Eating alone in Valencia without it being a thing
Eating alone is the part of solo travel people worry about most, and I get it. Having a coffee on your own is completely normal and nobody thinks twice about it, but a full dinner somehow still feels like the whole room is wondering what you’re doing there by yourself.
The first thing I’d say is that you don’t have to eat out at all if you don’t feel like it. If it’s your first night and you can’t face a restaurant, get takeout and eat it in your room, because that’s a perfectly good dinner too. If you do feel like going out, though, Spain makes it about as easy as it gets, and Valencia especially.
Valencia does half the work for you
A lot of eating in Spain happens at the bar, and I mean the actual bar, the long counter where people eat standing up or perched on a stool, on their own or with friends, watching the room. At a counter one person is completely normal. You order, the man next to you has an opinion about what you ordered, someone slides a napkin over, and twenty minutes later you feel like part of the place.
To be honest, I like the counter anywhere. Nobody can tell whether you’re on your own or waiting for someone, you get served faster, and the bill comes faster too. On a recent trip to Munich I ate at the airport twice, once at the counter and once at a table, and the table felt a lot weirder than the counter did.
The streets around the Mercado Central are full of bars like this, and lunch is when they’re at their best.
Yes, you can have paella on your own
You don’t need to order the two-person minimum and then feel bad about the leftover rice, you just need to go at lunch. Paella’s a lunch dish here, and the places serving it at 9pm are mostly cooking for tourists.
Look for a menú del día that includes it, which is usually 15 to 20 euros with a drink, or try the places near the beach that do single portions on weekdays. Proper paella takes about twenty minutes, so the wait is a good sign. Bring a book or your diary for it. Writing down what happened that morning is a lovely way to pass the time, and you’ll be glad to have it later.
If you’re going out for dinner
A few things make it easier, here or anywhere:
- Go early, because a restaurant that’s only just opened is calm and the staff have time for you.
- Ask for the counter, and if there isn’t one, take a table near the front. Sitting in the back corner is what actually makes you feel hidden away.
- Order one thing you know and one thing you can’t pronounce, so that if the adventurous one isn’t great, you’ve still got a dinner you like.
The nice dinner, if you feel like it
Some people love booking one really nice dinner for themselves on every trip, the kind of place you’d pick for a friend’s birthday, with a good glass of wine and maybe a nicer top. The first five minutes feel a bit strange, and after that it’s just a really good dinner. Valencia’s long warm evenings are perfect for it.
If that sounds awful to you, skip it, because takeout on the balcony is a great dinner too. It’s your trip, so you get to decide.