I am looking at RS Spain’s suggested “21-day whirlwind itinerary.” As others have pointed out, I don’t see Valencia on the itinerary. But he does carve out 2 days for Nerja.
So, my question (travel route/logistics aside): Would you rather sunbathe and relax in Nerja or Valencia?
I haven’t been to Valencia, but here’s what I wrote about Nerja during our 2017 trip to Spain:
“ Nerja (4 nights)/Frigiliana (1 day): Initally, we were planning to stay 4 nights in the charming white village, Frigiliana, in a small apartment with a pool as a relaxing location to just enjoy being there…and a chance for me to take lots of photos while my husband enjoyed his siestas. 4 months before our trip, I learned that Nerja was having their Nerja Feria festival beginning our last two days in this area, so I switched to a hotel on the Balcony of Europe in Nerja. We took the handy 1 Euro bus up to Frigiliana for one full day of exploring every small lane of that beautifully, quaint town and having a wonderful meal at El Casino (odd name) on their terrace overlooking the town.
The Nerja Cave was well worth the time. We purchased the combo ticket to ride a little tourist train out to the caves – easy transportation. That afternoon we walked over to the Burriana Beach – beautiful beach with accessible shops, famous paella stop mentioned by RS, etc. to spend the rest of our day. This beach was much nicer than those bordering the Balcony of Europe. We both liked the ambiance of some time at the Mediterranean towards the end of our trip.
Wow, their Feria was amazing! I’d describe it for us as a combination of 4th of July fireworks, State Fair concerts, full arcade plus traditional local town entertainment & participation. The first night was kicked off with an exciting fireworks/light show with Miss Espana and huge crowd in attendance – lots of fun to be there and have our hotel steps from the kick-off location. If we weren’t there during the Nerja Feria, we thought 2 days would be enough to be in this area, and I would stay up in Frigiliana, spending one day at the caves/beach in Nerja.
A few comments about Hostal Marissal. This hotel has a prime location, and I would select it as a Nerja hotel again based on that factor. On the other hand, the gentleman at the reception desk was not friendly. Our last day, we had to just leave the keys on the desk because no one was available at 8am checkout. All rooms including those facing inward have a window door balcony, so “balcony” doesn’t guarantee an exterior view. Our balcony faced another room’s balcony and the hall walkway balcony.”
We visited Valencia for 4 nights in the middle of our 14 night Spain trip (Barcelona 5 nights, Madrid 5 nights with day trip to Toledo). We made the Valencia decision based on a Youtube video and I wanted to see the City of Arts and Sciences. We really enjoyed the visit and would highly recommend valencia
However, by making that Valencia choice, we could not fit in any of Andulcia, which is in a different area of Spain. This is largely due to our travel preference of avoiding one night stays, trying to stay at least 3 nights in one place and minimizing travel times in between moves. Whirlwind tours do not appeal to me. It is a big world, and you cannot see everything. Even with 4 nights in Valencia, there were many Valencian attractions which we did not have time to see. So we had to forgoe Sevilla, Cordoba, Granada, Malaga etc. with the limited days that we had.
If you already have any of those Andulucian towns in your itinerary (which we hope to do the next time we visit Spain), I would suggest that it would be more efficient to visit Nerja which is in the same area rather than go to Valencia. For me, it is not a matter of one is better or worse, but trying to maximize enjoyment with the limited available time.
