Valencia is a destination that the most demanding of traveller will love and is also ideal for those travelling solo. If you love culture, you’re in luck, because there are numerous museums and attractions in this city. If, on the other hand, you love the sun and chilling out by the sea, you can head to Platja de la Malva-rosa beach. If you’re a creature of the night, you’ll find plenty of bars and clubs to keep you happy. The city also invites single travellers to indulge in delicious food. You cannot leave without having tried a proper paella. And if you can enjoy it right on the promenade on Malva-rosa, the city’s iconic beach, even better.
Below, we’re going to list a few unmissable places so that you leave Valencia content and have the fantastic just-you time you deserve in this beautiful city.
Soak up Valencia’s squares solo
There are all kinds of benefits to travelling solo, one of which is that you don’t have to keep up with or slow down for anyone. Let’s get a feel for Valencia through its three iconic squares. We’ll start in the historic Plaça de l’Almoina, which is dominated by the façades of the Almodí building and the Centre Arqueològic [Archaeology Centre], where we can learn about the city’s distant past. From this square, you can see the cupola of the cathedral, the tower of the Palace of the Archbishop and the Casa del Punt de Gancho, one of the first Modernist buildings to be built in Valencia.
The second square on our tour is the Plaça de la Mare de Déu. The stone benches and sunny terraces will tempt you to pull up a pew whilst you contemplate the Door of the Apostles of the Cathedral of Valencia, the eighteenth-century Casa Vestuari (where the Water Tribunal meets) and the garden in front of the Palau de la Generalitat Valenciana. On one side of the square stands the monument to the River Túria, work of sculptor Manuel Silvestre Montesinos.
Lastly, following the Carrer del Micalet street, we reach the Plaça de la Reina, a space that was named as the city’s tribute to Maria de las Mercedes on the day of her wedding to King Alfonso XII. This space, watched over by the towers of Sant Martí and Santa Caterina, is flanked by the Baroque façade of the Cathedral and the famous El Micalet tower.
Culture vultures and single travellers
If you want to enjoy Valencia’s culture and art in your own company you could visit some of its most unique museums, like the IVAM [Valencian Institute of Modern Art], the Museu de Prehistòria [Prehistory Museum], or the museums dedicated to the painter José Benlliure and to the Falles, Valencia’s biggest festival.
The IVAM is a symbol of the artistic vanguard and modernity but is also an emblem of the urban transformations that the city underwent in the late twentieth century. Located in the old town, on the right bank of the old course of the Túria, it hosts exhibitions on contemporary art, photography, drawing, etc. The fact that the museum has more than 10,000 pieces in its collection should give you an idea of its importance.
Valencia’s Museum of Prehistory, located in the La Beneficència Cultural Centre, is where you’ll find archaeological evidence of the city’s past. There are pieces here that date back more than 400,000 years, but most are from the Roman, Visigoth and Moorish periods.
At number 23 on Carrer de la Blanqueria, you’ll find the Casa-Museo de Benlliure [Benlliure House-Museum]. This is home to not only an extensive collection of paintings but also all kinds of antiques and antique furniture, including armour, ceramics and religious imagery.
And to find out about Valencia’s most popular festival, you have to go to the Museu Faller [Falles Museum], which is located in the old monastery Convento de Los Padres Paúles. This is where they keep the ninots or figures that have been pardoned from the mass burning that takes place on the 19th of March.
A stroll through the Jardí del Túria
The old course of the River Túria, now an 11-km-long green artery snaking through the city, has been transformed into a space for leisure, where you can take a relaxed stroll. This is a compulsory stop for any traveller who arrives in the city. It runs from the Parc de la Capçalera municipal park to the Oceanogràfic, and is a paradise for anyone who loves to run. Today, the old course of the river is occupied by a human flood made of up people strolling and cycling, people doing sports, and people relaxing between its trees, sculptures, football fields, geometric gardens and unique bridges. A single traveller can’t miss taking a selfie with the figure of Gulliver. Stretched out on the ground, he serves as a children’s park.
Twenty-first-century Valencia for single travellers
The Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències [City of Arts and Sciences], the most modern of Valencia’s tourist attractions, is one of Europe’s largest centres of culture and fun, designed with everyone in mind. It’s a universe of white and whimsical shapes, perfect for solo travellers, where art, science and leisure meet. Other than the Oceanogràfic, the rest of the buildings in this complex of white concrete, steel and granite have been designed by Santiago Calatrava, Valencia’s star architect. They are the Hemisfèric, the Museu de les Ciències Príncep Felip [Science Museum], the L’Umbracle, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia [Opera House], the Pont de l’Assut de l’Or bridge and the L’Àgora.
In short, Valencia gives single travellers a host of opportunities to enjoy a short break. The options for culture, sports, shopping and leisure are endless, and it’s more than worth paying the city a visit. You won’t regret it.
