If you are spending Christmas in Valencia, the meal to plan is lunch on 25 December, not dinner on the 24th. Christmas Eve is a family dinner at home for many Spaniards, and restaurants build their festive set menu around Christmas Day lunch, which starts around 2pm. A Valencian Christmas Day menu is a fixed-price lunch of three or four courses, and in 2025 the ones in this guide cost €55 to €130 a head.
Where can you eat on Christmas Day in Valencia? Casa Quiquet in Beniparrell has published its 25 December 2026 menus at €67 to €74 with drinks except wine, including a paella menu. In 2025, Samay at El Saler charged €55, La Marítima on the marina €85, and the Grand Hotel Centenari on Plaza del Ayuntamiento €130. Book in November.
Christmas Day lunch versus Christmas Eve dinner
In 2026, 24 December is a Thursday and 25 December a Friday, so Christmas Day opens a three-day weekend and lunch tables fill early. For Christmas Eve dinner, the choice in 2025 came down to two hotels in the centre: Palacio Santa Clara, at Calle Pascual y Genís 22, 306 metres from Xàtiva metro station, and the Grand Hotel Centenari, in the former Telefónica building on Plaza del Ayuntamiento. Both served menus on the 24th and the 25th.
Spanish meal times run late. Casa Quiquet, for instance, serves weekday lunch from 1.15pm to 4pm and dinner from 8.15pm, so a Christmas Day lunch is a long early-afternoon meal, worth knowing if you are used to an evening Christmas dinner.
Where to eat on Christmas Day, by plan
- In the old town without a car: Llisa Negra, Calle Correos 8, first floor, 322 metres from Colón metro, charged €120 for its 2025 Christmas Day menu, with a smoked eel and free-range chicken rice. Vuelve Carolina, the informal space in the same building run by chef Quique Dacosta’s group, charged €86.
- By the sea: La Marítima, in the Veles e Vents building on the marina, 276 metres from the Neptú tram stop, built its 2025 menu around a lobster rice and charged €85. La Sastrería, Calle Josep Benlliure 42 in Cabanyal, 186 metres from the Grau - La Marina tram stop, charged €68 and repeated the menu on 1 and 6 January.
- With children: Samay, on the El Saler road at kilometre 13, charged €55 in 2025 with a drink included and €30 for the kids’ menu; EMT buses 24 and 25 run to El Saler, though holiday timetables apply on the 25th. Bookings by WhatsApp on 610 874 195.
- For paella, with a car: Casa Quiquet, Avenida de Levante 45, Beniparrell, south of the city.
What a Valencian Christmas Day menu costs
Only Casa Quiquet has published a 2026 price so far. Its three Christmas Day menus cost €67, €69 for the rice menu and €74, plus €35 for the children’s menu, and all include drinks except wine. The rest of the city’s restaurants usually present their 2026 menus in November, so the 2025 figures above are a guide, and the new price is something to ask for when you book.
One name has changed since 2025: Quique Dacosta’s fine-dining restaurant on Calle Correos, El Poblet, reopened as Flores Raras on 28 January 2026, so its 2025 Christmas menu no longer applies.
Paella on Christmas Day
Rice is the Valencian twist on Christmas lunch, and Casa Quiquet is where it is taken furthest. Its €69 rice menu for 25 December 2026 lets the table choose up to two kinds from a list that includes Valencian paella with chicken and rabbit, vegetable paella, duck and mushroom paella, arroz del senyoret with peeled seafood, black rice with baby squid, fideuà and three creamy melosos.
The lobster meloso costs €8 more per person. Rice dishes must be ordered in advance, and the house allows one type of menu per table.
The starters come first, served individually: Iberian ham and cured meats, cheese, a vol-au-vent, cuttlefish salad, esgarraet with dried tuna and boiled prawns. Then lemon sorbet, the Christmas dessert and coffee. Bookings on 96 120 07 50. For the grain behind it, see which rice for paella in Valencia.
Booking, drinks and tipping
Book early and ask four things: whether the 2026 menu is priced yet, which drinks are included, whether rice needs ordering ahead, and whether there is a children’s menu. Casa Quiquet includes drinks except wine; Samay included a choice of D.O. Valencia wine, water, beer or soft drinks, plus coffee; the Grand Hotel Centenari served a glass of Tantum Ergo cava with dessert in 2025.
Tipping in Spain is modest. On a set menu, rounding up or leaving a few euros is the norm rather than a percentage, and nobody will chase you for it.
What else is open on 25 December
Christmas Day is quiet in Valencia, and the Christmas markets are the main afternoon plan: in the 2025-26 season the one at the City of Arts and Sciences opened from 5pm to 11pm on the 25th.
The full list is in Valencia Christmas markets, and museums, shops and the metro are covered in what’s open in Valencia over Christmas. New Year’s Eve dinners and parties are a separate booking, covered in New Year’s Eve dinner in Valencia. The cakes for the last big date, 6 January, are in where to buy roscón de Reyes in Valencia.
What may disappoint
Casa Quiquet, the best paella option, is outside the city in Beniparrell and impractical without a car. The two hotels serving Christmas Eve dinner are the priciest, at €120 and €130 a head in 2025. And most restaurants do not publish their 2026 menus until November, so an October booking is a booking without a fixed price.
Frequently asked questions about Christmas Day restaurants in Valencia
Are restaurants open on Christmas Day in Valencia?
Yes, mostly for lunch with a set menu. In 2025 La Marítima at Veles e Vents, Llisa Negra and Vuelve Carolina on Calle Correos, La Sastrería in Cabanyal, Samay at El Saler and the Grand Hotel Centenari and Palacio Santa Clara all served a Christmas Day menu. Casa Quiquet has already published its 2026 menu.
How much is Christmas lunch in a Valencia restaurant?
Set menus ran from €55 to €130 a head in 2025. Samay at El Saler charged €55 with drinks, La Sastrería €68, La Marítima €85, Llisa Negra and Palacio Santa Clara €120 and the Grand Hotel Centenari €130. Casa Quiquet’s 2026 menus cost €67 to €74 with drinks except wine.
Where can I eat paella on Christmas Day in Valencia?
Casa Quiquet in Beniparrell, south of the city, offers a rice menu on 25 December 2026 for €69, with Valencian paella of chicken and rabbit, vegetable paella, arroz del senyoret, black rice and fideuà, up to two kinds per table and ordered in advance. You need a car or a taxi to get there.
Can I eat out on Christmas Eve in Valencia?
Options are fewer than on the 25th. In 2025 Palacio Santa Clara, on Calle Pascual y Genís, and the Grand Hotel Centenari, on Plaza del Ayuntamiento, served set menus on both 24 and 25 December, at €120 and €130. Elsewhere, ask what is served that evening when you book.
Plan Christmas lunch on the 25th, not dinner on the 24th: that is when Valencia eats out, and when the rice comes.