Valencia Green Routes
The routes of the European Green Capital have been designed to facilitate understanding of València's efforts and achievements in three key areas: green infrastructure and biodiversity, sustainable mobility, and the recovery of public spaces while preserving a model of healthy food.
With three specific itineraries and a fourth that provides a panoramic route with the most significant points, four routes are proposed to materialize and make visible the spirit of the European Green Capital, allowing it to be explored and visited.
Route 1 - The Green River
This route covers the nine kilometers of the Turia Gardens as the best example of the city's green infrastructure growth. We are in a climatic oasis of 120 hectares that traverses the city from west to east and is one of the largest urban parks in Europe. The thousands of plant species that inhabit it provide exceptional thermal comfort, with a temperature difference of up to three degrees compared to other areas of the city. The former riverbed is also a renaturalization laboratory, hosting an experimental meadow to promote biodiversity and serving as a home to squirrels and 70 varieties of birds, as well as thousands of insects. The garden acts as a natural sponge, retaining and filtering water into the subsoil, preventing floods and erosion.
A meeting place for locals and visitors alike, it not only presents itself as a green lung but also as the healthy, cultural, and sports heartbeat of the city. It serves as a space that connects innovation and tradition through heritage and architecture along its course on both banks, showcasing the rich history of Valencia throughout the ages.
In the realm of urban mobility, the Turia Gardens becomes a role model. Its pedestrian paths and bike lanes promote an active and sustainable lifestyle, contributing to the reduction of polluting emissions.
Route 2 - A historic center to share
This itinerary is a perfect setting to contemplate the full coexistence of people, public and private transport in an urban space.
Starting from the modernist North Station, one can walk through one of the largest historical centers in Europe, crossing squares and pedestrianized streets full of monuments from all times and heritage buildings rehabilitated for the enjoyment of citizens and visitors.
The recovery of public spaces has transformed the old town into a huge meeting point that promotes sustainable mobility and an active and environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Route 3 - The orchard, the sea, and L’Albufera, the city’s pantries
From the place where paella was born, the Natural Park of L’Albufera, this route starts, which covers the three natural pantries of Valencia: rice fields, Mediterranean fish, and vegetables and fruits from the orchard that surrounds the city.
A triple guarantee of healthy food and local products that can be tasted in the hundreds of restaurants in the city. By public transport or by bicycle, this route embraces the city from the peri-urban orchard and dyes the landscape with green and blue.
From the south, the rice fields give way to the beaches that proudly wave the European Blue Flag and to the Marina de Valencia, a huge public balcony to the Mediterranean that relieves other areas of the city frequented by travelers.
Route 4 - Essential route
This route integrates the three previous itineraries, designed for a visit with limited time to provide a simplified overview of the main values on which the European Green Capital is based in the city of Valencia.
