All tours on this holiday have now departed. Future departure dates will be confirmed in due course.
Valencia Old Town
Valencia Cathedral
Valencia Science
CITY OF ART
PLAZA DE LA VIRGEN
COLUMBUS MARKET VALENCIA
VALENCIA
Valencia Science
VALENCIA CATHEDRAL
Art Nouveau and Art Deco gems
Calatrava’s extraordinary City of Arts and Science including the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia
Delightful old town with impressive classical buildings and squares
Fabulous cuisine – the home of paella
Two talks from expert Prof. Anne Anderson
Valencia is fast becoming the must-visit city in Spain and our wonderful tour in the company of Prof. Anne Anderson will show you exactly why its burgeoning reputation is well-founded. One of Europe’s best and least known collections of Art Nouveau and Art Deco is augmented by Calatrava’s stunning City of Arts and Science, added to a charming old town - right on the Mediterranean - it is a heady, sunny and attractive cocktail. Excellent art galleries open until late complete the picture.
Day 1: Fly from London Gatwick to Valencia.
On arrival transfer to hotel for check-in. Afternoon orientation walk of the main sights including the Cathedral, Plaza de la Reina and Plaza de la Virgen, amongst many beautiful, classical buildings. Welcome reception, lecture from Prof. Anne Anderson, ‘Valencian Modernismo from Francisco Mora Berenguer to Santiago Calatrava’ and dinner with wine at the hotel.
Day 2: A full day exploring the city’s Art Nouveau and Art Deco heritage
Today we spend on foot exploring the city including the Estacion del Norte, Mercado de Colon, Rialto Cinema and La Lonja, a stunning medieval building which has had a seminal influence on Calatrava. We will also visit the Casa Museo Jose Benlliure, the house and studio of painter Jose Benlliure where we will see his house, Victorian study and charming garden all bustling with romanticism. This evening enjoy a second lecture from Prof. Anne Anderson: ‘Modern Art comes to Valencia’ and dinner with wine at the hotel.
Day 3: City of Arts and Sciences and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia
Today we will explore Calatrava’s extraordinary futuristic City of Arts and Sciences. Our first visit will be a guided tour of the spectacular Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia visiting the four venues located inside and also a walk around the exterior of the buildings including its panoramic lifts, terrace and garden. A ticket is also included for you to visit your choice of the Eyeball (IMAX cinema), Greenhouse, Science Museum, or Oceanagraphic Marine Park. Late afternoon visit to the Cabanyal beach/port area where Anne will explain where artist Sorolla got his inspiration for numerous paintings. Return to the hotel with the rest of the evening at leisure. Valencia is the home of paella so a must to sample whilst here.
Day 4: Museo Nacional de Ceramica and free time
This morning we visit the Museo Nacional de Ceramica , housed in a palace dating from the 15th century it showcases a wonderful collection of ceramics and tiles. Afternoon free for leisurely lunch (not included) and individual sightseeing before transferring to the airport for the return evening flight to London Gatwick.
NB: Exact order of itinerary may vary according to local conditions and tour manager's discretion.
Please note: Day 2 of the itinerary is all on foot which may prove challenging to those with any walking difficulties.
Please note the maximum group size on this tour is 25 passengers.
INCLUDED
NOT INCLUDED
Hotel SH Colon, Valencia
Contemporary four-star hotel located in the city centre close to most of the main sights. The hotel features a restaurant, bar, terrace, and fitness centre. Bedrooms are modern with all amenities, such as free wi-fi, air-conditioning/heating, minibar and hairdryer.
Your Lecturers
Prof. Anne Anderson
Prof. Anne Anderson author, broadcaster and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, was a senior lecturer at Southampton Solent University for 14 years, specialising in the Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau and Modernism. Anne's career as an international speaker has taken her all over the world and her TV credits include the BBC's Flog It!. Anne has received a rapturous response from or customers at the many Travel Editions UK lectures and tours as well as a host of tours overseas and her knowledge, wit and enthusiasm bring her beloved subjects to life in whatever location she finds them.
Anne Anderson was amazing as usual and gave us so much information. Sandra the tour manager was excellent always there with the right tickets, entry times
Review by Anonymous who travelled 12-December-2024
An excellent tour enthousiastically guided and efficiently managed. It was demanding but well worth the effort.
Review by Brown who travelled 12-December-2024
Review by Anonymous who travelled 12-December-2024
hotel good and well appointed, food provided excellent. Easy jet delayed as usual! Sandra as usual was the perfect tour manager. Anne very interesting and informative
Review by Anonymous who travelled 07-December-2023
Would prefer earlier evening meals. Anne Anderson was excellent as usual. Sandra was an efficient tour manager. We liked having coffee stops.
Review by Pagett who travelled 07-December-2023
Sandra was briliant, really looked after us.
Review by Smith who travelled 07-December-2023
Flight issues weren't caused by Travel Editions however ....
Review by Anonymous who travelled 07-December-2023
Excellent tour. Valencia is a great city with wonderful architecture. Anne Anderson was a good guide and lecturer. It was easy to become swept up with her enthusiasm. We were well looked after by Sandraour tour manager. Easyjet as usual were a let down. Return flight didn't land until 2.30 a.m. several hours late.
