Where in Valencia?

I feel like I have added so many questions here lately! Apologies!

We've been looking at options with my wife. At this point, we are pretty much with the idea that the place that we really would like to call our second home is Valencia (city). But we don't know much about the different neighborhoods or parts of the city, and we find that here in Valencia it might not be so straightforward to know if a neighborhood is good (i.e. not considered sketchy by local standards, unsafe, etc) or not.

Which parts of the city would more experienced users in this forum recommend for Valencia?

What do you think of the following, where we have seen some interesting places?

• Camins Al Grau
• Cabañal - CañaMeral

i'd love some feedback and suggestions on areas to consider.

Whilst Valencia is one of my favourite cities (Madrid followed by Valencia) I don't think I'd actually like to live in the city itself. Very busy, high traffic noise and so on. Plus rather unbearable in the summer.

Still, Camins al Grau is very nice and very near the City of Arts and Sciences plus the Aquarium (which is fantastic). I think I'd rather move outside with good transport connections to Valencia itself. Somewhere like Torrent or Paterna which have good metro and bus connections to Valencia itself. Plus property prices would be much lower.

I will look Torrent and Paterna up, thanks for sharing. I do like big cities. I am originally from an 8 million people myself, so I don't generally find Valencia too busy ;)

Hello rozojc

You are asking the impossible question ‘’one man's pleasure is another man's pain’’.

You should go and fully research the area yourself.

Thanks, will do! But I did want to ask simply because sometimes, outsiders may miss the fact that a particular neighborhood is considered really bad and unsafe because when they visited everything seemed fine and it was a sunny day, if that makes sense ;)

Valencia. Violent crime is low in Valencia but this Mediterranean city does still have its fair share of petty crime, making it one of Spain's most dangerous cities.

If you were a mugger where would you operate? In your own neighbourhood mugging other muggers or a nice wealthy neighbourhood?

I understand your point, but having grown in a city with much higher petty (and somewhat violent) crime rate (Bogota), my experience is that mugging actually does happen less in nicer neighborhoods for a variety of reasons (more police presence, sketchy muggers being much more obvious to spot, etc). Crowded places, yes of course, but other than that, not as much as in places where crime can take place in the open.

I lived in Sweden for a while. Some neighborhoods that looked quite alright for foreign visitors actually had gang problems; it never hurts to ask someone who actually knows s city what their view is of particular neighborhoods 🤷‍♂️

Yes I also understand your point that more police resources will be used in nice wealthy neighbourhoods whilst deprived areas are neglected of law enforcement and left to turn into ghettos, that has always been the policy of short to medium ruling political parties all over the world. All that matters is getting votes to be elected and the population of ghettos don’t usually bother to vote. Ghettos usually exist in or close to large cities and some of them are no go areas. It seems to be a case of the rat catcher catching the odd rat but dare not go near the expanding nest. I live in a one donkey village where there is no crime other than when the orange pickers arrive once a year. However I was born in Bradford UK which probably means nothing to you, but it was riddled with poverty whilst mill owners drove Rolls Royce’s and lived well away from the city.

So if you want to live in a nice area of Valencia make sure your property is protected with quality steel window bars and shutters, steel gated gate entrance, alarm, guard dogs,, no open vents at night to allow burglars to use poisonous gases. When you go out do not wear a watch or jewellery, dress down like a poor person, do not frequent outside restaurants, beware how your children travel to school. This advice is not only for Spain but worldwide. You might be a fit and able man from Bogota now but what about when you are an old age pensioner.

Just before I get attacked by EOS members, many muggers and ghettos have been created by society, it was not their personal choice, and they are victims of neglect and are desperate people.

Wow, way to blow a question on which neighborhood would someone recommend out of proportion! All I'll.say is I've never seen the level of security you've described as needed in any of the 5 countries I've lived in.... But please, please let's not continue this pointless discussion.

Going back to the original question, I would love to hear some recommendations on areas others would consider to live in Valencia.

Thanks to @mariedav for the suggestion on Torrent. I hadn't considered it and seems like an interesting choice!

Rozojc, You're bang on with your assessment.  25 years ago I used to own a place 10 miles or so outside Valencia on a golf course and know the city of Valencia reasonably well.  It has a fabulous feel about it - an amazing range of different cultures - it's a rare city that truly has everything.  We spent a few days their too for the New Year 18 months ago - the place was really rocking, masses crowds Ayuntamiento square all enjoying themselves with a light show and music, fireworks etc and all well behaved.

I contemplated buying a place in the city a year or two ago and stayed at two central hotels for a few days on each occasion, but without success.  The prices have rocketed and we wanted a property with a pool, but they hardly exist in the centre.  The science park areas, ticked a few boxes, but as you'll know that's a bit detached from the main city area.

We ended up deciding to look in the surrounding region.  A while ago I happened to watch an episode of "A place in the sun" which had a few properties in the Valencia region - https://www.aplaceinthesun.com/property/details/ap2488202/5-bed-villa-for-sale-in-villamartin-alicante-spain   A town called Villamarchante which also caught my eye that I intend to explore when Covid is out of the way, but still waiting for that to happen - https://valencia-property.com/villamarchante/

Buying a property in Valencia City ..is just the same as buying in any other City around the world ...it's all comes down to how much money you have in your budget ..every City will have highly priced properties and also low priced properties ..you should know the reason behind this yourself ..so in my opinion it's pretty pointless asking others what they think ... when the answers to your question is right in front of your when you are looking at properties in the various estate agents windows...and if you still don't get the point the clue's are simple like if ever other property in the street has a expensive car parked outside ..this is a sure way of telling you that the area is a affluent one and you are going to have a nose bleed when you ask the prices of property in this area.

To some extent you are right Windtaker, but it does no harm to gain from the experience of others.  It's so easy to waste time chasing the impossible, as I did.  I actually did speak to two English agents, but they just sent me details of properties that did not vaguely follow the specification I had provided.

Rozojc - I also found a few other places in Valencia region that were recommended to me - Pattera – Lilliana that may be worth exploring.  If like me you find that you find that the city does not meet your needs.  I respect Windtakers point of view, but Valencia is a big place and I would not want to live in the suburbs away from all the amenities and attractions.  But there are some lovely towns in the region, quite close to the city that may tick more boxes.

Hi Rozojc,

If you choose to live just outside Valencia you will need a car. Public transport isn't really feasible as it is too slow. Especially from Paterna, L'Eliana or any of the northern villages of the L'Horta Nord. You will just get fed up with it and grab the car anyway.

Now if you are looking for a good area with future prospects, good services within walking distance in Valencia, one of the best areas to be in is Penya-Roja in Camins al Grau. You will see that Camins al Grau covers a wide area and not all of it is desirable. Albors, Cami Fondo y Aiora are all decent areas, but my pick would definitely be Penya-Roja. It has everything: walking distance to the town centre, shopping centres on your doorstep, all the amenities you could possibly need, restaurants, cinema, the riverbed parks etc...

El Cabañal is a strange one at the moment as it is becoming a really trendy place to live, but historically a very undesirable place to live. A lot of foreigners are investing in property there at the moment but you do need to choose your property carefully as there are some areas that you definitely do not want to live in. It is an area that is going up in value and will in the future be an extremely desirable place to live once the undesirables have left if you know what I mean and there still are quite a lot. I know the area well. But again if you choose well you could be on to a very good investment, especially the townhouses which need refurbishing. They are and will continue to be in high demand.

If you have any questions about any other areas feel free to ask. I have seen Valencia grow over the last 25 years and know it quite well.