10 Things to do in Valencia with Kids
Valencia stands out for its beaches and its Mediterranean coast, but also as an ideal city to explore with the family. Here are the best activities to do if you plan to travel with children.
Children on the Beach | ©Federico Galarraga
Valencia is a city that stands out for its beaches, its sunsets during the summer, for being the Capital of Culture and Science of Spain and for the Valencian gastronomy but also for being a very popular destination for family trips or trips with children, especially for the wide variety of attractions it offers.
Among the best things to see and do in Valencia you can find many options to do with children, such as the water parks, the Oceanografic Aquarium, the Gulliver Park and the children's pavilion of the Museum of Arts and Sciences.
1. Discover Valencia as a family with Indiana Jones as a guide
The historic centre of Valencia is ideal for a walking tour and in this fun activity a local guide characterised as Indiana Jones will show you and your family the most important places of the city, unveiling its mysteries and secrets in an adventure that will take you from the Plaza de la Virgen to the Plaza del Mercado.
This option becomes one of the best tours of Valencia if you are visiting the city with children because they won't get bored, as it is not a traditional guided tour, but they will be kept entertained by Indiana Jones' theatrics while learning about the Valencia Cathedral, the Santa Catalina Tower, the Micalet and the Castellfort Palace.
Indiana Jones' mission on this dramatised tour is to find the Holy Grail, a goal the children can help with while the adults tour the Valencia Market and the Lonja de la Seda (Silk Exchange ).
During the tour, which lasts just over two hours, Indiana Jones will spit fire, tackle knives, light a cigarette with his revolver and perform escape acts in a show for all the family.
Details of interest
- Price... The tour costs approximately 14 euros for adults and 10 euros for children up to 11 years old.
- Duration... Approximately 2 hours.
- How to get there... You can get to the Plaza de la Virgen on bus lines 31 and 92.
2. Get to know the children's pavilion of the Museum of Arts and Sciences
You can't travel to Valencia and not visit the building of the City of Arts and Sciences, one of the emblems of the Valencian Community. There you can find some of the best attractions if you plan to visit Valencia with children, especially the children's pavilion of the Science Museum.
In the children's pavilion, children are the protagonists and will be able to participate in interactive exhibitions, scientific dissemination activities, talks and conferences, as well as attending the L'Hemisferic, a giant-screen 3D cinema, where they can watch science and nature documentaries.
The Science Museum seeks to eliminate the popular legend that learning science can be boring and therefore promotes campaigns for adults to go to the museum with their children and accompany them to the exhibitions.
Interesting details
- Price... General admission costs approximately 9 euros.
- Location... Main building of the City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia.
- Opening hours... Every day from 10.00 am to 7.00 pm.
- How to get there... Buses lines 10, 19 and 35.
3. Visit the Oceanografic Aquarium
The Oceanografic Aquarium is one of the biggest attractions in the city and an ideal place to visit with children. It is renowned for being the largest aquarium in the world and has more than 600 different species of marine animals such as dolphins, sharks, rays, beluga whales, seals and penguins.
Visiting the exhibits at the Oceanografic Aquarium is an ideal experience all year round, especially one of the best things to do in Valencia in summer, because you can escape from the heat of the city. The aquarium also has restaurants, terraces for lunch and, from July each year, a guided tour by night.
Interesting details
- Price... General admission costs approximately 34 euros for adults. Children up to the age of 12 pay a reduced rate of approximately 25 euros.
- Location... Carrer d'Eduardo Primo Yúfera 1B, Valencia.
- Opening hours... Every day from 10.00 am to 6.00 pm, except Saturdays when it is open from 10.00 am to 8.00 pm.
- How to get there... Bus lines 10, 19, 24, 25 and 35.
4. Take a tuk tuk ride around the city
An efficient and fun option is to get to know the main sites of Valencia with your family in an electric tuk tuk. On these guided tours you can choose the route within a certain perimeter and include stops at the chosen sites for the driver to give you information about the attractions.
Electric tuk tuks are ideal for touring the historic centre of Valencia and visiting the Central Market, the Quart and Serrano Towers, the Town Hall Square, the Plaza de la Reina and the Colón Market.
This small vehicle is fun for children and is also a quick option, which will be useful if you are planning a short stay in the city. If that's the case, there's no need to worry, there's so much to discover in Valencia in 3 days or less.
5. Tour the Gulliver Park in the Turia Gardens
The Turia Gardens are home to one of the most representative green lungs of Valencia and also to Gulliver's Park, a children's playground that represents in a giant sculpture the writer Jonathan Swift's Gulliver returning to Lilliput, where he was tied to the ground by the Lilliputians.
In this park, children can play the role of the Lilliputian dwarves and climb Gulliver through ramps, slides, tubes, ropes and ladders for a family-friendly attraction. In addition, nearby areas also include miniature golf courses, a giant chess board and skating rinks.
If you were interested in Gulliver Park, there are other similar parks in Valencia, such as Snow White Park, where children can learn about the fairy tale through a variety of activities that take place between the dwarfs, the witch, the castle and the prince.
Interesting details
- Price... Admission is free.
- Location... Turia Garden, Valencia.
