Valencia rewards a slow approach. The old city is small enough to walk in a day, but you'll want more — there's the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences south-east of the centre, the long ribbon of the Turia gardens snaking through what used to be a river, the cluster of fishing-village beach neighbourhoods on the eastern edge, and the freshwater lagoon of the Albufera, just out of town, where paella was born.
Sights split between the medieval (cathedral, Lonja silk exchange, Serranos and Quart towers, the basilica of the Forsaken) and the strikingly modern (Calatrava's white-concrete science city, the IVAM contemporary art museum, Calle Cuba street art in the Ruzafa district). Don't miss the Mercado Central — it's both a working market and one of the city's finest pieces of architecture.