Jardín del Turia — Attraction in Valencia

A Living Legacy Where River Became Garden

What’s special: Jardín del Turia isn’t just a park—it’s a masterpiece of urban transformation. Once the course of the Turia River, it turned into Valencia’s vibrant green artery after a devastating flood in 1957 that tragically killed around 80–100 people  . Rather than becoming a highway as originally planned, a citizen movement—“El llit del Túria és nostre i el volem verd” (“The riverbed is ours and we want it green”)—reclaimed the space for nature and public life  .

Design & features: Inaugurated in 1986, the park stretches roughly 8.5 km (eventually nearly 10 km), covering about 136 hectares with an average width of 160 m  . Multiple visionary designers shaped different sections: Ricardo Bofill crafted the elegant zone with orange and palm trees near the Palau de la Música; the “Vetges Tú – Mediterrania” team added sports facilities and fountains around the Casa del Agua to Nuevo Centro; and the Agriculture Department planted thousands of pines in the “Urban Forest” segment, with the whimsical Gulliver playground added later   .

Bridges & landmarks: Eighteen bridges span the garden, blending centuries of history and modern architecture. Among them are ancient stone spans like San José, Serranos, El Real, and El Mar, as well as contemporary masterpieces by Santiago Calatrava (such as the Exposición bridge and Assut d’Or), Norman Foster’s Las Artes, and others  .

Wanderers also encounter iconic stops along the way—from the Palau de la Música and Gulliver’s playground to Bioparc, Cabecera Park, and the futuristic City of Arts & Sciences. You’ll find sports fields, fountains, cafés with terraces, and even paddleboat rentals in summer   .

Why it matters today: This is Valencia’s green lung and a million-visitor landmark. Locals jog, cycle, picnic, play, relax—and visitors explore. The park seamlessly stitches together culture, history, recreation, and urban life in a way that feels both...

This has to be the prettiest urban garden that I've ever seen and, definitely, the biggest of its kind in Spain. A huge green area that goes through the whole Valencia, like a river. The soil where it is built used to be a river indeed, but the city council decided to dry it up, due to the numerous flooding that were happening at the time. Nowadays it probably wouldn't be the case, since the climate there is increasingly getting drier and the little amount of rain that they receive, wouldn't be enough to cause such a natural catastrophe.

Anyways, what I recommend is to take a full day just to visit the gardens. Consider that it stretches from the beach all the way to the other side of Valencia. It's a long walk or, if you go by bike, a long ride. Grab water (a lot), sunscreen (a lot) and a big dose of strength (not too big though).

Your efforts will be highly rewarded by the beauty of the place, with its "little" forests of pine and palm trees, its many monuments (which includes the famous City of Science), its fountains and artificial streams, its cute cafes.

I'm not a big fan of the two wheels, so I usually stick with what nature gave me, but for those who love biking the park is incredibly well-equipped, with big bike lanes going through the whole park.

Spain is a very clean country and the Jardin del Turia is no exception. You won't see a single piece of trash, like in Switzerland. A gigantic standing ovation for the cleaning department then!

The chances that you won't like this Paradise are...

This once riverbed turned park is very beautiful and full of life, on one end you have the city of arts and sciences, on the other you have the biopark zoo and in the middle it passes right next to the city centre.

It has bicycle and foot paths, fountains, sports fields, playgrounds and picnic areas.

It's a great place do wind down and relax, you can take a walk or bike through the park, the grounds here are perfect for a picnic as well and there are ocasional picnic tables that you can find while walking.

The trees are full of birds and sometimes parrots as well which sound lovely while visiting.

Gullivers park is amazing for kids and offers a never-ending source of entertainment, the entrance is free and there are toilets there as well.

The only down side is almost every time the park goes under a bridge, there will be trash there, or the path disappears or is simply not maintained well, it feels like the park temporarily ends when there is a bridge and...