More to Valencia than oranges

Advantages: History, good food and attractions
Disadvantages: Maybe not geared up for tourism

...From out of fluffy white clouds, we descend to a wonderful view of an azure blue Mediterranean sea, with 8 cargo and container ships dotted near the shore... we make the turn for a straight path into the airport. Over a massive port we fly, where tiny little containers look like dolly lollies, tidily stacked ready for export; a very large ship is berthed at the portside with four gigantic cranes busy loading; now there's a school, set amid a neighbourhood of orange/earthy coloured homes, a huge graveyard and thousands and thousands of industrial buildings....with what looks like market gardens and orange groves spattered all around. It's a tidy and interesting approach to Valencia Airport and the start of a short break to Spain's third largest city, one steeped in history and nowadays mainly a commerce centre for a vast range...

Writing321 10.12.2006 (12.12.2006) · Read review
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Review of Valencia (Spain)

Valencia and Lladro factory

Advantages: Beautiful architecture, many shops and restaurants, history abounds but modern too
Disadvantages: can't really think of any-drivers beware!

...My wife an I visited Valencia in October 2005 for our silver wedding anniversary. the main reason for choosing was because she collects Lladro ceramic figurines and the factory is here and offers free tours and shop. (More later) We flew from Doncaster direct with Thompson Fly. No problems only drawback was that they only carry about half a dozen breakfast baps so if your not in the front couple of rows you've no chance. Otherwise good and cheap. Valencia airport clean, and cleared in a short time. Hired the car before travelling and was ready for collection,clean and relatively new, I used holiday autos. Dirving was a little hairy. You know what the Spanish are like and Valencia is no exception. We saw several near misses and one poor guy on a moped knocked clean off, but be brave and shrug you shoulders a lot! We stayed...

tintme 25.05.2006 · Read review
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Review of Valencia (Spain)

Valencia - perfect for all!

Advantages: fun for all ages, great shopping, weather, food, nightlife.
Disadvantages: In the summer months, make sure your hotel has a pool or you might find the heat a little too much

...Valencia is easily one of my favourite cities in the world - the people are incredibly friendly, the food is fantastic, and with great bus and train routes it's the perfect base from which to explore the rest of Spain, not to mention the rest of Europe. - Getting there and away - Valencia airport is just 20 minutes out of town and this is what makes it such a wonderfully accessible city. If you're arriving by plane there rarely seem to be any delays at customs or with luggage claim and from the airport you can hop straight on the metro which will take you into the city (for most of the central hotels you will want to get off at Colón, Alameda or Aragon which is on the Maritim S line). The metro is cheap and easy, if you're stopping for a while I recommend the 10 journey ticket as it works out as better value for money). What...

lola09 27.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Valencia (Spain)

VALENCIA IN MARCH: A MUST SEEN! (FALLAS)

Advantages: The Festivity is amazing
Disadvantages: almost the whole city centre is closed to traffic, but we have feet to walk!

...Update: Just added pictures in XXL scale. Just have a look if you feel the review is too long to read it all! Thank you. VALENCIA AND "FALLAS" : MUST SEEN I lived in Valencia (Spain) for about 5 years, and I have to say that being Spanish, but from the North, this region has nothing to do with my own region. There are people that think that Spain has almost the same culture everywhere, but this is not completely true, and some regions have a specific culture and events that you will not find anywhere else in Spain. This is the case of Valencia, especially when we talk about their main festivity: the "Fallas" . WHAT ARE THE FALLAS? Basically, although there would be lots to say, the Fallas is an old tradition that has changed through time. There is a week when they put in the streets hundreds...

martafdz 22.04.2008 (06.05.2008) · Read review
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Review of Valencia (Spain)

Family outing to Valencia

Advantages: Fantastic Bus and Tram System and Stunning Architecture
Disadvantages: Sometimes just a little to HOT

...Travelling Valencia is in the south eastern region of Spain and only a 100km's or so from Alicante. It has so much to offer for a holiday but is better known as a business city and is relatively quiet in the summer months. Valencia is not your normal Spanish holiday by the sea, as we are not really beach people. We found a central city hotel, the Expo; this is a 3 star hotel close to the old town and shopping centre in the northern side of the city. Easyjet flew us to Valencia from Bristol, which went surprisingly smoothly after all the stories you hear about and TV programmes that are shown (Very impressed with the service). I would highly recommend Bristol it was easy to find, easy to use the car park and buses, quiet and actually enjoyable. It added to the holiday rather than ruined in the way bigger airports can...

alistairr24 04.10.2005 · Read review
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Review of Valencia (Spain)

I want to Live in Valencia

Advantages: Fabulous
Disadvantages: Cant think of any?

