What's on in Valencia, Spain through the year

Peak crowds — Christmas and Reyes, Christmas holidays in Spain

Nothing new starts in January.

Still on: Christmas and Reyes (5 Dec – 6 Jan)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in February.

Peak crowds — Las Fallas, Semana Santa (Easter) holidays in Spain

• Festival

  Las Fallas

  1–19 MarMajor festivalCrowdedBook early

  A daytime gunpowder concert in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento every day from 1 March, then on the night of the 19th several hundred enormous sculptures are burned in the streets that built them. Source ↗

• Nature

  Orange blossom

  20 Mar – 5 May · usuallyWildflowers & blooms

  The azahar comes out across the huerta and in the city's own street trees for a few weeks in spring, and on a warm evening the old town smells of it from one side to the other.

Busy — Semana Santa (Easter) holidays in Spain, school holidays in 5 of the markets that fill it

Nothing new starts in April.

Still on: Orange blossom (20 Mar – 5 May (usually))

Busy — school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it, one of its best months for weather

Nothing new starts in May.

Still on: Orange blossom (20 Mar – 5 May (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Spain, school holidays in 3 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Sea warm enough to swim

  10 Jun – 15 Oct · usually

  Malvarrosa and the Patacona are city beaches ten minutes from the centre, warm from mid-June and still swimming in October, which is when the paella places on the sand are bearable.

Busy — Summer holidays in Spain, school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it

• Festival

  Feria de Julio

  1–31 JulMajor festival

  A month of concerts, fireworks over the old riverbed and the Batalla de Flores, in which carriages and the crowd throw several tonnes of marigolds at each other on the Paseo de la Alameda. Source ↗

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (10 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Spain, school holidays in 6 of the markets that fill it

• Season

  Residents' holiday month

  1–31 AugSchool holidaysClosures

  Valencianos go to the coast or the mountains and a good share of the neighbourhood restaurants shut for a fortnight. La Tomatina in Bunol, an hour inland, is on the last Wednesday of the month. Source ↗

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (10 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Busy — Summer holidays in Spain, school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it

• Nature

  Rice harvest in the Albufera

  1 Sep – 10 Oct · usually

  The paddies south of the city are cut through September, and the lagoon is drained and reflooded around it. The bird counts on the Albufera are at their best just after.

• Hazard

  Gota fria and DANA storms

  1 Sep – 15 NovFlood season

  Autumn is when a cut-off low over a warm Mediterranean can drop a season's rain on the coastal plain in hours. Rare in any given week, and the reason the city diverted its river. Source ↗

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (10 Jun – 15 Oct (usually))

Busy — Nou d'Octubre, school holidays in 4 of the markets that fill it

• Holiday

  Nou d'Octubre

  9 OctNational holidayClosures

  The regional holiday: the Senyera comes down from the town hall balcony at noon and is walked to the cathedral, a mascleta goes off at two, and a Moors and Christians parade takes Calle de la Paz in the late afternoon. Source ↗

Still on: Sea warm enough to swim (10 Jun – 15 Oct (usually)), Rice harvest in the Albufera (1 Sep – 10 Oct (usually)), Gota fria and DANA storms (1 Sep – 15 Nov)

Shoulder season — school holidays in 2 of the markets that fill it, an ordinary month

Nothing new starts in November.

Still on: Gota fria and DANA storms (1 Sep – 15 Nov)

Peak crowds — Christmas and Reyes, Christmas holidays in Spain

• Holiday

  Christmas and Reyes

  5 Dec – 6 JanChristmas & New YearCrowded

  Markets in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, an ice rink, and the Reyes cabalgata on 5 January. Warm enough at midday to sit outside, which is most of the point of a Spanish Christmas here. Source ↗