Part of the Costa de Valencia guide · València and its city beaches

This is the middle of the Costa de Valencia: the city of València and the coast just north of it, from the beaches of Foios and Meliana south past Alboraya’s Port Saplaya and La Patacona to La Malvarrosa, El Cabanyal and the port, about 7 km of shore in a straight line. València itself has UNESCO-listed heritage, the City of Arts and Sciences and urban beaches you reach by tram (Comunitat Valenciana), while the towns of L’Horta Nord behind the beaches are farming country, known for tiger nuts and horchata (Comunitat Valenciana). This guide covers each place from north to south, the beaches, what to do, where to stay, how to get there and a two-day route.

Updated 7 November 2026 · How CostaMap researches its guides

At a glance

• Where the centre of the Costa de Valencia, from the beaches of Foios and Meliana in L’Horta Nord south to the port of València.
• Towns València, Alboraya with Port Saplaya, Almàssera, Tavernes Blanques, Meliana and Foios.
• Best for a city break with a beach, Gothic and Art Nouveau buildings, the Oceanogràfic, horchata and cycling through the huerta.
• Getting there Valencia Airport is 8 km from the city, with metro lines 3 and 5 into the centre in about 20 minutes (Spain.info); no car needed.
• On CostaMap guides to València, the cathedral, the Serranos Towers, the Silk Exchange, the Central Market, the City of Arts and Sciences, the Oceanogràfic, Bioparc, the Marina, La Malvarrosa, Alboraya and Foios.

Map of València and its city beaches

The map shows the places in València and on its city coast that have a CostaMap page. Tick a place type to filter, and click a marker to see the place in the panel.

Towns and villages

From north to south, following the coast towards the city, with the inland huerta towns where they are reached from.

Foios

Foios is a town of L’Horta Nord a few kilometres north of València. Its municipality reaches the sea beyond the fields, where Platja de Foios lies next to Meliana beach (OpenStreetMap). The regional tourist board picks out three things: its food, its cultural life and the huerta, the irrigated market gardens around it. Foios has one of the best-known kitchens of the Horta Nord; look for arròs amb fessols i naps (rice with beans and turnips) and pastissets de moniato (sweet-potato pastries) (Comunitat Valenciana). Come for the food and the countryside. See our Foios guide.

Meliana

Meliana is where the huerta meets the sea. In town, start at the blue-tiled façade of the old Bernardo Vidal tile factory next to the metro station, then the 16th-century church of Santos Juanes on the main square and MOSMEL, the local fine-art gallery. Walk or cycle out through the farming district of Roca to the beach, or visit the Palau de Nolla, named after the Nolla mosaic tiles first made here (Comunitat Valenciana). Meliana beach is 1,200 m long and 50 m wide, detached from the village and surrounded by fields; a Greenpeace report called it one of the few virgin beaches left on the Valencian coast. (Comunitat Valenciana).

Almàssera and Tavernes Blanques

Almàssera lies on the left bank of the Barranc del Carraixet. See the 18th-century church of the Santísimo Sacramento, Casa Llopis on the town-hall square with its trencadís tiles from the Nolla factory, and the Museu de l’Horta, an ethnology museum in the old slaughterhouse (Comunitat Valenciana). The Lladró brothers started making porcelain in a house in Almàssera in 1953. Their museum is next door in Tavernes Blanques, about 15 minutes from the centre of València, in the company’s workshops, with pieces that trace the brand’s history (Comunitat Valenciana).

Alboraya, Port Saplaya and La Patacona

Alboraya sits between tiger-nut fields and the sea. The tiger nut is the main ingredient of horchata, a drink with Designation of Origin status, and you can walk or cycle here from València along the Vía Verde Xurra past farmhouses, irrigation channels and mills. The old centre has an 18th-century parish church and ceramic street altars (Comunitat Valenciana). On the coast, Port Saplaya has an inland marina and a beach of 600 m. By the mouth of the Carraixet stands the Ermita dels Peixets, a neo-Gothic chapel of 1901 that recalls a 14th-century miracle of fish carrying communion wafers; it opens only on its feast day (Comunitat Valenciana). La Patacona beach runs south into La Malvarrosa. See our Alboraya guide.

