Getting around Valencia is dirt cheap, Valencia being a flat and very walkable city. Most of the time, you’ll find yourself walking around just to take in the beautiful sights of the city. Every so often though, you want to take some form of public transportation, assuming that you don’t drive. That is where the metro and bus systems come in.
In this post, I will discuss the different ways you can get around the city when you need to. It will surprise you just how much value is packed into the system, especially at this point in time (till July anyway).
Getting Around Valencia Is Cheap
Now, I’m not sure how long it’s going to be that these reduced prices will stay in effect, but even at the regular rate, it isn’t bad at all compared to a bunch of other cities like Madrid and Barcelona. Even Seville, where I lived for a while has only one metro line, unlike the nine here (counting rail and trams) was more expensive.
The best ways of getting around Valencia are:
Your own two feet:
I don’t need to tell you how beneficial it is to be able to walk. It makes you feel good. The benefits of walking are numerous and are no doubt one of the best forms of exercise. Walking is great for your health and for weight loss. There are very few places that you need to go that is more than a 1/2 hour walk.
You just naturally tend to walk a lot more here, be it to restaurants, a post office,s and grocery stores. We used to live in a subdivision whose front entrance from our house was over six miles with just a gas station and a Subway in between, so you had to drive everywhere. More time was spent in the car than anywhere else.
Here the weather and the gorgeous surroundings draw you in and you don’t mind walking at all. The way the streets are set out here, each neighborhood is almost self-encompassed. Every barrio (neighborhood) has grocery stores, usually, a post office, as well as restaurants and pretty much anything you want or need.
It is therefore more convenient to just walk there and back home without using the bus at all. After a while, you find yourself extending your walk because it’s enjoyable and your joints don’t hurt.
You also feel more like part of the community when you see everybody else going about doing their thing. You start to recognize people and make casual acquaintances, something that one doesn’t usually see for example in the states unless you go to the mall and congregate with everybody else.
This is my preferred way of getting around Valencia. Just walking. Now when the summer time comes, you might want to get some relief by getting into an air-conditioned bus which leads me to the next form of transportation.
Bike rideshare:
the most well-known bike ride-sharing system in Valencia is called Valenbisi. All over the city, there are stations where you can collect the bikes, ride them and drop them off at one of the other stations dotted around.
To join the scheme, you can buy a year’s membership at any of the stations and it costs €13.30. This will allow you to use the bike system for a year from the date of purchase. Once you get the bicycle, the first 30 minutes of your ride are free, and then the price increases. Another 30 to 60 minutes will cost you roughly €1.04.
Of course, what most people do is ride for 30 minutes, return to one of the stations, then grab another bike so they can get another 30 minutes free. More than likely that whole 13.30 will be sufficient to get you through the year.
Bicycling in Valencia is also good as there are more than 46 kilometers of bike lanes in the city that connect to the beach to pretty and beyond. It’s also another great form of exercise and you will see loads of people on bikes in the city.
The con of this bicycle that you ride is that it is quite heavy and you feel like you got a total workout after you’re done. I used to ride it to the gym and my legs would be tired by the time l arrived. A lot of times, l would walk back home after the gym :-). Now, my folding bike is much easier to use.
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The bus:
Valencia has a very extensive bus line that will take you anywhere you want to go in the city and beyond. Now at least until July 2023, the amount one pays for a bus ride is so cheap, you almost want to take it everywhere.
A bus ride costs you 0.40 cents of a euro. Imagine that! This 40 cent gives you one transfer within 50 minutes which is insane when you think about it. This price is only when you buy 10 rides. A single ride costs €1,50.
To get the 10 rides, you can buy it either at a metro station or at a tobacco shop. Just ask for 10 rides and it’s 4 euros. If you don’t have a card, you would have to pay either one or two euros for the card and then after that, you can just reload the same card.
When you get on the bus you just scan it and it takes a ride off and then when you hop on another bus during the same ride it will say Transbordo which roughly means transfer and you don’t get charged.
To use the bus you must always get on at the front door, and you exit when you get to your stop through the rear doors. I should also mention that you need to flag down the bus even if you’re at the bus station which is the only place where the bus will stop.
You need to wave at it for the driver to stop otherwise he keeps on going if there is nobody on the bus that needs to get off. Trust me, it’s happened a couple of times to me where I forgot and the bus just passes.
Each bus stand has the route that the buses take and it tells you what direction it’s going so that you can figure things out, especially when you’re not very familiar with where you are. The buses are quite clean and air-conditioned, so no worries. It’s almost too cold and at that price, one could almost ride the bus all day just to get some relief from the heat but I don’t advise that.
Metro:
The metro system in Valencia has many lines and we’ll get you even to the outlying suburbs that are far. The price to ride the metro is the same as the bus $0.40 a ride when you buy 10 rides, and you can transfer between both modes.
If you don’t have a card, each ride is also €1.50. When you ride the metro, you’ll be able to see all the stops, helpful when you’re lost. The metro, just like the buses is quite clean, nobody eats in them (at least l haven’t seen it), which to an American, for instance, is something quite startling.
Very rarely will you find yourself using the metro if you live within the city because more than likely, you’ll be walking to wherever you need to go, but it’s certainly very convenient. The direct metro lines three and five connect from the city straight to the airport at a cost of fewer than 4 euros.
The terrible part about for metro and the bus is that they shut down at 10:00 o’clock in the evening which can be bad news for people who live outside the city limits because it means planning your trips carefully to avoid a costly cab ride depending on the distance.
Taxis:
Compared to other cities, getting around Valencia in taxis is very cheap. If you’re going within the city, there’s a minimum charge of four euros. cheap any way you look at it. That four euros will get you up to three kilometers which is reasonable.
At night the minimum amount changes to 6,50 euros and that is still a good deal. the base tariff from the airport it’s €5.40 and if it’s from the ferry station it’s €2.95. Madrid, by comparison, has a flat 30 euro rate to the center when you depart from the airport which is insane and pisses me off anytime we have to use it.
Wrapping up getting around in Valencia
I hope this helps you figure out your way when in fascinating Valencia. As I said above I am not sure how long these prices are going to last. $0.40 is pretty low. A lot of people say it’s because we’re in an election year and the politicians want to appeal to people and this is their way of buttering them up.
Others say it’s because most people drive and they want to encourage more to use the metro and their cars less. Either way, it’s a boon for us so we’ll enjoy it while we can. Even before it was $0.40, it was $0.80, still a great price overall.
How have you been getting around in the city of Valencia?
Walking was our preferred means of transportation when we visited Valencia. I love walking and taking random turns until I eventually get somewhere really nice. That happens more often than not in Valencia 🙂
We also took the Metro to the beach (which is a bit away from the central areas) and really liked it. But as a tourist, I think it’s best to get your accommodation close to the center and just walk or bike.
Don’t they always have plenty of those electric scooters in Valencia? There’s plenty of them here and they’re very popular, although at the same time they seem to drive everybody crazy (myself included).
Yes, walking in Valencia is amazing. It was weird in the beginning being able to walk everywhere. We were unused to it even though we had lived in a big city. The layout was vastly different. I remember that you guys walked a lot.
It is best to stay close to the center. The beach is a little removed and unless you’re strictly going for a beach getaway, then the city offers more bang for the buck so to speak.
Those little scooters like Lime? They are not allowed for rentals here even though there are privately owned ones everywhere. Yep! They do drive people crazy and l have seen my share of accidents. They move so fast. I have started seeing actual scooters though, like 50cc that you can rent same as the bike ride scheme. Not too popular because you do need a license to rent those.