Andalusia honeymooning: two days in Valencia during Las Fallas festival

Four days into our trip in Southern Spain, we were ready to travel east to the coast. If you missed the trip reports from Madrid and Cuenca, you can read those too!

Day 1: Valencia

Strava map Part 1; Part 2: 22 miles

In Cuenca, we woke up a little after 6 AM to get ready for our train to Valencia. The bus stop was 2 mins from where we were staying and cost 2.50 e exact cash to ride from Cuenca to the train station (about a 15 min ride). Unlike Madrid which took 20 mins walking to navigate the station to find our gate, the Cuenca station was itty-bitty, and our gate was right at the entrance. Naturally, when we aren't in a rush to our reach our transport, our high-speed train was delayed. This delay unfortunately caused our car to merge with another car, forcing twice the amount of people to fit on one train. I’m really glad Uri was there to translate the problem/solution because it would’ve been very confusing and stressful for me alone, but we made it through just fine. 

The train ride took about an hour and a half, and we arrived to the city around 10:30 AM. Shortly after exiting the station, we stumbled across our first falla––it was a massive and elaborately colorful spectacle. We did not plan it, but our two days in Valencia coincided with Las Fallas festival, which is declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

What are Las Fallas? From March 1st to March 19th 2025, around 800 wood and paper maché sculptures are placed around the city before they are eventually set on fire. It is a festival in celebration of Spring, and there is a bounty of live music, fireworks, and mascletàs: at 2:00 PM daily, colored smoke and fireworks explode in the city center for a show celebrating the festival. At the end of the festival, la cremá occurs where all las fallas are burned throughout the day. Also, near the end of the festival is a flower offering to the Virgen de los Desamparados; however, we weren't able to see this or the cremá because of travel timing.

Before diving into town and hunting down all las fallas, one of the first things we did was stop at a supermarket to pick up some fresh food. Orange juice (i.e. the water of Valencia) has been our go to on the trip, squeezed directly from oranges right there in store. Over the course of our honeymoon, we drank about 9 L of this divine nectar. Properly sugared and buzzing, we launched into town.

And Valencia was STUNNING. It is a huge city with a meandering downtown that is nearly 100% walkable, and fruiting orange trees are planted all throughout the streets. All the roads weave and wind, though not at 90 degrees so you can accidentally get turned around. As a result, we often lost our sense of direction, but we enjoyed not knowing where we would end up or what we would see around every corner. The old buildings and tight alleyways were endlessly charming. 

Of course, we had to seek out la casa de los gatos, a tiny blue cat house painted on the exterior of another wall which was the gateway for cats to come in and out onto the street. In real time, we saw a cat exit, and us along with two other tourists gasped with excitement. Since this hidden gem is surely a tourist trap, we couldn't help but notice graffiti spray painted nearby––tourist go home. We saw a few of these messages throughout Andalusia, though we didn't experience direct hostility like that in Barcelona or Paris.

Our check-in time to the place we were staying was later in the day, though our host thankfully allowed us to stop by early to drop off our packs. Because we stayed north in Valencia and our train station was south, we slow walked about 50 mins across the city to ditch our packs and relieve our backs. The place was very clean, modern, and bright, and our room was quite cozy. With the strain off our backs, we launched ourselves fully into the city with no plans except to wander and find as many fallas as possible.

It was a marvelous scavenger hunt––we would round a corner and be surprised by the towering art installations often! They were all whimsical and caricature-like, and it was so exciting to be street hopping to see them that it made us giddy with childish enthusiasm. We spent hours allowing the sculptures to guide our pathway through the city. Because it was Friday, the main festival events didn’t fully start until Saturday, so the artists were still getting their pieces ready. Some of them were still wrapped in plastic, but many were exposed well enough to view. By tomorrow, all would be ready for show and competition judging. We found out later that the winner of the competition was the very first falla we saw exiting the train station (photo 1 below in the gallery).

At 1:15 PM, we joined the heavy current of people flowing to the city hall to watch the mascletas firing at 2 PM. It was so densely crowded that people were flooding balconies and rooftops. We happened to be positioned next to a high school band playing music, and the teens were getting us hyped up. It was exhilarating hearing Spanish band music and being able to enjoy a live performance while waiting. Uri was so happy, he nearly cried.

