Spain and Portugal for Visitors

Spain's Levante is the Valencia region and Murcia, and is so called because it lies in the east of Spain, where the sun rises, and how! In the south, Alicante gets over three hundred sunny days a year, and Castellón in the north receives nearly as much. Valencia's mild climate means it is almost as suitable for a winter getaway as for a summer holiday - the Costa Blanca's average winter temperatures, particularly, are as high as those on the Costa del Sol.

The Spain and Portugal for Visitors Valencia Region section covers its provinces (Castellón, Valencia and Alicante), its coasts (Alicante's Costa Blanca, popular almost to the point of saturation, the less internationally known Costa Azahar of Castellón, and the Costa de Valencia itself, incomprehensibly ignored by foreigners), resort towns like Benidorm, Calpe or Benicàssim, and places visitors rarely get to see like Castellón's Maestrazgo or Valencia's L'Albufera.

In Spanish, the Valencia region is called the Comunidad Valenciana, Valencia Community, reflecting its distinct personality. It is still sometimes referred to as the Kingdom of Valencia, for historically it has been a Moorish taifa and a Catalan fiefdom of the Crown of Aragón. It is a coastal plain, backed by the eastern sierras of Spain's Central System of mountains, which in many places are an added visual attraction offsetting the flatness of the beach.

Valencia Travel

Sights. The cities of Valencia and Alicante are the region's biggest draws, but it has countless attractive towns and villages. The Roman remains of Sagunto are worth going out of your way to see, and the town of Elche in Alicante is a must.

Nightlife. You will find the nightlife satisfactory everywhere in the region, but Benidorm is the place for serious partyers to head for.

Practical Valencia

Food and Drink. Valencia's cuisine is as varied as that of most Spanish regions, but it is a rice-growing land, and its paellas and other forms of rice are its most representative dishes. The best known of all is the paella mixta, rice cooked with both seafood and chicken or rabbit, scented and coloured with saffron, and a fine dish it is too (ignore scoffers who point out with offensive and false knowledgeability that the paella valenciana is made with rice, chicken, rabbit, vegetables and snails - it is true, but it is no better or more authentic than the mixta). Valencia is the birthplace of a soft drink, horchata, made from something called a chufa, which translates as "tiger nut", if that means anything to you. Horchata looks like an off-white milk, smells vaguely of toffee and is served cold. In terms of wine, Valencia has three denominaciones de origen - Alicante, Utiel-Requena in the west of the province of Valencia, and Valencia, a scattered and varied area. Conoisseurs should try the fondillón from Alicante, a dark, treacly, red wine, most suitable as a dessert accompaniment.

Language. Castilian Spanish and Valencian. The locals insist that the latter is a different language to Catalan, but linguists disagree - at most, it could be considered a dialect. In any case, Valencians are invariably at least bilingual, so you will be able to make use of your Spanish, whether this is fluent or a smattering, and English is widely understood.

Getting There. Both the city of Valencia and Alicante have airports, Valencia being better connected internationally, but Alicante being slightly better served by low-fare airlines. easyJet, for example, operates flights to both, but flies to Alicante from a much wider range of British and European airports. Ryanair has flights to Valencia though not to Alicante, its alternative for travellers to the south of the Valencia region being Murcia.

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