Valencia Style
Experience the Mediterranean magic of the new year in Valencia! With shimmering lights, magnificent markets and an amazing array of traditional events, you’ll be swept up in the festive spirit of this wonderful city.
Here’s what to do and what to visit in Valencia, as our favourite festive season draws to a close.
Bringing in the New Year
See out 2023 in style at Valencia’s Plaza del Ayuntamiento on New Year’s Eve. The entire plaza transforms into a giant dance floor, where you show off your best moves to the sounds of the best local DJs from 10:30pm to 1:30am.
Ready to experience another fabulous festive tradition? As the bells will ring in the new year at the stroke of midnight, those in the know will pop a grape in their mouth every one of the 12 chimes. Traditionally, those who could manage to eat all the grapes in time, one by one, were in for a year of prosperity and luck.
Immediately after, a huge fireworks show will light up the city’s skyline, with simultaneous displays across the city featuring around 2,000 kg of fireworks!
Witness the Reyes Magos parade
Christmas in Valencia doesn’t peak until January 6, a day known as el Día de los Reyes Magos (the day of the magic kings). The excitement kicks off the night before when the three kings, Melchior, Gaspar and Balthasar, sail into Valencia’s elegant marina.
From there, they’ll be joined by a motley crew of curious characters as they traverse the streets of Valencia. The parade will pass several key spots in the city, including Paseo de la Alameda, el Puente de las Flores Rita Barberá, and Carrer de la Pau, as it wends its way towards Plaza del Ayuntamiento.
Expect a kaleidoscope of colour and a long line of wonderfully weird floats, fit for a king (or three).
Hit the ice
It’s the last chance to go ice skating in the warmth of the Mediterranean sun, a truly surreal experience! Skate those winter blues away under azure skies, surrounded by the modernist architecture of the city’s sublime Plaza del Ayuntamiento.
Valencia’s central ice skating rink opens from 11am to 11pm every day, except on New Year’s Eve, when it shuts an hour early. It runs until January 7, giving you the perfect opportunity to treat the kids before they go back to school. Don’t forget to take gloves…you’ll require them for entry!
While you’re there, take a festive train ride on the tren de los comerciantes, an old-fashioned street train that departs from Calle Roger de Lauria, taking five different routes around the city centre.
50 years of Grease
Our favourite musical returns to the stage for the 50th anniversary, with Grease showing at Teatro Olympia from December 30 to February 11.
The legendary musical offers a toe-tapping, hip-shaking slice of high school life in a small American town in the 1950s. Originally staged in a tiny theatre in 1971, Grease went on to become a West End sensation in 1973. Now, 50 years later, a new production arrives in Valencia, with ambitious and innovative staging courtesy of the creative team behind Billy Elliot.
Built in 1915 on the site of the old Convent of San Gregorio, the opulent venue remains a beacon of the city’s art scene, a glimpse into more than a century of Valencian brilliance.
Tickets for Grease: the 50th Anniversary Edition are selling out fast! You can get yours here.
Don’t miss: Until March 16, the Hemispheric will be showing some of the best films from the animation magic makers, including Up, Toy Story and Wall-E.
Date for the diary: A traditional parade winds through the city on January 22, to commemorate the day of the patron saint of Valencia, San Vicente Martir.
Did you know? Hannibal is said to have planned his attack on the Roman City Saguntum (Sagunto) from the castle of Xativa, Spain’s largest castle ruins.
Discover more about unique Valencia city breaks through our travel magazine, Valencia Style