Review by Vaigncourt-Strallen who travelled 07-December-2023
Review by Anonymous who travelled 08-December-2022
Special thanks to Sandra the Tour Manager she was excellent. Overall good and enjoyable. Central location of hotel was great and their catering was good. The very early and late flights, whilst understandable are an endurance test and add to the cost of getting to and from the airport. The reschedule of the return journey due to weather/Easyjet cancellations was unfortunate. However, there was an earlier flight on Vueling.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 08-December-2022
The flight times were very inconvenient, Departure from Gatwick very early meaning we had to travel the day before and stay in a hotel. Similarly the return flight time of 9.20 was ridiculously late, especially as it was eventually cancelled and re-arranged for 24 hrs later. Even then this was delayed by 2 hours meaning we arrived at Gatwick around 1.35 am on the day of train strikes. An annoying end to a good holiday.
Review by South who travelled 08-December-2022
Sandra our tour manager was excellent. with the flight cancelled on Sunday night she efficiently got us a hotel room, taxi to the hotel and food on arrival. the following day both she and Anne arranged our day so that we were not left just hanging around. she also handled a couple of difficult travellers with ease! all in all the tour was as advertised, although in future i think the weather has to be taken more into account. a rainy, free Sunday afternoon is not to be recommended!
Review by Watson who travelled 08-December-2022
Travel Editions operates to the highest standards and provides complete confidence throughout. Anne offers an appropriate blend of erudition and wit while Sandra is an effective fixer and problem solver, nothing too much trouble. Full marks for finding last minute accommodation when our return flight was cancelled late at night, for rescheduling us home the next day by the end of the evening and soothing some ragged nerves. Special praise to Anne for going above and beyond to entertain us and make the most of an unexpected extra day. The first full day was rather long, scheduling a further museum visit for 4.00pm needs rethinking.
Review by Cole who travelled 08-December-2022
Review by Anonymous who travelled 08-December-2022
Sadly the original guide, Mike Hope, died and Anne was drafted in to replace him. She did a good job, but the focus of the tour changed as a result and the City of Arts and Sciences was not as featured as I would like. She also seemed obsessed with a local artist and we spent too much time visiting his house and seeing his work.
Review by Stokoe who travelled 08-December-2022
Review by Anonymous who travelled 08-December-2022
Review by Anonymous who travelled 08-December-2022
A brilliant trip and one I thoroughly enjoyed- I had never been to Valencia before but found it a delightful town. It was perfect weather to wonder around and hear about the architecture from Mike Hope. All in all a very good trip indeed.
Review by Tong who travelled 12-December-2019
The trip was excellent. Sandra was very efficient and pleasant throughout. Mike was knowledgeable and enthusiastic and conveyed this to us very effectively. I'll be happy to travel with these two again.
Review by Lewis who travelled 12-December-2019
Easyjet flight late leaving then had emergency landing in the middle of France - not much explanation given - stewardess' garbled announcements didn't help and captain gave v little info. Water was offered and nothing else for free - a Spanish stewardess got v stroppy with the man behind us who was saying we should be offered something. We were already delayed due to air traffic strike in France - luckily the airodrome we landed in was working and fire engines were there (not commercial). Return journey - autistic young man was not controlled by stewards and he hit our tour manager - we moved seats and hand luggage was supposed to be transferred on landing by staff - but they didn't bother. This airline is not good and hope never to travel with them again. Valencia was lovely, tour manager brilliant - as always apart from flight - all good. Look forward to eurostar visit to Nancy in April!
Review by Platt who travelled 12-December-2019
Excellent tour enriched by Mike and Sandra who are at the top of their game. So informative. We were impressed with Sandra's support for the needs of different members in the group and always having tickets at the ready. Visits were well structured and the links between 'ancient' and modern were much in evidence. Mike's talks always an asset; we are enjoying his book.
Review by Taylor who travelled 12-December-2019
Outward flight was disrupted, first by the French ATC strike, and then by an emergency landing following a warning of an over-heating brake. The latter was dealt with as well as could be expected by the aircraft crew. We were particularly impressed by the fact that the Tour Manager made contact while we were on the ground after the emergency landing. She, and the Lecturer, were superb throughout.
Review by Anonymous who travelled 12-December-2019
Review by anonymous who travelled 13-December-2018
Overall a very interesting and enjoyable short break. Valencia is a lovely city and the weather was good as well!
Review by Porter who travelled 13-December-2018
A wonderful visit to this amazingly beautiful city, we fitted in such a lot in 4 days thanks to the excellent leadership of Mike Hope - so knowledgeable and enthousiastic - blessed with beautiful weather, warm sunshine and blue skies
Review by Johnson who travelled 13-December-2018
Review by Anonymous who travelled 13-December-2018
Thank-you for arranging the warm December (shirt-sleeve) sunny weather ..!
Review by Anonymous who travelled 13-December-2018
We enjoyed it greatly. Mike was very knowledgeable and Sandra had everything well under control.
Review by Evans who travelled 14-December-2017
The tour exceeded all my expectations and has encouraged us to try other Travel Edition tours abroad (this was the first outside the UK).
Review by Raynsford who travelled 14-December-2017
This was an excellent tour and we couldn't have been better looked after by Sandra. Mike was wonderfully informative, from Romans to Calatrava. You might omit the IMAX visit, but it did give us a chance to have a snooze, and provided much hilarity as we tried to figure out the headsets.
Review by Impey who travelled 14-December-2017
We had an excellent holiday which was enhanced by the knowledgeable Mike Hope and the range of buildings in the city of Valencia will encourage us to make a return visit.
Review by who travelled 14-December-2017
Another wonderful tour from Mike. Valencia is a beautiful city and the pleasure was greatly enhanced by Mike's boundless enthusiasm and knowledge, imparted with his usual clarity and brilliant sense of humour. Thanks also to Sandra for her friendly and ever-helpful presence. As always a packed and exhilarating travel experience. Thank you.
Review by Mrs Ann Howe who travelled 08-December-2016