Then, the crowd became denser, and a light rain began to drizzle. I was worried that everyone’s umbrellas would obscure the view––a rooftop of colors and plastic quickly obscured the sky. Fortunately, those around us stowed them away minutes before the show began. A loud boom sounded at 10 mins until, and then 5 mins until. Finally, colors exploded around the main giant fallas in the city center, and fireworks boomed. It was one of the loudest events I've ever experienced; I covered my ears for the whole duration. The fireworks themselves were not spectacular––of course, it was hazardous to have explosions with a massive radius in a crowded city. Instead, it was a flow of single shots that echoed through the city and rattled my bones. I was glad to have witnessed it, though I wouldn't attend again (at least not in the dense crowd).

It was madness to extract ourselves from the hive, but we eventually broke away and found calmer streets. We roamed until 10 PM, stopping in a coffee shop in the afternoon to escape the rain with a cafe con leche and pastry. As we walked, we would periodically have a jump scare from some rascal boys setting off loud firecrackers in the streets.

For dinner, we ate at Baobab, a small restaurant not far from downtown. Though we largely cooked at home, one of the meals we planned on dining out for was paella. Being in Valencia, we couldn't pass up the opportunity. It was interesting that the streets were loud with firecrackers and partying, yet Baobab being one street adjacent from the cacophony was an empty and tranquil oasis. Lola, the little old lady working there alone was happy to have us; she claimed she was bored otherwise. Like Raff restaurant in Cuenca, we were the only customers, yet we felt more comfortable and at home here. And she made us an absolutely delicious paella! The rice itself was juicy and flavorful, and the drinks  were cheap (< 3 euro each for a glass of wine and beer). Lola joined us, and we chatted with her the entire time. I listened, mostly translating as best I could while she and Uri discussed numerous topics, mostly learning about her life and life in Valencia. In general, she (and many locals) do not like Las Fallas––it's loud and disruptive. The booms echo through the city and scare pets. The burning of las fallas makes the city smell like smoke and plastic. It was fascinating to get her perspective on this famous festival, and Lola was so unbelievably kind to us: at the end of the visit, she even gave us a free shot of a drink I've never had before. 

After dinner, we soaked up the night life and enjoyment from the other festival goers. I felt honored and fortunate to have a small taste for the way other people celebrate festivals.

Back in our room, we could hear the fireworks boom periodically, but our bed was so cozy and sleep called. We had walked 22 miles that day, so we conked out immediately. 

Day 2: Valencia 

Strava map: 17 miles

I could have slept way more than I actually did. It was so comfortable when we were so tired and sore from the previous day of walking that neither of us wanted to leave bed. But we were really motivated by the full sunny day, a forecast that we had not yet experienced on our trip. Additionally, we had just a half day in Valencia before our long train ride to Granada, so we wanted to maximize the time we had left here.

So, we were out the door and walking by 8:30 AM. We made a bee line straight to a storage place near the train station for our bags, called Lock Up. Walking the 30 minutes there with the heavy packs just reaffirmed our decision to spend the €12 to store our bags for six hours.  

Hungry, cranky, and wanting a coffee, we sought out Black Bird cafe, which was highly popular. Though there was very little seating indoors, folks streamed in and out of the narrow walkway. The timing worked out for us to score a rare table, and the food and coffee were spot-on delicious. We opted for a savory tomato and cheese pastry which was unbelievable.

With no plan for the day, we casually attempted to walk towards the ocean. When we ended up on a more commercial and busy road, we realized that the ocean was actually going to be an hour walk, and we didn’t want to miss all las fallas festivities for a two hour round-trip on busy roads. Instead, we redirected to be in the northern part of town, walking along a beautiful, horseshoe green space. The park was extensive––there were a lot of outdoor recreators enjoying every activity possible in the sunlight. We slowly meandered through the shady trees, basking in the greenery and briefly escaping the walled and stone city centers. After immersing in city life, being within trees always reminded me that I'm more at home there.

We wound our way back downtown to seek out more sculptures before our time in the city was up. With it being a Saturday and a sunny day, it was much more crowded than it had been previously. It was almost overwhelming getting around and navigating through the hordes of people (don't even try to drive), and the day drinking festivities weren't what we sought out. We didn’t even bother going to the town hall for the fireworks because we knew that it was going to be a nightmare. So, instead, we enjoyed a gelato in an empty part of town and walked around new areas of the city to see street murals in the urban art zone.

With a tad bit of time left, we headed to west Valencia for some more new sight-seeing. We didn’t get too far when we reassessed our timeline and location and spent an hour walking to get our bags and redirecting to the train station. At this point, the sun was beating down, and we were very exhausted. At first, we were sad that we were going to shorten our only sunny day in Andalusia, but we were so tired that we were ready to sit down and rest for the day. The long train ride to Granada would provide us that.

As usual, we had a hectic ride from Valencia to Granada, so stay tuned for the next post.