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Food tours in Valencia: what to eat and which tour to book
Valencia is a rice city. Paella was born in the farmland and lagoon of the Albufera just south of town, and the original version uses chicken, rabbit and flat green beans, not seafood. Around it sit dozens of other rice dishes, from black rice with cuttlefish ink to arroz a banda cooked in fish stock, plus tiger-nut horchata, the mid-morning almuerzo sandwich and a covered market, the Mercado Central, that is one of the largest in Europe. Valencians eat rice at lunchtime; a paella offered at 21:00 on a busy square is usually a sign of a place aimed at visitors.
Use this page to decide what to order, where and when. The dishes and areas below explain what each market and neighbourhood does well. The tours are real listings on GetYourGuide and Viator with approximate prices as seen when we checked; prices, schedules and group sizes change, so confirm on the booking page before you pay.
What to eat in Valencia
| Dish | What it is | Where to eat it | Typical price* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Valencian paella paella valenciana | Rice cooked in a wide flat pan with chicken, rabbit, flat green beans (ferraura), large white beans (garrofó), saffron or colouring and sometimes snails, ideally over a wood fire so a crisp crust (socarrat) forms at the bottom. Usually ordered for a minimum of two people and cooked to order (20–30 minutes). | Restaurants on the Malvarrosa/Cabanyal beachfront and in the village of El Palmar in the Albufera; at lunch, not dinner. | roughly €15–22 per person (2-person minimum) in a proper rice restaurant |
| Arroz a banda / black rice arròs a banda / arròs negre | Seafood rice dishes: arroz a banda is cooked in a rich fish stock with small pieces of squid or prawn; arroz negro is coloured with cuttlefish ink. Both are served with allioli. | Rice restaurants in Cabanyal, by the port and along the beach. | roughly €15–22 per person |
| Eel stew all i pebre | Eel from the Albufera lagoon stewed with potatoes, garlic, paprika and chilli. The local dish of the lagoon villages rather than the city. | Restaurants in El Palmar and around the Albufera. | roughly €16–24 a portion |
| Tiger-nut milk with pastry orxata amb fartons | Cold, sweet drink made from tiger nuts (chufa) grown around Alboraya just north of the city, served with long glazed sponge sticks called fartons for dipping. | Old horchaterías near Plaza Redonda and Santa Catalina in the centre, or in Alboraya itself. | about €3–5 for a glass, fartons around €1 each |
| Mid-morning sandwich break esmorzaret / almuerzo | The local mid-morning meal (around 10:00–12:00): a large bocadillo, for example with blood sausage, egg and peppers or the 'brascada' (beef, onion, ham), with olives, peanuts, a drink and a cremaet (coffee with burnt rum). | Neighbourhood bars and market bars, e.g. around the Mercado Central and in Ruzafa and Cabanyal. | roughly €6–10 for sandwich, drink and coffee |
| Cod and pepper salad esgarraet | Roasted red pepper strips with salt cod, garlic and olive oil, served cold as a tapa. | Traditional tapas bars in Ciutat Vella and Ruzafa. | roughly €6–10 a plate |
| Local mussels clòtxines | Small, flavourful mussels from the port's own beds, simply steamed with lemon and pepper. In season roughly May to August. | Bars near the market and in Cabanyal and the port. | roughly €7–10 a plate |
| Pumpkin fritters bunyols de carabassa | Fried pumpkin-dough rings dipped in hot chocolate. Mostly a Fallas food, sold from street stalls in March. | Street stalls (bunyoleries) across the city during Fallas (mid-March). | about €3–5 for a portion with chocolate |
Where to eat: markets and neighbourhoods
Mercado Central
Huge modernist covered market with produce, cured meat, salt cod, rice and spices; a few bars inside serve sandwiches and tapas. The place to buy paella rice and saffron.
Mercado de Colón
Restored modernist market hall in the Eixample, now mostly cafés, horchata and tapas bars rather than a working market. A good stop for horchata or an afternoon drink.
Ruzafa (Russafa)
Busy district south of the station with a neighbourhood market (Mercado de Ruzafa) and a dense concentration of tapas bars, wine bars and newer restaurants.
Cabanyal and Malvarrosa beachfront
The old fishermen's quarter by the sea, with its own market, simple bars for clòtxines and seafood, and the long row of rice restaurants on the Paseo Marítimo.
El Palmar (Albufera)
Village inside the Albufera lagoon and rice fields about 20 km south of the city, full of restaurants cooking paella and all i pebre.
Ciutat Vella (old town)
Around Plaza Redonda, Santa Catalina and El Carmen: old horchaterías, traditional tapas bars and the Mercado Central. Around Plaza de la Reina it is touristy, so walk into the side streets.
