Valencia Food Tours & Paella Experiences
Valencia is the home of paella, cooked over fire in the rice paddies of the Albufera, and a food city in its own right: the vast Central Market, horchata and fartons, and agua de Valencia in the old town. This is our Valencia hub. Below are the top-rated food experiences in the city, then our paella cooking classes page.
Top-rated food experiences in Valencia
Why Valencia for food? Because paella was invented here and is still cooked properly, the market is one of Europe’s finest, and the city has its own drinks and sweets.
Ways in: a paella cooking class, often in the Albufera where the rice grows; food tours of the Central Market and the old town. For the rest of Spain, see the Spain hub.
What to eat: paella valenciana, arròs a banda and other rice dishes, esgarraet, all i pebre, horchata with fartons, agua de Valencia, and oranges from the huerta.
Paella, at the source
Paella is Valencian, and the real paella valenciana is not a seafood dish: it is chicken, rabbit, flat green beans, the large white garrofó bean, tomato, saffron and rice, cooked over an open fire, often with snails and rosemary. Seafood paella and arròs a banda exist too, but chorizo does not belong in any of them. It is a lunch dish, cooked to order and eaten at midday, never at night. The Albufera, the freshwater lagoon and rice paddies south of the city, is where it comes from, and the best cooking classes happen there; see Valencia paella cooking classes.
The market and the city
The Mercat Central, a Modernista hall from 1928, is one of the largest fresh markets in Europe and the start of most food tours. The old town has the bars for agua de Valencia, the cava, orange and gin cocktail invented here, and the horchaterías serve horchata, the tiger-nut drink, with fartons to dip. The huerta around the city grows the oranges Valencia is named for.
Frequently asked questions
Does real paella have chorizo?
No. Paella valenciana is chicken, rabbit and beans; seafood paella is the other classic. Chorizo in paella is a foreign invention that Valencians find funny.
When do locals eat paella?
At lunch, cooked fresh; a restaurant offering paella for dinner is aimed at tourists.
Where is the best paella class?
In the Albufera, where the rice grows, ideally with a market visit. See Valencia paella cooking classes.
How we choose
We list only experiences with a strong rating over a meaningful number of reviews and free cancellation where available, and we favour small-group and family-run hosts. FindEatLocal earns a commission when you book through GetYourGuide or Viator links on this page; it doesn’t change the price you pay. More about how we choose.