Experts Eye: Valencia

Business Development Manager, Paula Calton shares her insight into Valencia and what this beautiful city can offer for meetings and events.

The port city of Valencia lies on Spain’s south eastern coast, where the Turia River meets the Mediterranean Sea. It’s known for its City of Arts and Sciences, with futuristic structures including a planetarium, an oceanarium and an interactive museum.

Valencia is today one of trendiest MICE tourism destinations, where all types of conferences and fairs are held, ranging from medical to technological sectors, making it an ideal location for your business trip.

The Valencia Conference Centre (Palacio de Congresos) has hosted nearly 3000 events since its opening in 1998 As well as being voted as the World’s Best Convention Centre by the International Association of Conference Centres (IACA). Designed by the British architect Norman Foster it has a total of 15,581 m², divided into 3 auditoriums, 9 commission rooms and an exhibition hall, all of them with latest technological equipment.

The Feria Valencia is the longest-standing event organiser in Spain, and has the largest exhibition area of its kind in the country and one of the ten largest in the world, covering an impressive 230 000 square metres of surface area with 19 pavillions, 48 rooms, 3 auditoriums and 3,000 parking spaces. Feria Valencia offers suitable space for all types of events  with a capacity of up to 20,000 people. The 47 external events held at the Feria last year attracted over 100 000 people to the city alone. 

València is accessible by air, land and sea. It boasts travel links to many major Spanish and European cities. The airport, situated just 8 kilometres from the centre of València, has regular daily flights to popular domestic and international destinations. The city also has two main railway stations, the Estación del Norte, from which the local train network operates, and Joaquín Sorolla, offering AVE high-speed rail services to Madrid, Cuenca, Seville and Córdoba. ALVIA and EUROMED long-distance trains also depart from Joaquín Sorolla, providing connections to cities including Barcelona.