Valencia

Get to know Valencia

Like the iconic paella's blend of tastes, this Spanish coastal city fuses old-world ambience with futuristic shrines including the City of Arts and Sciences and Oceanarium. There's plenty of admirable qualities to be found here besides the warm beaches, with restored medieval Towers and Gothic monuments including La Lonja de la Seda. But during the annual Las Falles festival, Valencia really lets loose, bursting into citywide revelry amid hundreds of carnivalesque statues, complete with mascletades pyrotechnics.