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
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
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
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
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
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
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
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
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
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Valencia (Spain)

Apartment smelled of drains

Advantages: Nice pool, pleasanr helpful staff, appartment very clean
Disadvantages: Bathroom stunk of drains, kitchen antiquated, no kettle, toaster or hairdryer

...in the car and go and explore for a while. SUNSHINE MAKES EVERYTHING LOOK GOOD: We made our way up to the pool area and were pleasantly surprised by a couple of big pools, lots of sun loungers and umbrellas, a couple of quiet bars and a restaurant. It all looked quiet, sunny and inviting. We sat down and enjoyed an iced tea and toasted sandwiches. We had been up since 2am and I had only had a cup of coffee and water so I was quite hungry by now. The waiter was lovely and the food was fine. We were getting quite positive vibes and when we went back to reception they said our apartment was ready we were almost on a high. MAYBE I SPOKE TOO SOON: We drove around to near our apartment and went up to the top floor, no lift but we are quite fit so that is not a great problem. We struggled with the old key in the lock and eventually got in. It...

catsholiday 28.07.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Albufeira Jardim Apartments, Algarve

Estella Hotel and Apartments Did NOT Disappoint!

Advantages: Excellent location, superb customer service levels and lovely rooms
Disadvantages: No real facilities for the disabled

...Estella Hotel Apartments is based in Limassol in Southern Cyprus where I stayed for 6 nights in late April/early May of 2009 with my cousin. The booking was made via Expedia.co.uk and worked out at approximately £200 for 2 of us sharing a twin apartment (just £100 each basically). Before I confirmed the booking through Expedia I went off and did a bit of research on the hotel to make sure I wasn?t getting something that was cockroach infested. The hotel?s website, although fairly basic in appearance, made the hotel look pleasant enough and I sent an email to the hotel asking what amenities were included in the rooms/apartments. I received a reply in very clear English very promptly and then started a chain of emails between myself and the very helpful contact at Estella, a lovely lady called Helen (who was away in Australia during...

anonymili 12.05.2009 (02.06.2009) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Review of Estella Hotel Apartments, Limassol

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
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
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
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Hotel Sidi Saler, Valencia

Stay Dublin Apartments

Advantages: In city centre, Guiness Factory and shops are just a small walk away
Disadvantages: Hard to find location. Make sure you have a map or type in on GPS

...Stay Dublin Penthouse Apartments (Penthouse) I am staying in St Augustine Street in a Stay Dublin Penthouse Apartment. It has three bedrooms, A Living room, A Kitchen, A Washroom, A Hotpresh, A Bathroom and A Balcony. The Bedrooms... There are three bedrooms in this penthouse. In two bedrooms there are two single beds and in the other bedroom there is a double bed. In one of the bedrooms there is a bathroom. In the bedrooms there is also a wardrobe, The wardrobe has two spare pillows in it and a blanket. There is also three pin UK plugs so you can plug in your Hairdryer, laptop or many other devices throughout your stay at the Apartment. There are also lockable windows! The Living Room... In the living room there is a Philips flat screen T.V. There is also a DVD player underneath it. There is also various sockets around...

Deoborahkelly196 05.10.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of stayDublin Apartments, Dublin