Getting Around Valencia
You can take your pick of metro, bus, biking, or walking
Getting around Valencia was super easy. First, it’s quite flat, so walking isn’t difficult. (I think I’m always amazed when cities are flat since I grew up near San Francisco.)
Since we stayed just outside the city, we took the metro into town daily; it was simple to navigate and trains came frequently (not the case for all metro systems around the world!). We bought a reloadable 10-pass that we just kept refilling. As we entered the station, the first person would scan it to open the fare gate, then pass it back to the next person to scan and so on, until we were all through. There were machines within each station where you could insert your card to see how many trips remained; you could then add 10 more trips at a time.
We’ve now ridden a lot of metro systems around the world and to us, Valencia’s ranks up there as one of the easiest to navigate (even if it doesn’t officially make any Top 10 lists). The trains are clean and run efficiently; it’s easy to figure out which direction the trains are coming from and where they’re going. The only times we encountered a challenge was during rush hour, just due to the volume of people trying to get on, but that’s not unique to Valencia. We simply waited for the next train, which usually had a bit more space in it.
The busses were also easy to ride. Many of them are electric and the others are hybrid. The bus shelters/stops are well marked and easy to find. Google is accurate about when the busses are coming and you can easily figure out which bus or combination of busses to take using Google maps. The 10-pass we bought for the metro worked for the bus, as well.
Of course, you can also bike around Valencia, and we did that, too! While we rented bikes more for seeing the city one particular day, it’s definitely possible to rent them for your whole stay as a means of getting around. Valencia isn’t quite Copenhagen or Amsterdam, but it does have a high prevalence of bikes and many paths to ride through the city.
We rented ours from Pelican bikes and had a great experience. We picked Pelican because it was near the Korean BBQ place we were heading to afterwards and it was also near Turia Park, which made it easy to pop in and ride the whole length down and back. The bikes were new and comfortable; we had baskets for our personal items and locks if we had wanted to park the bikes somewhere for a bit. Do pay attention as you’re riding around as to which areas are for bikes and which are for pedestrians; fortunately, they’re pretty clearly marked.
>See part of our bike ride here
Regardless of whether you ride, walk, run, or just sit, I definitely recommend spending some time in Turia Park. Each section has a different biosphere and looks a bit different. They’re all lovely, so just pick one and explore!
You can also rent electric scooters in Valencia; we didn’t, but we saw them everywhere. Bottom line: It’s really easy to navigate the city and it’s very pedestrian friendly, so put your comfy shoes on and explore!
Have you been to Valencia? How did you prefer to get around?