Valencia, through the solo lens
- Arriving aloneeasyMetro lines 3 and 5 run from the airport to the centre in about 25 minutes for about 5 euros with the card, and a taxi is about 20 to 30 euros.
- Where to sleepeasyCiutat Vella, Ruzafa and the area around the Turia park all put you within walking or cycling distance of most things.
- Getting aroundeasyThe city is flat, so walking and cycling are easy, the metro and trams reach the beach, and a week of the Valenbisi bikes is about 13 euros.
- Eating aloneeasyBar counters, markets and weekday lunch menus make eating alone ordinary, as long as you know that a proper paella is a lunch dish usually cooked for two.
- Things to do aloneeasyThe Turia park, the beach, the markets and the City of Arts and Sciences are all as good on your own as with company.
- Feeling at easeeasyOne of the calmer big cities in Spain; watch your bag in the busy old town and take a taxi or ride app if your street is quiet late at night.
- Meeting people, if you wantfineCooking classes, food tours and bike tours make it easy to meet people if you want to, and the beach and the bars are sociable without any effort.
- Solo moneyeasyA good room for one is about 70 to 100 euros a night outside Fallas and August, and a weekday lunch menu is about 13 to 16 euros.
- When to go alonefineSpring and autumn are lovely; July and August are hot and humid, and Fallas in mid March is spectacular but loud, crowded and expensive.
- The wow factorlovelySunset on the Albufera lagoon from a small boat, the white City of Arts and Sciences, and a long cycle through the old riverbed to the sea. Lovely, sunny and very easy to do alone.
The solo verdict
Valencia is one of the easiest cities in Spain for a trip on your own, because it’s flat, sunny for most of the year, small enough to understand in a couple of days, and built around a long park that takes you almost everywhere without a single road to cross. It has a city beach on the metro, markets where eating at a counter is completely normal, and weekday lunch menus that feel made for one person. The one thing to plan around is the Spanish timetable, because lunch runs from about two to four and dinner rarely starts before nine, and paella, the dish everyone comes for, is a lunchtime dish that kitchens usually cook for two or more. Three or four nights is a good length, and a week works well if you want beach days as well as the city.
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