We're cruising in Sept with day stops in Valencia, Alicante & Malaga. I've looked through the forum, but haven't seen much on suggestions of sights to see. We're not into booking tours with the cruise ships, preferring to so our own explorations. I appreciate any suggestions. Thanks!
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11885 posts
You may want to look at what the cruise line offers to get ideas and then build your own DIY day trip
Posted by
Ontario, Canada
4656 posts
Rick Steves plublishesa travel guide on cruise ports of the Med. It might be worth checking out. I usemy library copy.
For Valencia, I didn't visit the new part of town at the port, but depending on your interests, you may be interested in spending time at the City of Arts near the coast, or heading inland to the Old Town for the Cathedral, La Longa or the huge Market (do this in the morning). Subway system is easy to get you there and it is managable on foot.
For what it is worth, someone else posted a cruise question for Valencia about 2 weeks ago....asking sbout the HoHo bus. Maybe that might help with a further search.
Posted by
Peterborough, ON, Canada
1634 posts
We had a port day in Malaga in 2016 and booked a food tour with a company called We Love Malaga. We did the Tastings Tour. It was fabulous. Lots to eat, even though it says "tastings", great guide and great sights. Our guide even bought us a bottle of wine to take back on the ship! (and it wasn't confiscated!). Can't say enough about the experience. Lots of people on the ship said Malaga was their least favourite port-- it was our most favourite. There was still enough time to do some wandering before we had to get back to the ship.
Valencia -- Last month we tried With Locals for the first time. We booked a walking tour of Valencia with focus on the Spanish Civil War, with Danny. The guide was good in terms of eagerness to please, flexibility and presentation. The content was good for me, because I don't know very much about it, but I think someone with knowledge on the subject would have found it lacking. Still, we enjoyed the tour, and the guide, and would consider With Locals again.
We've been to Alicante twice by cruise. The first time we just walked around on our own. Last month we joined one of those free walking tours. It was only ok. Alicante seems like a place that would be good to relax a little and not necessarily tie yourself to some kind of tour or excursion.
Hope this helps.
Posted by
Peterborough, ON, Canada
1634 posts
One more thing about Valencia -- we met some lovely guys on our cruise who did it ALL, and on their own -- they self toured around the old city centre, then they took a taxi to the City of Arts and Sciences, then they took an Uber to the beach for a quick swim, then they took an Uber to the ship. They got back to the ship with about 5 minutes to spare and said it was one of their best days ever.