Where to stay in Valencia: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

The old town is Valencia at its most seductive. The cathedral claims to hold the Holy Grail; the Lonja, the Gothic silk exchange, has columns that twist like ropes; and the Central Market is a soaring iron-and-glass hall piled with oranges, ham and seafood. North of the market, the lanes of El Carmen are splashed with street art and come alive after dark.

Some of the city's most characterful hotels are hidden here. One five-star incorporates fragments of the ancient city and has a seasonal outdoor pool; another has a rooftop terrace overlooking the old quarter; and an 18th-century building beside the Marqués de Dos Aguas Palace is now an elegant boutique. There's an adults-only hotel too, with a spa and a rooftop pool.

South of the medieval lanes, Valencia straightens up. The Plaza del Ayuntamiento, the main square, is ringed by exuberant buildings from the city's boom years, and the tiled Estación del Norte nearby is one of the prettiest railway stations in Europe. Calle Colón and the streets around it are the main shopping district. During Las Fallas in March, this is ground zero for the fireworks.

It's the most convenient place to stay: the cathedral is a ten-minute walk and the station five. Choose from a stylish five-star, a classical building overlooking the main square, a hotel in a 19th-century building on Colón itself, or an elegant four-star on a secluded street close to the station. The lively bars and restaurants of Ruzafa are a short walk south.

After a catastrophic flood in 1957, Valencia diverted its river and turned the old bed into the Turia Gardens: a ribbon of lawns, orange trees, playgrounds and cycle paths that curves around the old town to the sea. The neighbourhoods along its northern bank are smart and residential, with the Palau de la Música concert hall at their centre.

This is where to find the city's big-name luxury. One five-star has a full spa, an indoor pool and two restaurants; another, between the Palau de la Música and the City of Arts and Sciences, has its own pool. A charming hotel in a pair of 19th-century mansions, fully renovated in 2025, is about 15 minutes' walk from the futuristic end of town.

At the seaward end of the Turia Gardens, the City of Arts and Sciences rises out of turquoise pools like the skeleton of some vast sea creature. There's an opera house, a hands-on science museum, an IMAX cinema and the Oceanogràfic, the largest aquarium in Europe. Children could spend two days here without noticing.

The surrounding district is modern and a little anonymous, but the hotels are spacious and well priced, and many have something the old town can't offer: a pool. One has two outdoor pools and a full spa within 15 minutes' walk of the complex; another has a seasonal pool and a terrace with city views. The beach is about three kilometres one way, the old town the same the other.

Valencia's beach is the real thing. Las Arenas and Malvarrosa form one long, wide stretch of fine sand backed by a palm-lined promenade, where the paella restaurants have been feeding families at Sunday lunchtime for generations. Behind it is El Cabanyal, the old fishermen's quarter, with tiled houses in ice-cream colours and a growing crop of tapas bars.

The grandest place to stay is a five-star resort opposite the beach, about three kilometres from the centre. There's also a hotel right on the sand near the port, a new hotel with a rooftop pool and bar close to Malvarrosa, and modern apartments a few minutes from the sea. Come between late spring and early autumn, when the water is warm and the evenings long.

Valencia's airport and its trade fair sit on the north-western edge of the city, with the Palacio de Congresos a little closer in. None of this is tourist territory, but it is useful: the hotels are modern, easy to reach by car and often cheaper than the centre.

One sits just 500 metres from the passenger terminal with an outdoor pool, ideal for a dawn flight. Another is right next to the Feria, ten minutes from the airport. By the congress centre, larger upscale hotels have spas and steam rooms, with the old town a short metro or taxi ride away.