing the animals in the wild- in their habitats.

We loved walking through the free-roaming Lemur enclosure and spotting lemurs above and right next to us! Also eating our lunch outside at the restaurant was pretty special.

We could sit and watch ostriches strutting and a baby rhino nuzzling its mother.

Other highlights included seeing a baby elephant playing with its mother by a waterfall and observing a colony of naked mole rats all snuggled up together.

The kids took so many photos!

We spent most of the day there - there is a large adjacent car-park (which you pay for). You can’t bring food in but there is a restaurant and cafe.

5. Going for Tapas

Our kids are home educated so before we set off to Spain we learnt about Spanish culture, landscape etc. And as always when we learn about a country - food is the firm favourite.

We had a go at making Spanish Tapas at home. So it felt really special to go to Valencia for Tapas. We did a bit of research online to find: a) a Tapas place that served a selection of vegetarian tapas and b) one that served food at our much more British dinner time of 5.30/6ish! There were a few options but we went with. ….

It was fab and fun - we sat outside and had some delicious food, and Sangria for the grown ups.

Yes, the kids mainly ate patatas bravas but they tasted lots of different dishes and enjoyed the fun and relaxed sharing vibes of tapas.

We sat outside and then strolled back, stopping at one of many delicious ice cream shops for pudding.

Valencia we love you! We managed to do so much in two days - plus we loved all the shops, street performers and cafes. It’s a fantastic family-friendly City to visit and has inspired us to take more city breaks.

Deborah

Deborah studied English Literature at Sussex University and began writing and interviewing people for the National Trust Magazine, where she worked for 8 years as Deputy Editor.