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Valencia architecture

Founded by the Romans in 138 BC as Valentia Edetanorum, Valencia is one of the oldest cities in Spain. It is the birthplace of paella and of orxata, the chilled tiger-nut drink. After a devastating flood in 1957, the Turia River was diverted around the city, and its old riverbed became the Turia Gardens — a green ribbon that ends at the City of Arts and Sciences.

  • 15Landmarks
  • 1262Oldest · Valencia Cathedral
  • 125 mTallest · Assut de l'Or Bridge
  • 13Architects

Before you go

  • Fly intoValencia Airport (VLC)

    Valencia Airport, also known as Manises Airport, lies about 8 km west of the city in the town of Manises. In 2025 it handled 11.8 million passengers on 140 routes across Europe, Canada and North Africa, most of them international. It is the second-busiest airport in the Valencian Community after Alicante.

  • CurrencyEuro (€)
  • LanguageSpanish & Valencian

    Spanish and Valencian are both official, and Valencian is compulsory for every schoolchild in the city. In daily life Spanish dominates: a 2019 city survey found that 76% of residents use only Spanish, while about 18% use both languages. The local variety of Valencian spoken in and around the city is known as apitxat.

  • Getting aroundMetrovalencia

    Metrovalencia combines metro, light rail and tram lines on a network of more than 161 km, about 30 km of it underground. Its busiest station is Xàtiva, right beside the Estació del Nord, and in 2012 the busiest day of the year was the final day of the Fallas festival. The system grew out of the narrow-gauge 'Trenet' railways, whose first section opened in 1888.

  • Where to stayFind hotels in Valencia on Expedia Vacation rentals on Vrbo

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  • Tours and ticketsFind tours in Valencia on GetYourGuide More tours on Viator

    Skip-the-line tickets and guided tours of the landmarks. Stamped! may earn a commission.

15 landmarks in Valencia

  1. Valencia Cathedral
    Photo: Fernando Pascullo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Valencia Cathedral

    Plaça de l'Almoina, Valencia, Spain

    Valencia Cathedral was begun in 1262 on the site of the city's former mosque, itself built over a Visigothic cathedral, to plans by the architect Arnau Vidal. Most of it went up between the 13th and 15th centuries in Valencian Gothic, though centuries of additions left Romanesque, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical touches, including a Baroque main door from 1703. In 1459 Francesc Baldomar and Pere Compte extended the nave to join it to the Miguelete bell tower. One of its chapels holds a chalice venerated by many as the Holy Grail.

    Built
    1262
    Architect
    Arnau Vidal, Francesc Baldomar and Pere Compte
    Style
    Valencian Gothic
    Height
    55 m (180 ft)
    Today
    Cathedral
  2. Miguelete Tower
    Photo: 16:9clue, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Miguelete Tower

    Plaça de la Reina, 46001 Valencia, Spain

    El Micalet, as Valencians call it, is the cathedral's Valencian Gothic bell tower and one of the city's most recognisable silhouettes. Construction began in 1381 and took until 1429, passing through a succession of master builders including Andreu Julià and Pere Balaguer, the builder of the Torres de Serranos. A planned spire was never built; the belfry on top was added between 1660 and 1736. Its great hour bell, El Miguelete, gave the tower its name.

    Built
    1429
    Architect
    Andreu Julià & Pere Balaguer
    Style
    Valencian Gothic
    Height
    63 m (207 ft)
    Today
    Bell Tower
  3. Lonja de la Seda
    Photo: Felivet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Lonja de la Seda

    Plaça del Mercat, Valencia, Spain

    The Silk Exchange is a masterpiece of late Valencian Gothic civil architecture, built between 1482 and 1533 at the height of the city's commercial golden age. Architect Pere Compte raised its main Trading Hall in only fifteen years, and the building was modelled on the earlier Lonja of Palma de Mallorca. The complex also includes the Renaissance Consulate of the Sea and a walled Orange Garden courtyard. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1996 as an exceptional example of a secular Gothic building.

