Booking a free palace in Valencia takes more paperwork than buying a ticket to anything that charges. The request for the Palau de la Generalitat asks for the full name and identity document number of whoever leads the group, before any date exists.
Can you visit the Palau de la Generalitat in Valencia? The Palau de la Generalitat opens free from Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 14:00, but only by written request with the date assigned by the Presidency. There is no ticket desk and no choice of hour: dates go out in order of receipt. The route covers 5 rooms in about 30 minutes.
Free entry, and a request instead of a ticket
The Ayuntamiento de València lists the Palau de la Generalitat at free admission, open Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 14:00, with the visit arranged in advance. No counter sells anything, which removes the usual way of turning up.
The Presidency of the Generalitat sets out what replaces it. Requests go by email to protocolo.visitaspalau@gva.es or by phone on 963424636, and the dates are allocated in order of receipt, staying subject to changes in the Presidency’s diary. A working seat of government keeps priority over its visitors.
| What the request needs | A normal monument ticket |
|---|---|
| Total number of people | number of people |
| Where the group is coming from | not asked |
| Full name of the person responsible | not asked |
| Identity document number of that person | not asked |
| A contact telephone number | not asked |
| Preferred dates, not a chosen slot | your chosen time slot |
That last row is the one that changes a trip. At the Serranos and Quart towers or the Lonja de la Seda the decision is made on the pavement; at the Corpus Christi College a session is picked from a list; here a date is requested and then granted.
Pere Compte worked on both
The palace went up slowly. Construction began in 1421 and continued through the 16th century, on Visit València’s account, which is why late Gothic at the start gives way to a Renaissance extension inside one footprint.
Pere Compte took part in that work, and it is the detail that connects the Palau to the most visited monument in the city. His spiral staircase at the Lonja de la Seda opens only on special occasions and stays outside the ordinary 2 euro visit there, so the Palau is where his work can actually be walked through, at no charge.
Seeing both in one morning is straightforward on the map. The two buildings sit a few streets apart in the old town, and between them they cover the two things Valencian civil Gothic was built for, trade in one and government in the other.
How the request works, step by step
Four moves separate a plan from a confirmed morning, and none of them involves a payment. The Presidency publishes both the channels and the exact information it needs, so the whole process can be completed before leaving home.
- Write to protocolo.visitaspalau@gva.es or ring 963424636, the two channels the Presidency publishes.
- Give the six items it asks for: how many people, where the group comes from, the responsible person’s full name and identity document number, a telephone number and your preferred dates.
- Wait for the allocation. Dates go out in order of receipt, so an early request outranks a flexible one.
- Keep the morning loose. The confirmed date stays subject to the Presidency’s diary until the visit happens.
Five rooms in thirty minutes
The Presidency puts the route at around 30 minutes and names precisely what is in it: the Gothic Courtyard, the Large Golden Room, the Small Golden Room, the Salón de Reyes or Hall of Kings, and the Sala de Corts, also called the Sala Nova. Five spaces, and nothing beyond them.
Half an hour is the shortest published visit in the old town. The sessions at the Corpus Christi College run about 55 minutes, nearly twice as long, and cost between 4 and 12 euros depending on which body publishes the fare.
What fills that half hour is ceiling. Visit València describes rich coffered ceilings across the two golden rooms and the Salón de Reyes, so the Palau is a sequence of decorated interiors rather than a long circuit, and the address at Caballeros 2 sits minutes from the cathedral square.
The Sala Nova closes the route and explains everything before it. The Palau de la Generalitat remains the seat of the Generalitat Valenciana, which means the last room on the tour belongs to a live institution rather than to a museum collection.
Frequently asked questions about the Palau de la Generalitat
Can you visit the Palau de la Generalitat in Valencia?
Yes, on weekday mornings and by appointment only. There is no ticket desk and no choice of hour: a request goes to the Presidency of the Generalitat, dates are allocated in order of receipt and everything remains subject to the Presidency’s own diary.
What does it cost to enter the Palau de la Generalitat?
Nothing at all. The Ayuntamiento de València lists it as free admission, open Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 14:00 with a visit arranged in advance. It is the only monument in the old town that charges nothing on any day of the week.
Which rooms does the Palau de la Generalitat visit cover?
Five, named by the Presidency: the Gothic Courtyard, the Large Golden Room, the Small Golden Room, the Hall of Kings and the Sala de Corts, also called the Sala Nova. The whole route takes around 30 minutes, the shortest of any monument in the centre.
Send the request early: the only currency the Palau accepts is notice, and the museums that charge nothing will fill whatever morning it cannot.