Two medieval gates, the same €2 ticket, the same free Sunday, and one of them shuts when it rains. Valencia’s Torres de Serranos and Torres de Quart look interchangeable on any itinerary, and the detail that actually separates them never appears on one: Quart closes on wet days for safety and follows the daylight in winter, while Serranos keeps fixed hours all year.
Which Valencia tower should you climb? The Torres de Serranos, on reliability. They open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm regardless of weather. The Torres de Quart cost the same €2 and are also free on Sundays, but they close when it rains and shorten in winter with the light.
The one that closes when it rains
The Quart towers carry two operating conditions that no other municipal monument in the centre has. Visit València states they close on rainy days for safety, and that in winter the closing time follows the available daylight, with last entry twenty minutes before.
Neither condition is signposted in advance anywhere useful, which is how people end up walking to the western edge of the old town on a grey afternoon for nothing. Serranos, by contrast, runs 10am to 7pm Monday to Saturday and shuts only on 1 and 6 January, 1 May and 25 December.
What both cost, and the Sunday rule
Both towers are gates of the old city wall turned municipal monument, which puts them under one pricing regime. General admission is €2, reduced admission €1 for groups, students, pensioners and children from 7 upward, and entry is free on Sundays and public holidays. The Valencia Tourist Card also covers Quart.
It is the same pattern that governs La Lonja Silk Exchange and the city’s free museums: municipal sites waive the charge on Sunday and halve the hours. Both towers open 10am to 2pm that day, against nine hours on a weekday.
| Item | Torres de Serranos | Torres de Quart |
|---|---|---|
| General admission | €2 | €2 |
| Reduced admission | €1 | €1 |
| Sundays and holidays | free, 10am to 2pm | free, 10am to 2pm |
| Monday to Saturday | 10am to 7pm all year | 10am to 7pm, daylight-adjusted in winter |
| Closes for rain | no | yes, for safety |
| Period and builder | 14th century, Pere Balaguer | 15th century, Pere Bonfill |
| Address | Plaza de los Fueros | Guillem de Castro 89 |
Serranos and its four careers
King Pedro IV commissioned the gate from Pere Balaguer in the fourteenth century as the monumental entrance to the city from the north. It then served as a prison for nobles and knights between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, and during the Spanish Civil War it held the pictorial treasures of the Museo del Prado for safekeeping.
Today it hosts the Crida, the ceremony that opens the Fallas each year. That accumulation is what distinguishes it: this is not a tower that was preserved, it is a tower that never stopped being useful for something. It stands on the Plaza de los Fueros at the northern edge of the old town, looking straight out over the Turia Gardens.
Quart and the cannonball scars
The Quart towers date from the fifteenth century, the work of Pere Bonfill, and consist of two semicircular towers flanking a rectangular central body. They stand on Guillem de Castro 89 at the western edge, roughly 20 minutes on foot from Serranos through the old town.
The façade is what sets them apart. It still carries the artillery marks left by French troops, from the last time the gate did the job it was built for, and nobody has filled them in. That decision makes the outside the more interesting half of the monument, which is unusual for a building people pay to climb.
When to go and what to pair it with
Sunday is the cheap day at both and also the short one, 10am to 2pm. On a weekday the window is nine hours, so anyone with several days should keep the towers for a weekday and save Sunday for what is only free then.
Climbing both on the same day makes little sense. The views are broadly similar and the 20 minute walk between them eats the time it would save.
Three pairings that do work:
- Serranos with the Turia Gardens. The tower looks straight down into section 7 of the park, so the descent is the next stop rather than a detour.
- Quart with the Carmen district. The gate sits at its western doorway, which makes it the natural start or finish of a walk through the old quarter.
- Either one with a Sunday morning. Free entry runs 10am to 2pm, the same window as the city museums, so one trip covers several municipal sites at no cost.
Frequently asked questions about Valencia’s towers
Why would the Torres de Quart be closed?
Rain. Visit València states that the Quart towers close on rainy days for safety, and that in winter closing follows the available daylight, with last entry twenty minutes beforehand. The Serranos towers carry no such restriction.
How much does it cost to climb Valencia’s towers?
Two euros general admission at both, and €1 reduced for groups, students, pensioners and children from 7 upward. Sundays and public holidays are free at both, in line with every other municipal monument in Valencia.
What are the Torres de Serranos opening hours?
Monday to Saturday from 10am to 7pm, Sundays and public holidays from 10am to 2pm. They close on 1 and 6 January, 1 May and 25 December, and the schedule does not change with the season or the weather.
What are the cannonball marks on the Torres de Quart?
Artillery damage from French troops, left visible on the façade rather than restored. The towers were built in the fifteenth century by Pere Bonfill and were still serving a defensive role during the Peninsular War when the damage was done.
Do you need to book tickets for the Valencia towers?
No. Both are municipal monuments with walk-up admission at €2, and there is no timed entry or online booking to arrange. On Sundays and public holidays entry is free, and the only real constraint is arriving before the 2pm close.
Is it worth climbing both Valencia towers?
Only with time to spare. They sit at opposite ends of the old town, roughly twenty minutes apart on foot, and the views are similar. With one afternoon, Serranos wins on reliable opening and on the Turia Gardens below it.
Two gates in the same wall, a century apart and the same price, and what separates them today is the weather forecast.