The three main beaches of Valencia are Alboraya, MalvaRosa, and El Saler, each one offering something different. We will explore these so you can decide which one is best for you.
Alboraya is just north of Valencia city and could be described as being a cosy little beach. It has a promenade lined with shops and restaurants. Right by the beach is a branch of the large supermarket chain Al Campo, meaning that you can park in their car park, do a bit of shopping and walk straight onto the beach. The beach is sandy and you can wade out into the sea, but the depth of the water rapidly increases and the waves tend to roll in with force, even when it is calm. For us, with a car, the main advantage of this beach is being able to park so easily. The other nice thing about this beach is the quiet atmosphere. For this reason it tends to be popular with elderly people. If you are an elderly couple just wanting a quiet holiday by the beach, relaxing, walking along the promenade, reading a book while you sip expresso coffee in one of the cafés or drinking the delicious local refreshing natural healthy drink called horchata which is made from tiger nuts or chufas as they are known which are grown locally, then this might be just the place for you. Unfortunately, we cannot recommend a hotel in this area. However, there is a nice apartment resort about a 15 minute walk away from the main beach and promenade area, with its own pool and gardens. Its called Charming Coastal Retreat Carrer Batlle, 6, 14, 46128 Alboraya, Spain and you can book that on www.booking.com
An evening shot of the beach at Alboraya, taken in July.
Our next beach is MalvaRosa. This is Valencia´s main beach located right on the town next to the big port. Its a long wide sandy beach with a promenade all the way along lined with shops and restaurants. This is our favourite beach. It is excellent for swimming as you can wade out gradually without it getting too deep. On a very windy day, the waves and currents may be too strong, in which case authorities will raise a red flag meaning that bathing in the sea is prohibited. The beach is manned by lifeguards who sit on top of erected viewing towers where they monitor people in the water and who are ready to swing into action if they see anyone get into difficulties. This is an ideal place to take a holiday, especially if you have children. There are ice cream places along the promenade, the best award winning one being Veneto. There are play areas on the beach and Red Cross centres ready to help with any medical situations that may arise. If you want time away from the beach, Valencia city is full of attractions, ranging from its Oceanographic where you can see dolphins and a huge collection of brightly coloured fish, to the cathedral and the old historic centre where that is located. In the mornings the Central Market full of all kinds of fruits, vegetables, fish, meats, cheeses and other delicacies is well worth a visit. What we love to do is stay at the Las Arenas Balneario Resort for a couple of weeks in July; it´s a fabulous place serving a fantastic breakfast, with nice rooms and balconies, and a lovely heated swimming pool, overlooking the beach. You can really chill out in this place, or relax during the day and do your work on the internet at night. Here´s a link to take a look and book: https://tripadvisor.tpk.mx/nKzKbjHO
View of Las Arenas Balneario Resort, by far the best place to stay on MalvaRosa beach.
Our next beach is El Saler. This is located about 10 km. south of Valencia near the rice fields and the little village of El Saler. There are lots of pine trees in the area. Indeed, if you leave your car at El Saler village you can walk along a path through the pine woods which will bring you out by the beach. Alternatively, you can drive along a narrow road which will take you right up to the beach where there is plenty of parking, and a few beach restaurants, open in the summer months only. This area is more what we call virgin wild beach. There are no shops or tourist facilities or life guards, just nature. You can walk for kilometres along the beach or along a path that runs parallel to the beach. Near the car park in the pine woods are some picnic tables and a barbeque area where you can grill your own meats. If you like the peace and quiet of the countryside and like to be based outside of the city, this is an ideal place to stay and we recommend the new parador. It has its own golf course, and you can walk straight out onto El Saler beach and straight out into the pine woods. The rooms are spacious and the food is excellent. Here´s a link for you to look and book: https://tripadvisor.tpk.mx/yYVEdfCW
From here you can visit the Albufera natural park where there is lots of birdlife. We strongly recommend this private tour where you will be picked up in a car with a guide and given a boat tour and walking and bird viewing and lunch - here is a link where you can see details and book: https://getyourguide.tpk.mx/1YFz5uSij
You may also like to do a private tour of Valencia to experience the beautiful and historic city centre. Here´s a link to a tour we can recommend: https://tripadvisor.tpk.mx/12TRMphU One thing you will not want to miss is the BioParc. You can take a taxi there. We love it and have been more times than we can remember - it´s so nice to see all the animals roam around freely in their natural habitat. Here´s a link to buy tickets to save you queueing: https://tripadvisor.tpk.mx/tKKhID65j
We hope you have enjoyed this blog. The links in it recommending places can benefit us financially - we humbly ask you to make your bookings through these links as that helps us to keep this site up and running - and it won´t cost you any more than if you were to book directly on the provider`s own website. Also, in the event of a problem, it makes it easier for us to resolve it. Happy Travels! And we would very much appreciate it if you could forward this to those of your friends who love beaches and travelling. Thank you, and may God bless you. Lean and Anthony, the travelling donkeys.
