Valencia highlights and the City of Arts and Science full-day private grand tour

The Virgen de los Desemparados Basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city and is the most important religious building in Valencia from the 17th century. It was also the first new Baroque construction of its time. Built between 1652 and 1667 by Diego Martínez Ponce de Urrana, it is the only church in the old part of the city that was built new from the foundations up, and not on an existing parish church or convent. The dome is not central but located in the part nearer to the Cathedral. The side-chapel is in the baroque style and was one of the first to be built in Spain. The side-chapel is dedicated to the adoration of an image of the Virgin and is accessed by a staircase.

San Nicolás de Bari and San Pedro Mártir is a Valencian Gothic style, Roman Catholic parish church located in Valencia (Spain). The church was founded in the 13th century, with a layout that includes a single-nave with six chapels between the buttresses and polygonal apse. The church was refurbished in Gothic in the 15th century, and includes a rose window alluding to a miracle of Saint Nicholas. There is an outdoor Chapel closed with a gate which is called the fossar, because there was before the parish cemetery. The other gate, which overlooks the square of San Nicolás, however, is a neo-gothic 19th-century recreation.

Santa Catalina is a Gothic-style, Roman Catholic church located in the city of Valencia, Spain. The church was built in the early 13th century at the site of a prior mosque. Most of the interior was rebuilt after a fire in 1548 acquiring the baroque style. It has a 16th-century portal of classicist style. The imposing bell tower, with a hexagonal base and five levels, once the site of a minaret, was rebuilt in a Baroque fashion between 1688 and 1705 using designs of Juan Bautista Viñes. Today still presents the 13th-century gothic exterior. The church was restored in 1785.

The buzzing old-town district of El Carme is the site of medieval gates Torres de Serranos and Torres de Quart, once part of the old city walls. Its narrow streets are home to cafes, tapas bars, fashion boutiques and souvenir shops, and revellers crowd the terraces and dance floors of its many late-night bars. Museums include the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern, displaying 20th-century international works.

The North Station is the main railway station in Valencia, Spain. It is located in the city center next to the Plaza de Toros de Valencia, the city's bullring, and 200m from the town hall. The building is one of the main works of the Valencian Art Nouveau and was declared Good of Cultural Heritage in 1987. It has connections with Metrovalencia lines 3,5 and 9, and the city bus network. This station is named for the Caminos de Hierro del Norte de España (Railways of the North of Spain), the railway company that constructed it and opened it in 1917, which was later nationalized and incorporated into RENFE, and later separated into Adif, the company that currently owns and runs it. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Good of Cultural Heritage, a type of listed monument) in 1987.

Located in the heart of the old town area of Valencia is Plaza de la Reina. This is a pretty square, with flowers in the middle, and cafes, restaurants and grand buildings around the edge. The one thing you can't help but notice when you are in the square is the Cathedral and bell tower, which stand at its northern end. Just off the square, at the south west end, is the small Plaza Santa Catalina, where you can visit Iglesia de Santa Catalina.

This lovely square is marked on one side with la Fuente del Turia (Turia Fountain), which represents the Turia River and depicts Neptune. At one end, you’ll find doors leading to the Cathedral. Known as the Apostle Doors for the carvings of the 12 apostles adorning the entry, the Water Tribunal meets here every Thursday at 12pm. Just beyond these doors, we also get a glimpse of the cathedral tower, the Miguelete. On the other side of the square you will find the entrance to the famous and lively Barrio del Carmen at Calle Caballeros.

Plaza de Toros de Valencia, officially Plaça de bous de València, is a bullring in València, Spain. It was built between 1850 and 1859 in the neoclassical style, inspired by civil Roman architecture such as the Colosseum in Rome or the Arena of Nîmes (France). It was built by the Valencian architect Sebastián Monleón Estellés. Its structure is formed by a 48-sided polygon, with 384 external arches. It follows the so-called Neo-Mudéjar style.