    Built
    1533
    Architect
    Pere Compte
    Style
    Valencian Gothic
    Height
    17 m (57 ft)
    Today
    Monument
  4. Torres de Serranos
    Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Torres de Serranos

    Plaça dels Furs, Valencia, Spain

    The Serranos Towers formed the main gate in Valencia's medieval walls, built in Valencian Gothic style between 1392 and 1398. Commissioned by the city government, they were designed by Pere Balaguer, who drew on Gothic gates with polygonal towers such as Morella's Porta de Sant Miquel. Work began on 6 April 1392 on the site of an older gateway and was finished in March 1398. Today the towers are among the city's major monuments.

    Built
    1398
    Architect
    Pere Balaguer
    Style
    Valencian Gothic
    Today
    Monument

  5. Torres de Quart

    Carrer de Guillem de Castro, Valencia, Spain

    The Quart Towers guarded the western gate of medieval Valencia, named after the road to Quart de Poblet. Modelled on the Torres de Serranos, they took far longer to build, from 1441 to 1493, passing through the hands of Francesc Baldomar, Jaime Pérez, Pere Compte and finally Pere Bonfill. The 34-metre towers were built of lime mortar and cobblestones, with ashlar masonry for the arches, vaults and stairs. The gate originally stood on the line of an 11th-century Moorish wall, where an earlier gate called Alcántara once opened.

    Built
    1493
    Architect
    Francesc Baldomar, Jaime Pérez, Pere Compte and Pere Bonfill
    Style
    Valencian Gothic
    Height
    34 m (112 ft)
    Today
    Monument
  6. Mercado Central
    Photo: Felivet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Mercado Central

    Plaça del Mercat, Valencia, Spain

    Facing the Lonja de la Seda, the Central Market is one of the largest markets in Europe, covering more than 8,000 square metres. Alexandre Soler i March and Francesc Guàrdia i Vial won the 1910 design competition, construction began in 1914, and Enric Viedma i Vidal completed it in 1928. Its Valencian Art Nouveau architecture celebrates iron and glass, crowned by domes and sloping roofs at different heights. Inside, iron, wood, ceramics and polychrome tiles frame the stalls, most of them selling food.

    Built
    1928
    Architect
    Alexandre Soler i March, Francesc Guàrdia i Vial and Enric Viedma i Vidal
    Style
    Valencian Art Nouveau
    Today
    Market
  7. Estació del Nord
    Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Estació del Nord

    Carrer de Xàtiva 24, 46007 Valencia, Spain

    Valencia's North Station, opened in 1917, was designed by architect Demetrio Ribes and is one of the most celebrated buildings of the city's Art Nouveau era. Its name comes from the Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España, the railway company that built it. The terminus stands in the city centre beside the bullring and just 200 metres from the City Hall. It remains the gateway for many travellers arriving by train.

    Built
    1917
    Architect
    Demetrio Ribes
    Style
    Valencian Art Nouveau
    Today
    Railway Station
  8. Palace of the Marqués de Dos Aguas
    Photo: Francesco Bini, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Palace of the Marqués de Dos Aguas

    Calle del Marqués de Dos Aguas, Valencia, Spain

    Originally a Gothic mansion of the Rabassa Perellós family, this palace was transformed in the 18th century into Valencia's most extravagant Rococo building. Its extraordinary main entrance, made in 1745, shows two figures representing the Turia and Júcar rivers with water pouring from vessels beneath them — a pun on the title 'Dos Aguas' (Two Waters). The renovation was led by the painter Hipólito Rovira and the sculptor Ignacio Vergara. Today it houses the González Martí National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts.

    Built
    1745
    Architect
    Hipólito Rovira & Ignacio Vergara
    Style
    Rococo
    Today
    Museum
  9. Mercado de Colón
    Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Mercado de Colón

    Carrer de Jorge Juan, Valencia, Spain

    The Columbus Market was designed by Valencian architect Francisco Mora Berenguer and built between 1914 and 1916. It is one of the clearest examples of Valencian Art Nouveau from the early 20th century, standing in the city centre. Together with the Central Market and the Estació del Nord, it is counted among the most architecturally successful buildings of Valencia's Art Nouveau era.

