When the kids need to run, these are the green spaces we head for. Some are big parks with lakes, shade and room for a picnic. Others are playgrounds built for climbing and sliding, where a whole afternoon disappears. Pack snacks and a ball.
Parc Central covers the old railway land behind Estació del Nord, where the tracks now run underground. Landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson designed its water channels, lawns, flower beds and a garden inspired by the Valencian huerta. Kids head for the children's garden, with a climbing wall and water play. Restored railway sheds by Demetrio Ribes hold cultural spaces, including Ribes Espai Cultural, which stages theater and puppet shows.
The Viveros gardens hold 2,769 trees of 167 species, laid out as romantic flower beds in the south, wilder landscaped areas in the north, and a rose garden.
Inside the gates kids find a large playground, a mini road circuit used for road-safety lessons with a skating track around it, the Natural Science Museum, and the ruins of the Royal Palace with a small interpretation center.
El Botànic is the University of València's botanical garden, on this plot since 1802 and fully restored in 2000. About 4 hectares of paths wind past monumental trees, cactus beds, a pond and 19th-century iron greenhouses, including a tropical house from 1862 and a wooden shade-house.
A colony of cats lives in the garden, and younger kids tend to go looking for them.
Parque de Cabecera is the west end of the Turia Garden, in the old riverbed where the river once entered the city. A channel from the Molí del Sol runs through it, forming islets and small waterfalls before reaching a central lake with swan-shaped boats.
Around it are riverside woods, pine groves, play areas including a pirate-ship playground, a café, an open-air amphitheater and a lookout hill facing the Sierra Calderona.
The Turia Gardens fill the old bed of the River Turia, diverted after the 1957 floods, with over nine kilometers of flat paths, lawns and pines from Parque de Cabecera to the City of Arts and Sciences.
Kids can bike or scoot far from traffic, climb the giant Gulliver playground, ride a swan boat on the Cabecera lake, and kick a ball on the sports fields. Eighteen bridges cross overhead.
A giant Gulliver, almost 70 meters long and 9 meters high, lies tied to the ground in the Turia Garden, the park that runs along the old riverbed. Kids play the Lilliputians, climbing his body by stairs, ramps and ropes and racing down fast slides.
Accessible ramps lead onto the playground, and the lawns around it suit a picnic. Benches shaped like reclining figures and vending machines round it out.
When the kids need to run, these are the green spaces we head for. Some are big parks with lakes, shade and room for a picnic. Others are playgrounds built for climbing and sliding, where a whole afternoon disappears. Pack snacks and a ball.
Parc Central covers the old railway land behind Estació del Nord, where the tracks now run underground. Landscape architect Kathryn Gustafson designed its water channels, lawns, flower beds and a garden inspired by the Valencian huerta. Kids head for the children's garden, with a climbing wall and water play. Restored railway sheds by Demetrio Ribes hold cultural spaces, including Ribes Espai Cultural, which stages theater and puppet shows.
The Viveros gardens hold 2,769 trees of 167 species, laid out as romantic flower beds in the south, wilder landscaped areas in the north, and a rose garden.
Inside the gates kids find a large playground, a mini road circuit used for road-safety lessons with a skating track around it, the Natural Science Museum, and the ruins of the Royal Palace with a small interpretation center.
El Botànic is the University of València's botanical garden, on this plot since 1802 and fully restored in 2000. About 4 hectares of paths wind past monumental trees, cactus beds, a pond and 19th-century iron greenhouses, including a tropical house from 1862 and a wooden shade-house.
A colony of cats lives in the garden, and younger kids tend to go looking for them.
Parque de Cabecera is the west end of the Turia Garden, in the old riverbed where the river once entered the city. A channel from the Molí del Sol runs through it, forming islets and small waterfalls before reaching a central lake with swan-shaped boats.
Around it are riverside woods, pine groves, play areas including a pirate-ship playground, a café, an open-air amphitheater and a lookout hill facing the Sierra Calderona.
The Turia Gardens fill the old bed of the River Turia, diverted after the 1957 floods, with over nine kilometers of flat paths, lawns and pines from Parque de Cabecera to the City of Arts and Sciences.
Kids can bike or scoot far from traffic, climb the giant Gulliver playground, ride a swan boat on the Cabecera lake, and kick a ball on the sports fields. Eighteen bridges cross overhead.
A giant Gulliver, almost 70 meters long and 9 meters high, lies tied to the ground in the Turia Garden, the park that runs along the old riverbed. Kids play the Lilliputians, climbing his body by stairs, ramps and ropes and racing down fast slides.
Accessible ramps lead onto the playground, and the lawns around it suit a picnic. Benches shaped like reclining figures and vending machines round it out.