València: La Malvarrosa, El Cabanyal and the Marina

The city’s seafront begins at La Malvarrosa, about 1 km of fine golden sand with a promenade of rice and seafood restaurants, then El Cabanyal beach (Comunitat Valenciana). Behind the sand, El Cabanyal is an old fishing village that keeps its character and its Art Nouveau houses. South of the beach is La Marina de València, the city’s seafront marina and home of the Casa de la Copa, which tells the story of the America’s Cup: the Veles e Vents building, about 15 restaurants, boat trips and the Art Nouveau dry dock, clock building and fish market (Spain.info). See our guide to Marina Real Juan Carlos I. In the Grau, the 14th-century Gothic shipyards, the Atarazanas, host exhibitions (Comunitat Valenciana).

València: the old town

Most of the monuments are in the historic centre. Valencia Cathedral was built from the 13th to the 15th century and has kept the Holy Chalice since 1437; every Thursday at noon the Water Tribunal, listed by UNESCO, meets at its Apostles’ Door (Comunitat Valenciana). Its bell tower, the Miguelete, has 207 steps (Spain.info). A few minutes away are the Silk Exchange, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the 1928 Central Market. Two gates of the medieval walls survive: the 14th-century Serranos Towers and the Quart Towers of 1441–1460. Our Valencia guide and València town guide cover the whole city.

València: the Turia Gardens and the City of Arts and Sciences

The River Turia once ran round the old town. Its former bed is now a park of nine kilometres that you can walk or cycle end to end (Comunitat Valenciana). At its western end, in the Parque de Cabecera, Bioparc Valencia, opened in 2008, keeps more than 70 species in recreated African habitats over 100,000 m² (Comunitat Valenciana). At the eastern end, the City of Arts and Sciences stretches for almost 2 km with six venues, designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela (Comunitat Valenciana). Its Oceanogràfic is Europe’s largest aquarium, with an underwater tunnel and belugas (Comunitat Valenciana).

Around the city, CostaMap also has town guides to Mislata, Quart de Poblet, Paterna, Burjassot, Godella, Moncada, Benetússer and Paiporta, all in the metropolitan area.

Beaches

From north to south. Sizes and services are as the regional tourist board gives them, checked in November 2026.

• Meliana – 1,200 m of coarse sand among fields, quiet and largely undeveloped, with a large car park; reached on foot from Meliana or by car off the V-21 (Comunitat Valenciana).
• Port Saplaya – 600 m by 90 m of fine sand south of the marina, with lifeguards, first aid and adapted walkways, toilets and showers in summer (Comunitat Valenciana).
• Pinedo, El Saler and La Devesa – south of the port the city’s beaches turn wilder. Pinedo, sheltered by the port, keeps a strip of dunes and is listed as dog-friendly (Comunitat Valenciana); El Saler and La Devesa lie inside the Albufera Natural Park and are covered in our guide to the Albufera, Sueca and Cullera.

Things to do

Festivals: the Fallas, listed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage, fill the city with daily mascletàs, the Flower Offering and the burning of the monuments, the Cremà (Comunitat Valenciana); the main days fall around 19 March (Spain.info).

Where to stay by town

Where we would base a trip, from the centre outwards.

Getting there and around

A two-day route

FAQ

Other areas of the Costa de Valencia

Sources and freshness

Checked 7 November 2026. Turisme Comunitat Valenciana on València, Alboraya, Meliana, Almàssera and Foios; the beaches of La Malvarrosa, El Cabanyal, Pinedo, La Patacona, Port Saplaya and Meliana; the Vía Verde Xurra, the Ermita dels Peixets, the Museu Lladró, the Atarazanas, the Water Tribunal, Estació del Nord, the City of Arts and Sciences, the Oceanogràfic, Bioparc and La Patacona and horchata. Spain.info on València (transport), Valencia in two days, the Marina and the Silk Exchange. Locations, tram stops and straight-line distances: OpenStreetMap. Not confirmed: tram and bus line numbers for each stop, opening hours and prices of the monuments, the length of Foios beach.