Valencia

The Mercado Central, a Turia bike ride and the Albufera

Three days suit Valencia: the old centre and its market on the first, a bike ride down the Turia riverbed to the City of Arts and Sciences and the beach on the second, and the Albufera lagoon on the third, with a rice lunch in El Palmar and a boat out on the water at sunset.

Day one stays in the old centre. Be at the Mercado Central soon after it opens, while the fish counters are still being laid out, then cross the street to the Llotja de la Seda and its hall of twisted stone columns. Late in the morning, climb the Micalet beside the cathedral for the view over the domes and roofs. Lunch late, Spanish style, then walk north through El Carme to the Torres de Serranos and drop down into the Turia gardens as the heat eases. Eat dinner in El Carme or on the terraces around Plaza de la Virgen.

On day two, take a Valenbisi bike and ride the old riverbed east to the City of Arts and Sciences. The buildings are free to walk around; pay for one interior only, and if you have to choose, make it the Oceanogràfic. Keep pedalling to Malvarrosa for a paella lunch by the sea, then give the afternoon to the sand.

Day three belongs to the Albufera. Leave around midday so you reach El Palmar for a late rice lunch, then take a boat out on the lagoon towards sunset, when the water turns copper and the herons come in. Back in the city, finish in Russafa, where the bars stay busy well past midnight.

Real paella valenciana and the rest of the city's rice table

Paella was born in the rice country around the Albufera, and locals hold firm views about it. Paella valenciana means chicken and rabbit with flat green beans and butter beans, cooked in a wide, shallow iron pan, ideally over a wood fire.

Seafood goes into paella de marisco; the mixed meat-and-fish version is the one locals order least, and chorizo has no place in any of them. Eat it at lunch, not dinner, and expect a wait, because a proper one is cooked to order. Vegetarians can ask for paella de verduras.

Paella is only one of the rice dishes. In El Palmar, on the lagoon, order all i pebre, eels in a garlic and paprika sauce, or arròs negre, rice blackened with squid ink. The beachfront restaurants along Malvarrosa are the city's other classic address for rice.

The Mercado Central is the place to shop for a picnic: oranges, cured sausage and rice sold by the bag. In the afternoon, cool down with horchata, the milky drink pressed from tiger nuts grown around Alboraya just north of the city, and dip a soft, sugary fartón into it. Evenings call for Agua de València, orange juice and cava first mixed in 1959 and often stiffened with gin or vodka. It goes down easily and hits hard.

Valencia weather month by month, with Fallas in March

Spring is the most comfortable season in Valencia, at 21°C in April and 24°C in May, and early autumn keeps a warm sea with thinner crowds. Summer is hot and humid, winter mild at 17°C by day, and Fallas in March draws up to two million people, so book months ahead for it.

Winter is gentle here: January averages 17°C by day and 8°C at night, so a light jacket covers a walk through the old town. By late May the sea is warm enough for most swimmers.

March means Fallas. From 1 to 19 March a mascletà, a deafening daytime barrage of firecrackers, shakes the Plaza del Ayuntamiento at 14:00 each day. On the 15th, hundreds of papier-mache monuments go up across every district, and on the night of the 19th, the eve of Saint Joseph, they are set alight in the cremà. Up to two million people come, hotels charge their highest rates and many streets close, so book months ahead or pick another week.

July and August average 30 to 31°C with almost no rain, and the humidity off the sea makes it feel hotter. Locals move to the beach by day and eat late. September and October bring the year's heaviest rain, about 70 mm and 63 mm, often in short, violent storms, yet the sea stays warm and the crowds thin out. One more date lies just inland: La Tomatina, the tomato fight in Buñol, falls on the last Wednesday of August.