Category
Gastronomy
13 articles
GastronomyEl Palmar Restaurants, Paella Prices and Bus from Valencia
Is El Palmar worth the trip for lunch? Only if you ring ahead: without a pre-order the rice takes an hour, and walking in mid-afternoon means a rushed meal against a closing kitchen. A couple spends roughly 50 euros on paella, bread and buses, and the dish to try is all i pebre, the eel stew, from 14 euros at La Llar del Pescador.
GastronomyChristmas Day Restaurants in Valencia, Menus and Prices
Want Christmas lunch in Valencia's old town without a car? Llisa Negra, 322 metres from Colón metro, charged €120 in 2025 for a menu with a smoked eel and free-range chicken rice, and Vuelve Carolina €86. For paella, Casa Quiquet's €69 rice menu allows two kinds per table, but Beniparrell needs a car. Rounding up is enough as a tip.
GastronomyNew Year's Eve Dinner in Valencia, Prices and Party Packages
Flying in for New Year's Eve dinner in Valencia? Hotel Balneario Las Arenas was the one 2025 package that solved the trip home, with room and breakfast for €398 and check-out at 16:00. Atenea Sky partied until 05:00 for €190, or sold party-only entry from 00:15. Every price is per head, so a €150 dinner for four comes to €600 before the grapes.
GastronomyRoscón de Reyes in Valencia, Where to Buy the Kings' Cake
Don't fancy candied fruit on your Kings' Day roscón in Valencia? Many come split and filled with whipped cream, custard or chocolate truffle, and Monplá also bakes a €26 galette des rois with peach or pear. If your Spanish is shaky, order with a short written message instead of a call at a busy counter, and Sukar is worth a stop for its panettone.
GastronomyValencian Christmas Sweets and Where to Buy Them
Catching the AVE out of Valencia with Christmas sweets? Original CV inside Joaquín Sorolla station opens 10am to 8pm but closes on Saturdays, and a WhatsApp to 960 079 790 gets the order ready. In town, the other shop fills a former pharmacy with an 1880 ceramic ceiling. Dry rosegones and rollitos pack well; pastissets are for eating within days.
GastronomyWhere to Eat in Valencia, Area by Area and Hour by Hour
Where to eat in Valencia at an awkward hour? The Mercado de Colón keeps serving until 2am, or 3am on Fridays and Saturdays, and Horchatería Santa Catalina pours horchata until 9.30pm. Eating solo? La Pepica cooks two portions minimum, while Arrocería Maribel in El Palmar makes a single one at 20 euros, except on Wednesdays.
GastronomyWhere to Eat Paella in Valencia, Prices and Booking Rules
Where to eat paella in Valencia as a couple who want two rices? Arrocería Maribel serves the valenciana and the senyoret side by side; La Pepica allows one rice for tables up to six, and its arroz Pepica, peeled seafood at 18.50 euros, is not the classic. Casa Roberto only takes bookings from 10:00 to 13:30.
GastronomyValencia's Second-Largest Market Is Made of Concrete
Want a food market without the tour groups? Ruzafa is a brutalist hall from 1962 with more than 160 stalls, open Monday to Saturday from 07:30 and shut by 15:00, in a neighbourhood where everything else wakes up at night. It is the second biggest in the region after the Central Market, and Colón is now only for eating out.
GastronomyAgua de Valencia Is Stirred, Never Shaken
Want to order or make Agua de Valencia properly? It is a jug of freshly squeezed Valencian orange, vodka, gin and cava from Requena or Utiel, built over plenty of ice and stirred gently so the bubbles survive. Constante Gil created it in 1959, sugar only goes in when the fruit runs sharp, and the glasses just share it out.
GastronomyHorchata and Fartons, What to Order in Valencia
Ordering horchata in Valencia for the first time? It is tiger nuts, water and sugar, with no rice and no cinnamon, and it comes three ways that are three different drinks: liquid for dipping fartons, slushed for real heat, mixed in between. The fartón from Alboraya is built for dipping, and the crop grows across 27 towns of l'Horta.
GastronomyValencia Has Two Markets and Only One Sells Food
Looking for the market in Valencia? Colón is not the one for food: cast-iron pillars, 3,500 square metres of open floor and no stalls, with the 1914 shell by Francisco Mora now holding cafés, bars and restaurants. Entry is free and it stays open into the small hours, while the Mercado Central, with its fish counters, shuts at three.
GastronomyWhich Rice for Paella, and the Number That Predicts It
Which rice should you buy for paella? A bag labelled paella rice tells you nothing; the variety does. Bomba carries 24.9 percent amylose and resists overcooking, Albufera runs highest at 25.6, and Senia, at 16.3, turns creamier but leaves a narrow window. The Arroz de Valencia name and a numbered back label confirm the real thing.
GastronomyValencia's Central Market, Hours and What to Buy
Planning a visit to Valencia's Mercado Central? It shuts at 3pm and does not open on Sundays, which is when most visitors turn up. Inside, over 250 stalls across 8,000 square metres sell paella rice as three varieties, Senia, Bomba and Albufera, and Ricard Camarena's Central Bar lets you eat without leaving.