The old city of Valencia was surrounded by a wall of which today there only remain two of its original entrances and a few bits and pieces scattered about. The two entrances are the impressive Torres de Serranos and Torres de Quart towers and gateways. While walking along the narrow and tiny streets in the old quarter, you can find one of the old wall's remaining bits here on Portal de Valldigna street. It is an archway built in 1440 leading into what was the old Arab quarter. This structure is important for historical, cultural, and architectural reasons. From this last perspective, the structure is noteworthy: It consists of a semi-circular arch atop two side pillars. It's worth a visit.

Mercado Central or Mercat Central is a public market located across from the Llotja de la Seda and the church of the Juanes in central Valencia, Spain. It is one of the main works of the Valencian Art Nouveau.

The City of Arts and Sciences is a cultural and architectural complex in the city of Valencia, Spain. It is the most important modern tourist destination in the city of Valencia and one of the 12 Treasures of Spain. The City of Arts and Sciences is situated at the southeast end of the former riverbed of the river Turia, which was drained and rerouted after a catastrophic flood in 1957. The old riverbed was turned into a picturesque sunken park. Designed by Santiago Calatrava and Félix Candela, the project began the first stages of construction in July 1996, and was inaugurated on 16 April 1998 with the opening of L'Hemisfèric. The last major component of the City of Arts and Sciences, Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofia, was inaugurated on 9 October 2005, Valencian Community Day. Three smaller structures were opened in 2007, 2008, and 2009, respectively.

The Lonja is an emblematic building of the city and one of the most famous civil gothic monuments in Europe. It was declared a National Historic and Artistic Monument in July1931 and was made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in December 1996. The Lonja is located in the centre of the city - in front of the Central Market and the Temple of Santos Juanes - and occupies a rectangular area of 1.990 square metres. At the end of the 13th century, as a result of the prosperity in València at the time, the old Lonja became insufficient and it was decided to build a new Exchange.

The Serrans Gate or Serranos Gate, also known as Serrans Towers or Serranos Towers is one of the twelve gates that formed part of the ancient city wall, the Christian Wall, of the city of Valencia, Spain. It was built in the Valencian Gothic style at the end of the 14th century.

The Turia Gardens is a public park of 110 ha. It is the largest purely urban garden of Spain. In order to prevent the flooding that the city periodically suffered from, the river Turia was diverted, vacating a large swath of land that crossed the city from west to east, surrounding the historic center. It has now been turned into parks and gardens with various sports and leisure areas. Having a length of 9 km from “el Parque de Cabecera” to the Oceanographic, The Turia Gardens (former riverbed) is today the most visited park in the city of Valencia.

Valencia or València is a charming old city and the capital of the Valencian Community. With just under 800,000 inhabitants, it is Spain’s third-largest city and, after Barcelona, the most significant cultural center along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It is the capital of the autonomous Valencian Community and is known for its tourism and cuisine. In March visitors flock to the city for the annual UNESCO-listed Fallas celebration, but the city is worth visiting at other times of the year for its paella, ultramodern architecture, and good beaches. Valencia was founded as a Roman colony by the consul Decimus Junius Brutus Callaicus in 138 BC and called Valentia Edetanorum.

The Metropolitan Cathedral–Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady of Valencia, alternatively known as Saint Mary's Cathedral or Valencia Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic parish church in Valencia, Spain. The cathedral was consecrated in 1238 by the first bishop of Valencia after the Reconquista, Pere d'Albalat, Archbishop of Tarragona, and was dedicated to Saint Mary by order of James I the Conqueror. It was built over the site of the former Visigothic cathedral, which under the Moors had been turned into a mosque. Valencian Gothic is the predominant architectural style of the cathedral, although it also contains Romanesque, French Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical elements.

The Modernisme Plaza of the City Hall of Valencia was the transformation of the square of the City Hall of Valencia by Javier Goerlich in 1931, now in its site is the current Plaza of the City Hall and its fountain.