Food tours in Valencia compared
Every tour below is a real listing on GetYourGuide or Viator, checked on 2 Oct 2026. Prices move with season and group size, so treat them as a guide and confirm on the booking page.
| Tour | Length | Price* | Group | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valencia: Tapas and Drinks Evening Tour | 3 hours | from €69 per person | max 10 | Evening visitors who want the tour to replace dinner. Listed as not suitable for under-16s, vegetarians, vegans or people with gluten intolerance. | Check dates |
| VALENCIA Tapas & Paella Gastronomic Tour | 2.5 hours | from €82 per person | max 10 | First-timers who want paella and the market in one short tour; listed as wheelchair accessible. | Check dates |
| Valencia: Small-Group Food Tour of the Center, Nine Tastings | about 3 hours | price not confirmed in search results; check listing | max 12 | First-timers who want a broad sampler of everyday Valencian food in the old town. | Check dates |
| Valencia: Paella Cooking Class with Central Market Tour | 3–4 hours (evening and Sunday sessions have no market visit) | from €70 per person | — | Couples and groups who want to learn the real recipe; book a morning slot if the market matters to you. | Check dates |
| Real Paella Cooking Class | 3.5 hours | from €65 per person | — | Visitors staying in Ruzafa or south of the centre; a more neighbourhood-market alternative to the Mercado Central classes. | Check dates |
Valencia: Tapas and Drinks Evening Tour
On GetYourGuide · run by Food Lover Tour
- Length
- 3 hours
- Price
- from €69 per person
- Rating
- 4.8 ★ from 682 reviews (on 2 Oct 2026)
- Group size
- max 10
- Included
- Four stops away from the main tourist streets, with tapas such as esgarraet, cocas and ham or seafood croquettes, paired with Valencian wines and local drinks like mistela.
- Suits
- Evening visitors who want the tour to replace dinner. Listed as not suitable for under-16s, vegetarians, vegans or people with gluten intolerance.
- Starts
- Plaza del Colegio del Patriarca, Ciutat Vella
VALENCIA Tapas & Paella Gastronomic Tour
On GetYourGuide · run by ValenciaInBike
- Length
- 2.5 hours
- Price
- from €82 per person
- Rating
- 5.0 ★ from 3 reviews (on 2 Oct 2026)
- Group size
- max 10
- Included
- Mercado Central visit with local product tastings, two tapas with a drink each, a paella with a drink, and an artisanal ice cream or horchata to finish; venues described as over 50 years old.
- Suits
- First-timers who want paella and the market in one short tour; listed as wheelchair accessible.
- Starts
- IN FRONT OF THE STATUE
Valencia: Small-Group Food Tour of the Center, Nine Tastings
On Viator · run by Secret Food Tours
- Length
- about 3 hours
- Price
- price not confirmed in search results; check listingapprox.
- Group size
- max 12
- Included
- Nine-plus tastings: coca de llanda sponge cake, grilled sardines, steamed mussels, grilled artichoke, bread with allioli and tomato, a Valencian sandwich, white wine, horchata and regional deli products; route via the Mercado Central, Calle Colón and Plaza del Tossal.
- Suits
- First-timers who want a broad sampler of everyday Valencian food in the old town.
- Starts
- Plaza de la Reina, next to the Linares ice-cream shop
Valencia: Paella Cooking Class with Central Market Tour
On GetYourGuide · run by Sea Saffron
- Length
- 3–4 hours (evening and Sunday sessions have no market visit)
- Price
- from €70 per person
- Rating
- 5.0 ★ from 1,170 reviews (on 2 Oct 2026)
- Included
- Morning market visit to the Mercado Central (Mon–Sat), hands-on paella class with a chef, tapas, wine and dessert, then eating your paella.
- Suits
- Couples and groups who want to learn the real recipe; book a morning slot if the market matters to you.
- Starts
- Near the Mercado Central (check listing)
Real Paella Cooking Class
On GetYourGuide · run by My First Paella
- Length
- 3.5 hours
- Price
- from €65 per person
- Rating
- 5.0 ★ from 415 reviews (on 2 Oct 2026)
- Included
- Visit to the Ruzafa Market where locals shop, cooking paella with local chefs, tapas, sangria and wine.
- Suits
- Visitors staying in Ruzafa or south of the centre; a more neighbourhood-market alternative to the Mercado Central classes.
- Starts
- Ruzafa
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Street food, sit-down or a cooking class?
Street food
Valencia has little street food in the strict sense, except bunyols and churros from stalls during Fallas in March. The everyday quick food is the mid-morning bocadillo in a bar, horchata with fartons, and tapas at market and neighbourhood bars.
Sit-down meals
Rice is a sit-down lunch: Valencians eat paella from about 14:00, especially on Sundays, and good restaurants cook it to order for at least two people, so expect a 20–30 minute wait. Dinner (from about 21:00) is more often tapas. Book beachfront and El Palmar rice restaurants at weekends.