    Built
    1916
    Architect
    Francisco Mora Berenguer
    Style
    Valencian Art Nouveau
    Today
    Market
  10. Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe
    Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe

    Carrer de Luis García Berlanga, Valencia, Spain

    Santiago Calatrava's science museum is a centrepiece of the City of Arts and Sciences, with a façade that resembles the skeleton of a whale. The building covers more than 40,000 square metres and rises 55 metres high. Construction started around 1994, and the museum opened on 13 November 2000 with interactive exhibitions on science and technology. Scenes from the film Tomorrowland were shot on its cantilever.

    Built
    2000
    Style
    High-tech
    Height
    55 m (180 ft)
    Today
    Science Museum
  11. L'Oceanogràfic
    Photo: Holger Uwe Schmitt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    L'Oceanogràfic

    City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, Spain

    L'Oceanogràfic is the largest aquarium complex of its kind in Europe, covering 110,000 square metres within the City of Arts and Sciences. Its signature building has a thin-shell roof of steel-fibre reinforced concrete, designed by Félix Candela at the age of 87 with structural engineers Alberto Domingo and Carlos Lázaro. The hyperbolic-paraboloid curves echo Candela's famous Los Manantiales restaurant in Mexico City. Opened in February 2003, it is home to around 45,000 animals from 500 species.

    Built
    2003
    Architect
    Félix Candela
    Today
    Aquarium
  12. L'Àgora
    Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    L'Àgora

    City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, Spain

    L'Àgora is the City of Arts and Sciences' multifunctional covered space, a 70-metre-high Calatrava design with a pointed elliptical plan about 88 metres long and 66 metres wide. It was officially inaugurated in November 2009 to host the Valencia Open 500 tennis tournament, even though construction was not completely finished. In 2018 architect Enric Ruiz-Geli won a competition to convert the interior into the new CaixaForum Valencia.

    Built
    2009
    Style
    High-tech
    Height
    70 m (230 ft)
    Today
    Multi-purpose Hall
  13. Assut de l'Or Bridge
    Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Assut de l'Or Bridge

    City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, Spain

    This white single-pylon cable-stayed bridge spans the old Turia riverbed in the City of Arts and Sciences. Designed by Valencian architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava and completed in December 2008, its backward-curving pylon reaches 125 metres, making it the highest point in the city. The name means 'Dam of the Gold' in Valencian, after a dam that once stood nearby. Its design is a variant of Calatrava's 1992 cantilever spar bridge in Seville.

    Built
    2008
    Height
    125 m (410 ft)
    Today
    Bridge
  14. Valencia City Hall
    Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Valencia City Hall

    Plaça de l'Ajuntament, Valencia, Spain

    Valencia City Hall combines two buildings from different eras: an older school building and a new façade added in the 20th century. Architects Francesc Mora i Berenguer and Carlos Carbonell Pañella led the works, which began in 1904 and were finished around 1930. The building also hosts the Municipal History Museum, opened in 1927 in the school's former chapel. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural in 1962.

    Built
    1930
    Architect
    Francesc Mora i Berenguer & Carlos Carbonell Pañella
    Style
    Neoclassical
    Today
    City Hall
  15. Plaza de Toros de Valencia
    Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Plaza de Toros de Valencia

    Carrer de Xàtiva, Valencia, Spain

    Valencia's bullring was built between 1850 and 1859 by local architect Sebastián Monleón Estellés, who drew inspiration from Roman arenas such as the Colosseum and the Arena of Nîmes. The 48-sided ring stands 17.5 metres high and is one of the largest bullrings in Spain. When it was built it lay outside the city walls near the Russafa Gate. Today it sits right next to the Estació del Nord, close to the City Hall square.

    Built
    1859
    Architect
    Sebastián Monleón Estellés
    Style
    Neoclassical
    Height
    18 m (57 ft)
    Today
    Bullring

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