One day in Valencia: itinerary and highlights

The City of Arts and Sciences opens the itinerary: the cluster of white buildings that seem borrowed from science fiction hosts a planetarium, one of Europe's largest aquariums, and an interactive science museum, all surrounded by reflecting pools.

Climbing back toward the centre you traverse the Turia Gardens, the former riverbed diverted after 1950s flooding and transformed into a linear nine-kilometre park connecting Calatrava's complex to the old city's heart.

In the historic centre, the Cathedral custodies what local tradition claims is the Holy Grail, while its tower, the Miguelete, can be climbed for a view of the old city's roofs.

Nearby stands the Silk Exchange, the civil Gothic ancient silk market, a UNESCO site, with a pillar hall that mimics an interlocking stone palm tree forest.

For lunch, the Central Market, one of Europe's largest covered markets with its modernist iron and glass frame, is the natural spot to taste local products before sampling paella, the dish born in Valencia's huerta.

The Carmen neighbourhood is the city's oldest and liveliest quarter, with murals and the old medieval gates of Serranos and Quart.

The Malvarrosa beach, the city's seafront, instead shows Valencia's maritime side, just kilometres from the historic centre.

As evening falls, venues around the Central Market or Carmen become the dining reference point, closing the day where it began.

The City of Arts and Sciences, the Cathedral, and the Lonja de la Seda already tell the dual nature of Valencia well, while the afternoon choice between Carmen and Malvarrosa puts beside it the urban or maritime side.

The March Fallas and a trip to the Albufera, the lagoon south of the city where rice for paella is grown, remain chapters for a second visit. Seeing the Turia Gardens unfold between the white of Calatrava and the Gothic towers of the center remains the most memorable detail of Valencia.