Cooking classes
Classes are nearly all paella, about 3–4 hours, often starting with a morning shop at the Mercado Central or the Ruzafa market, and ending with you eating the paella with wine. Evening and Sunday sessions usually skip the market because it is closed, so check the time slot.
How much to budget for food
| Style | Per person, per day* |
|---|---|
| Budget (street food, markets) | €25–35 (bar breakfast or almuerzo, menú del día at lunch, tapas in the evening) |
| Mid-range (one sit-down meal a day) | €50–70 (a proper paella lunch and a tapas dinner with wine) |
| Splurge (tasting menus, wine) | €120+ (a tasting menu at a top restaurant) |
Vegetarian, halal and gluten-free
Vegetarian & vegan: Manageable but not automatic. A traditional paella valenciana contains chicken and rabbit, and seafood rices use fish stock. Many restaurants offer an arroz de verduras (vegetable rice); ask whether the stock is vegetable. Horchata is naturally dairy-free and vegan. Esgarraet contains cod.
Halal: Halal butchers and restaurants exist, mostly North African and Middle Eastern places in neighbourhoods such as Ruzafa and Benimaclet, but few traditional Valencian restaurants are halal. Pork appears in many bocadillos and cured meats; rabbit and chicken in paella are not halal-slaughtered unless stated.
Gluten-free: Rice dishes are naturally gluten-free if the stock is, which makes Valencia easier than many cities; ask about stock cubes and fried items. Spanish restaurants generally understand 'sin gluten'. Fartons, cocas and bunyols contain wheat. One listed tapas tour states it cannot cater for gluten intolerance.
Food scams and tourist traps to avoid
- Pre-cooked or frozen paella shown on picture boards around Plaza de la Reina, Plaza del Ayuntamiento and the cathedral, often served in the evening. Eat rice at lunch, at a restaurant that cooks it to order (expect a wait and a two-person minimum), on the beachfront, in Cabanyal or in El Palmar.
- 'Seafood paella' with mixed meat, seafood and peas, sold as the authentic Valencian dish. The local paella is chicken, rabbit and beans; for seafood order arroz a banda or arroz del senyoret by name.
- Terrace surcharges and bread or olives charged without asking at tourist-square cafés. Check the menu for terrace prices and send back bread or olives you did not order if you do not want to pay for them.
- Overpriced jugs of agua de Valencia (cava and orange juice cocktail) at tourist bars, sometimes made with cheap sparkling wine. Ask the price of the jug before ordering; bars in El Carmen and Ruzafa usually charge less.
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Common questions
When should I eat paella in Valencia?
At lunch. Valencians eat paella from about 14:00, traditionally on Sundays, and good restaurants cook it to order, usually for a minimum of two people with a 20–30 minute wait. A paella offered for dinner on a central square, ready in a few minutes, is usually aimed at tourists. For the best chance of a wood-fired paella, go to the beachfront or El Palmar in the Albufera.
What is the difference between paella valenciana and seafood paella?
Paella valenciana, the original, is made with chicken, rabbit, flat green beans and large white beans, sometimes snails. Seafood rice dishes are separate: arroz a banda (cooked in fish stock), arroz del senyoret (peeled seafood) and arroz negro (with cuttlefish ink). Mixed meat-and-seafood paella with peas is not a Valencian tradition.
When is the Mercado Central open?
The Mercado Central is open Monday to Saturday from about 7:30 to 15:00 and closed on Sundays and public holidays. Go before midday for the full range of stalls and the market bars. The Mercado de Colón is now mainly cafés and bars and opens daily. Cooking classes that include a market visit usually only do so on weekday or Saturday mornings.
Which food tour is best for a first visit?
For a short introduction with paella included, a daytime tour that visits the Mercado Central and ends with rice works well. If you prefer evening tapas and wine, a small-group tapas crawl in the old town or Ruzafa replaces dinner. If you want to know how a real paella is made, a market-and-cooking class is the most practical choice.
How much should I budget for food per day?
On a budget, about €25–35 covers an almuerzo or coffee and pastry, a menú del día at lunch (usually €13–17 for three courses with a drink) and a few tapas in the evening. A comfortable day with a paella lunch and a tapas dinner with wine is about €50–70. Tasting menus at well-known restaurants start around €90–150 before drinks.
Do I need to tip in Valencia?
Tipping is not obligatory in Spain and service is included in prices. Locals often leave small change in bars and around 5–10% in restaurants when service was good. On food tours, guides appreciate a tip of around €5–10 per person if you enjoyed it, but it is not expected.
* Prices are approximate, gathered on 2 Oct 2026 from menus, markets and the booking pages linked above. They change with season and exchange rates.