- Opening hours... Every day from 10.00 am to 8.00 pm.
- How to get there... By bus lines C2, 6, 95 and 115.
6. Visit the water parks in Valencia
Visiting one of the water parks near the city is one of the best things to do from Valencia. There are several spread throughout the Valencia region and most of them have activities for the whole family, a service area with restaurants and shops, and usually include differentiated rates for children and family groups.
One of the most eclectic water parks is Segobriga Park, which is located in Castellón and is a complex of water games set in the Middle Ages, with knights, bridges and walls at each of the entrances. This park is in the interior of the Sierra Calderona mountain range, so from its pools you can enjoy a magical panoramic view. It has very affordable tickets from 8 euros.
If you want to visit the water parks in Benidorm, you can choose between Aqualandia and Aquapark. Both are mainly aimed at children and are characterised by slides and children's shows. Tickets for these parks cost approximately 39 euros, with reduced rates for children.
One of the most visited is Aquópolis, in Cullera, and some of its attractions are very exciting. This park also has restaurants and tickets cost approximately 18 euros per person.
7. Visit the Bioparc theme park
Bioparc is not a zoo, nor a theme park, nor a nature reserve, but all of them at the same time, as it recreates the natural habitats of animals in an environment without barriers, cages or bars that will allow children to get close to nature in an alternative way.
This experience is divided into four exhibits that are differentiated by region. You can visit the Savannah, Madagascar, the Equatorial Forest and the Wetlands, and in each of them you will find exponents of the local fauna: lions, elephants, giraffes, monkeys and migratory birds, meerkats and other species of African fauna. You can complete a tour of all its spaces in approximately two hours.
This adventure through Bioparc will also take you to discover the Parque de la Cabecera, which is a metropolitan garden where you can exercise, have a picnic, rest, walk and even sail on a lake.
Details of interest
- Price... General admission costs approximately 27 euros.
- Location... Av. Pío Baroja 3, Valencia.
- Opening hours... Every day from 10.00 to 18.00.
- How to get there... Buses lines 3, 5, 9, 72 and 73.
8. Visit the Soldaditos de Plomo Museum and its interactive exhibitions
If you are looking for places where you can combine different family generations in the same activity, you can visit the Soldaditos de Plomo L'Iber Museum, which has one of the most unique collections in Valencia, made up of more than one hundred thousand miniatures spread over 15 rooms of the museum.
This museum, which is the world's largest collection of miniatures, is managed by Álvaro Noguera Giménez, a famous Spanish collector who encourages present generations to understand the customs of previous generations. That is why visiting the museum with children can be an eye-opener for them to learn about the toys of the early 20th century.
The total tour of this museum will take you approximately 2 hours and, being located in the historic centre of the city, allows you to combine the visit with a lunch or a gastronomic tasting in the area of the Plaza de la Vírgen or in the Mercado de Valencia.
Interesting details
- Price... General admission costs approximately 8 euros.
- Location... Calle Caballeros 20-22, Valencia.
- Opening hours... Tuesday to Sunday, 10am-2pm and 4-7pm.
- How to get there... Bus lines C1, 6, 11, 16, 26, 28, 73, 80, 94 and 95.
9. Visit the Amusement Fair in the Turia Garden
If you're planning to visit Valencia in July, you'll be able to tour one of the children's favourite attractions: the Turia Garden Amusement Fair. Actually, it is the amusement park of the Great July Fair, but due to its success it has its own calendar in its most recent editions.
At this fair you can discover attractions for the whole family such as the tombola, the food stalls, the Ferris wheel, the bumper cars, the water games and the tunnel of terror. You can also enjoy live shows and tours of the Turia Garden, the city's emblematic green lung.
The Garden is located on the old Turia riverbed, between the Puente de la Peineta and the Puente de Las Flores, so the fair is also in one of Valencia's prime locations, which is ideal if you want to make the most of your visit and continue on to other nearby attractions afterwards.
Details of interest
- Price... Admission to the festival is free. The attractions have an initial cost of approximately 3 euros.
- Location... Turia Garden, Valencia.
- When... Every year in July.
- How to get there... By bus lines C2, 6, 95 and 115.
10. Tour the Fallas Museum
If you are planning to visit Valencia in March, you will be able to take part in the celebration of the Fallas, a festival that combines tradition, satire and art and which consists of burning giant statues made of different materials, such as cardboard and wood. During the Fallas, the most famous Valencian festival, the city is filled with artistic monuments ready to burn in the fire.
If you are not planning to travel in March, you can also experience this phenomenon through the Fallas Museum, where you can see representations of these figures on display and you can walk through galleries finding parodies of famous characters among the cardboard and wooden statues, in an activity that is suitable for the whole family and that children enjoy because many of the representations are of children's references.
If you are travelling with children you can enjoy the tour of the Museo Fallero and take some of the best photographs with the statues that represent many famous people, from sportsmen and women to actors, singers, businessmen and, above all, politicians from all over the world.
Interesting details
- Price... General admission costs approximately 2 euros.
- Location... Plaça de Montolivet 4, Valencia.
- Opening hours... Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00 to 19.00.
- How to get there... Bus lines 6, 14, 19 and 40.