Its heritage and its riot of unusual architecture have thrust Valencia, Spain’s third city, to the fore in the twenty first century. Valencia, with its festive air and seaside location, wins over its visitors as much by its traditions as by all the modernity it has to offer.

Valencia, city of contrasts. A time-worn tourist slogan, and yet stunningly apt when describing this particular metropolis, Spain’s third largest city and main commercial port. Valencia, spurned by tourists over a long period, has managed to turn its hitherto unknown heritage to good account thanks to the unprecedented strides it has made in architecture in recent years. The rehabilitation of the dried-out riverbed of the Turia, down from the city centre, has provided an opportunity not only for the Palau de la Música to be built, but also the daring Calatrava bridge and the gigantic futuristic complex of the City of Arts and Sciences.

And to mark the rebirth of the city, in 2007 Valencia was host to the most famous yacht race in the world, the America’s Cup. That’s all it took for visitors to flock back to explore Valencia.

The old town, with its exuberant architecture, and unrivalled heritage, is the perfect incarnation of the Spanish art of living, with its bars and terraces, its night life and its now famous shopping malls. There are a good dozen sights and monuments to discover, including the cathedral, the College of the Patriarch with its art collections, the extraordinary central market with its thousands of gourmet products, the Palace of La Lonja, the squares of La Redonda and Manises... All that and the traditional local festival of Las Fallas held every year in March have allowed Valencia to rediscover the links between its past and its future.