...I am going to start by reviewing the travel situation. Firstly there are ample public transport in valencia that are very reasonable, including metro, train, taxi. We travelled mainly by bus, which were air conditioned, and we bought a monobus card (available from most newsagents) this was 5 euros and gave 10 trips by bus to any location. Buses were reliable and often so we travelled by bus mainly during the day. There are few night buses however so at night we travelled mainly by taxi, or walked. Taxis were extremely reasonable, most of our journeys cost us only 5 euros (which is the minimum price that they charge) however the price rarely exceeded 7 euros (even when we travelled to the Club georgio and Enrique which seemed vary far). Walking at night seemed quite safe and we only got lost once (on that occation a taxi driver...

lailia05 10.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Valencia (Spain)

Hotel Sidi Saler, Valencia

Advantages: Sea views, quiet, value for money
Disadvantages: a little remote

...eat in one of Valencia's many restaurants for more variety though. When we visited in October the hotel was quiet. Not sure how busy it gets in summer. Main drawback to this place is its location. About 15-20 minutes drive south of the city centre. Hire a car and get out into the surrounding areas, the mountains are not far away and the Lladro ceramics factory is to the north of the city and offers free factory tours, fascinating for any collectors. However the hotel does provide a free minibus service to the bullring/railway station that runs about every 30 minutes until midnight. Drivers are friendly and will give you directions if needed. In fact all the staff were polite and most spoke good English. They were keen to help and give advice on tourist attractions. Valencia is a fantastic city, but don't tell every one...

tintme 25.05.2006 · Read review
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Review of Hotel Sidi Saler, Valencia

Valencia the perfect place

Advantages: Beautiful quite place to relax and unwinde
Disadvantages: once you go there you may not want to go back

...Only about 2 hours away from Alacante airport. Valencia is a beautiful city with art galleries everywhere its is breathtaking Valencia is a sensitively planned, intelligently balanced new town that truly offers something for everyone. Valenca is well known for the paseos. This is an extensive walkway system which features lighted, paved walkways, bridges and tunnels throughout the entire community, and more rustic, natural trails in hillside preserves. It is the perfect place the relax and be one with nature. The paseos go on for an amazing 28 miles and link other communites throughout the area. If you are looking for a romantic holiday walk through the paseos at night and have the moon glaring on you to make the most romantic setting with your loved one. There is plenty to do for families too! In Valencia residential...

afro_mikey123 20.02.2005 · Read review
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Review of Valencia (Spain)

Valencia and the centre de culture

Advantages: Excellent city, lots to do and see
Disadvantages: Need more than one day to see it

...I visited valencia for the day in August 2002, the weather was hot, around 42'c, therefore making the trip slightly tireing. The city is magnificent. The archatecture of the buildings is amazing. The train station looks like a palace, the plaza de torros is enormous with regular shows, every week with an entry fee of 12 euros. I walked around valencia in amazement, the buildings are just breath taking. valencia is one of the major cities of Spain , third actually, which makes it a must see. It is famous for being the home of the paella, and when you taste it you will see why. There are many shops to visit including zara and all the top womens wear designers, down to c&a. The variety of shops of great as you can find almost everything here. As you walk around Valencia you will spot more and more, I could walk around it...

Dani347 19.09.2002 · Read review
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Review of Valencia (Spain)

Captivating Catalonia!

Advantages: Nice beaches, great nightful, lots to see and do, easy to get to
Disadvantages: Can be expensive

...For a weekend break my boyfriend and I wanted to go to a un-tourist place in Spain, with lots to do and see to keep us entertained. So we decided to visit the up and coming Valencia. And what a trip it was! Valencia is the third largest city in Spain, with a population of around 800,000 people and is the Capital of the region of Valencia. It is situated in the centre of the Spanish Mediterranean coastline, which overlooks the spacious Gulf of Valencia. Famous for being the home of Paella, the spectacular Fallas festival housing the largest Aquarium in Europe, and one of the largest fruit and vegetable markets it's not hard to see why Valencia is becoming so popular. *** How to get there *** Valencia is easily accessible from many cities in the UK by plane. We travelled with BA from Gatwick outwards to the Valencia...

funphobic2 02.07.2006 · Read review
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Review of Valencia (Spain)