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THE GUIDE
V A L E N C I A
Country Code: 34
Exchange Rate: 1 Euro = $1.30
Dinner with drinks, tax & tip:
Expensive - Over $50
Moderate - $25-50
Inexpensive - Under $25
Where to
Stay
AD
HOC HOTEL Boix 4 (96/391 91 40; fax 391 36 67;
www.adhochoteles.com).
Rates: $150 Double. A modest boutique hostelry in a
restored 19th-century house near the Jardin del Turia, offering 28
small rooms with period furnishings.
HOTEL ABBA ACTEON Vicente Beltran Grimal 2 (96/331 07 07;
fax 330 22 30). Rates: $100 Double. A modern 187 room
hotel near the City of the Arts and Sciences.
MELIA VALENCIA PALACE paseo Alameda 32 (96/337 50 37; fax 337
44 32; www.solmelia.com).
Rates: $140-170. Alongside the Jardin del Turia, a modern
business oriented hotel with 230 rooms and 18 suites, some on the
Royal Service floor equipped with wi-fi and videoconferencing
facilities.
PARADOR EL SALER avenida de los Pinares 151, El Saler (96/161
11 86; www.parador.es)
Rates: $176-202. On the edge of the Albufera, a
comfortable 58 room beachfront inn - part of the admirable
government-run parador system - next to an 18 hole golf course.
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Where to Eat
EL
ALTO DE COLON Mercado de Colon, Jorge Juan 19 (96/353 03 37);
closed Saturday lunch and Sundays. Lunch and dinner: expensive.
Probably Valencia's most elegant restaurant, serving first-rate
contemporary Mediterranean fare as attractive and finely made as
the dining room itself.
BAR
PILAR Moro Zeit (96/391 04 97). Tapas: inexpensive. A
lively, old-style place; numerous tapas are served, but the
clochinas (Mediterranean mussels) are essential.
BURDEOS IN LOVE del Mar 4, (96/391 43 50). Closed Saturday
lunch and Sundays. Dinner: moderate. Imaginative food,
sometimes overly ambitious but often successful, in an attractive,
wine-themed room.
CA'N BERMELL Santo Tomas 18 (96/391 02 88). Closed Sundays
and Monday lunch. Lunch or dinner: expensive. Stylish,
unpretentious cooking with touches of luxury (truffles, foie gras)
in pleasant surroundings.
CASA MONTANA Jose Benlliure 69 (96/367 23 14) Closed
Sunday evening and Mondays. Lunch or dinner: moderate. A
must for wine lovers, with a large, well-chosen list of good wines
from Valencia and elsewhere in Spain (and beyond), plus top-notch
tapas and good, simple main dishes.
CASA RIPOLL paseo Maritimo de Valencia, Modulo 7 (96/355 00
22). Closed Wednesdays. Lunch or dinner: moderate.
Nothing special, but a nice place to stop on a sunny day for well
prepared Valencian specialities.
CA'
SENTO Mendez Nunez 17 (96/330 17 75). Closed Sundays and
Monday Dinner. Lunch or dinner: expensive. One of Spain's
best restaurants, with deftly crafted contemporary food based on
the best products.
LA
MATANDETA carretera Alfafar-El Saler, Alfafar (96/211 21 84).
Closed Monday lunch. Lunch or dinner. moderate. Real
paellas and other rice dishes, plus more sophisticated fare,
served in an Albufera farmhouse.
LA
SUCURSAL Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderna, Guillen de
Castro 118. (96/374 66 65). Lunch or dinner: expensive.
A handsome restaurant serving some of the city's most consistently
well-made modern-style food. |
Where to Drink
ACUARIUM GranVia Marques del Turia 57 (96/351 00 40). A
nautical-themed bar serving snacks (like warm Spanish almonds and
superlative anchovy-stuffed olives) and what are arguably
Valencia's best cocktails; try the very icy "dry" (i.e., martini)
CAFE SANT JAUME Caballeros 51 (96/391 24 01). An old,
elaborately decorated pharmacy turned into a bustling little bar.
Try the agua de Valencia.
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