Where to go out in Valencia

In Valencia, nightlife really means "in the night time". If you are planning a visit to this wonderful city, the best thing you can do is adjust your timetable to the Spanish way of life. What you need to take into account is that shops stay open until 9pm, locals have their dinner long after 10pm and most pubs don't start filling up until midnight. The exceptions to this rule would be the Irish and International pubs in the city. These places get a steady crowd of locals and tourists all day long especially when they show live sports.

This particular guide to Valencia's nightlife can be divided into 4 categories: cafés, bars, pubs and clubs. This relates specifically to places to go for a drink. Restaurants are reviewed elsewhere in this Website. Cafés, as in any Mediterranean city, a very plentiful. Most open from early morning (which means 8am in Spain). They are the ideal place for a chat and a coffee. As the evening turns to night coffee turns into carajillo. This is coffee with a dash of brandy and is the best preparation for a good night out on the town.

Bars, on the other hand, fall somewhere between a café and a snack bar. They differ from pubs in the sense that drinks are accompaniments to food as opposed to vice versa. You will notice that they have a hot food counter filled with plenty of typical and traditional Spanish or Valencian snacks yet only one, if any, beer tap. Pubs are less plentiful but of the highest quality in Valencia. Most will have an extensive beer menu. The Valencians are considered the Belgians of Spain. This can be seen by the huge variety of imported beers available in the city. Whereas in other parts of Spain the locals are slow to try different tastes in beer, Valencians are very much connoisseurs of foreign beers. Most pubs stay open until 3am on the weekend.

Clubs open their doors after midnight but don't start to liven up until the pubs empty. Most will only open at the weekend. The exceptions are those that open in summertime or for student nights. They stay open until at least 6 or 7 o'clock in the morning. Some places charge a hefty admission fee but this usual means that your first drink is free.

Here is a guide to nightlife in different parts of the city: