My husband and I (mid 60s) would like to spend 12+ months somewhere near Valencia beginning in
2025. We are going on a scouting trip this April/May (2024) and will check out Port Saplaya, Oliva and Denia. We are looking for a town big enough to meet basic cultural, shopping, entertainment and dining needs but close enough to Valencia that we can frequently take advantage of all it has to offer too. Can anyone tell us about these towns or suggest any others? We prefer somewhere near the water that doesn’t become a ghost town in the winter. And just to make it more interesting, we are not opposed to being right in Valencia. We’re hoping we’ll know it when we see it. And we look forward to hearing from voices of experience. Thank you.
Posted by
Washington DC
27187 posts
I don't know the coastal towns in that area at all, but I can suggest a place you might like to visit while you're staying in or near Valencia. Manises, out near the airport, is known for ceramics. There's a nice ceramics museum, and a lot of the local buildings have decorative ceramics on their facades.
I assume you know you'll need a visa to spend a year in Spain if you are traveling on a US or Canadian passport.
Posted by
OP
2 posts
I love ceramics. Thanks for the suggestion. And yes, understand the visa deal.
Posted by
Washington DC
27187 posts
For future reference, the city of Ubeda in northern Andalucia is a major ceramic-production spot. Ubeda is known for its Renaissance architecture, too. It's very much worth a visit (as is neighboring Baeza) during your year in Spain. The weather in that northern part of Andalucia is not like what you get in Seville. Check historical weather data carefully to time a trip there. I don't think winter would be a particularly nice time to go, and I ran into a couple of cool and very wet days in early April 2019. That may have been an anomaly, it certainly was unpleasant. I was very glad I had merino-wool long johns with me and slacks that were somewhat water-resistant.
When timing my trips, I depend heavily on timeanddate.com, which provides actual, historical, day-by-day weather statistics, because I like to know how hot it can get in summer and how cold it can get in winter. Averages just don't do it for me. I usually check data for the most recent five years.
Unfortunately, timeanddate.com doesn't have information for Ubeda. It looks like Jaen (the regional capital) is the best available option.
You can change the month and year via the pull-down box at the right, just above the graph. Use the Search box to change the city.