In Spain the presents arrive on 6 January, not 25 December, which means schools stay shut and families have a long stretch to fill between Christmas and Three Kings. Valencia fills it with Expojove. Expojove is a ten-day children’s fair held every winter at Feria Valencia, covering more than 50,000 square metres on the north-western edge of the city. The 2026 edition opens on Saturday 26 December and closes on Monday 4 January 2027, so it is not running on Christmas Day itself, and it shuts the day before the parade.
Is Expojove in Valencia worth it? For children aged roughly 2 to 12, yes. Expojove runs from 26 December 2026 to 4 January 2027 at Feria Valencia, 11am to 8pm. In 2025 a day ticket cost €5, under-fours went free, and every workshop, show and play circuit inside was included in that price.
Who Expojove suits, and who it does not
Expojove is built for the under-twelves. The 2025 edition gave its 12,000 square metre first hall a dedicated area for children up to 5, with Tierra de Gigantes for crawling and climbing and a sound installation called Sonarium. That hall also held a 200 square metre maze, fifteen workshops, three stages and a magic show every afternoon.
Older children head for hall 4, which covered 5,000 square metres in 2025 and was given over to sport and to the armed forces. Kids could climb into a military ambulance and an all-terrain truck, meet the Unidad Militar de Emergencias, the army’s disaster-response unit, and watch dog and cavalry displays. Hall 2 belonged to the Ayuntamiento de València and its services, from the fire brigade to the EMT València bus company. Teenagers are the weak spot: there is not a full day’s worth for a 14-year-old.
One thing to know before you go is that this is a local fair, not a theme park. Spanish families eat later than most visitors, with lunch around 2pm, so plan the meal break inside the halls. There are no big rides, and the programme is designed for Valencian families rather than for visitors, so check the daily stage schedule that Expojove posts during the fair.
Expojove dates and opening hours for 2026
Expojove keeps the same nine-hour day, 11am to 8pm, on eight of its ten days. The two exceptions are New Year’s Eve, a morning that ends at 2pm, and New Year’s Day, an afternoon that starts at 4pm and runs until 9pm.
Put into the calendar, the first weekend is 26 and 27 December, the weekdays run Monday 28 to Wednesday 30, and the second weekend is 2 and 3 January. The last day, Monday 4 January, is the day before the Three Kings parade.
What a family of four pays at Expojove
The 2026 prices are published in December, and the reference is what Expojove charged in 2025: €5 for a day ticket, €3 for the half day on 31 December or 1 January, and nothing for children aged 0 to 4. Discounts for large families, single parents, over-65s, who paid €1, and groups of 15 or more cut the price to €3, but most of them are paid at the ticket office rather than online.
That makes Expojove one of the cheapest full days out a family can have in Valencia. For comparison, a single child ticket at the Bioparc zoo costs 25.50 euros, more than the whole family pays here. There is no timed slot on the ticket, so there is nothing to book ahead: buy online or at the gate on the day.
Getting there from the old town by tram
Feria Valencia sits on the Avenida de las Ferias in Benimàmet, about 5.6 km in a straight line from the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Tram line 4 of Metrovalencia stops at Fira València, right outside the main entrance, and that is the easiest way in.
- Tram line 4, stop Fira València, at the door. Metrovalencia increases frequency during fairs, and a single ticket for zone A, 1.50 euros, covers the ride because Feria Valencia is inside the city limits.
- Metro line 2, station Les Carolines-Fira, about 520 metres from the halls.
- EMT bus 62, which runs out to Benimàmet from the Estació del Nord.
- Car, with a covered car park on site. A hire car without a Spanish emissions sticker needs the Valencia low emission zone rules checked first.
In 2025 the fair used level 2 of the complex, halls 1 to 4, and you walked in through the Foro Centro entrance. Families flying in on the 26th can go straight from the terminal: metro lines 3 and 5 run from the airport into town, as set out in getting from Valencia airport to the centre, and line 4 picks up from there.
New Year’s Day afternoon, when little else is open
New Year’s Day is the hardest day of a Valencia holiday with children, because shops, markets and most museums close. Expojove opens that afternoon from 4pm to 9pm, and the ticket in 2025 was the €3 half-day rate.
The same goes for 31 December, the other short day, which ends at 2pm and leaves the afternoon free before the midnight grapes. If your trip runs over New Year, those are the two slots to pencil in. The rest of the city’s opening on those dates is in what is open in Valencia over Christmas.
Expojove or the free La Central, which to choose
La Central de la Navidad is the free alternative, a 5,000 square metre space in the Parc Central where children give their letters to the Three Kings’ pages. In 2025 it ran on the same dates as Expojove, opened from 11.30am to 8.30pm and lit its Christmas tree every day at 6pm.
The verdict is simple. With a whole day and children aged 6 to 12, go to Expojove, which is ten times the size and has the sports hall. With an afternoon and small children, go to La Central, which costs nothing and sits next to Joaquín Sorolla station. The dates of the 2026 La Central had not been announced by late October. The wider list of free family plans, day by day, is in Valencia at Christmas with kids.
What might disappoint you at Expojove
Distance is the main drawback. Feria Valencia is outside the centre, so a day there does not combine with the nativity scenes of Valencia’s old town, and the ride home with tired children comes at 8pm.
The short days have a catch of their own: 31 December ends at 2pm and 1 January starts at 4pm, after a late night. Tickets are only refunded if the event is cancelled, and animals are not allowed in. If you plan to leave for lunch and come back, ask at the ticket office about re-entry before you go in.
Questions about Expojove in Valencia
Is Expojove worth it for tourists?
Yes, if your children are roughly 2 to 12 and you have a free day between 26 December and 4 January. The entry fee, €5 per person in the 2025 edition, covers the workshops, stages and play circuits inside, and under-fours go in free. Teenagers tend to run out of things to do.
Is Expojove open on New Year’s Day?
Yes. On 1 January Expojove opens from 4pm to 9pm, one of the few children’s events in Valencia trading that afternoon. On 31 December it opens from 10am to 2pm. Both short days were sold as half-day tickets at €3 in the 2025 edition.
How do you get to Expojove from the city centre?
Take Metrovalencia tram line 4 to the Fira València stop, which is right outside the main entrance of Feria Valencia. Metro line 2 stops at Les Carolines-Fira, about 520 metres away, and EMT bus 62 runs out to Benimàmet from the Estació del Nord.
Is there anything free like Expojove in Valencia?
La Central de la Navidad in the Parc Central was free in 2025 and ran on the same dates, 26 December to 4 January, from 11.30am to 8.30pm. Children hand their letters to the royal pages there and the Christmas tree is lit every day at 6pm.
Expojove is a fair for under-twelves priced like a bus fare; the free afternoon version is in the Parc Central.