Ready for the best day trip from Valencia city? We hope you’re hungry! El Palmar is a unique village sitting on the outskirts of Valencia that every traveler should experience. Take an afternoon excursion with us to El Palmar, as we explore Albufera Natural Park, hop on a boat ride through the rice fields, and enjoy paella straight from the source in Spain!
How to Get to El Palmar Valencia
The small town of El Palmar sits on an island out in the middle of Albufera Natural Park. If you’re coming from Valencia city center, it will take around 30 minutes by car.
While there are so many amazing things to do in Valencia, renting a car will give you the freedom to explore so many great places like this! Check out DiscoverCars to compare companies and find the best deals.
With a vehicle, it’s easy to visit some of the beautiful beach towns south of the city on Spain’s Costa Blanca. A few of our personal favorites are Calpe, Javea, Moraira, and Denia.
Another option is to take the public bus from Valencia to El Palmar, which will get you here in just under an hour. The bus station also serves a large parking lot where you can easily walk to town from.
If you’re up for an outdoor adventure, you can even rent bicycles and take a long coastal route all the way from the city. We would avoid this during the peak summer months of July and August when the temperatures can be grueling.
As you’ll see in this article, the main reason to visit El Palmar Valencia is the delicious paella! When you combine the tasty food with an Albufera boat trip and exploring the town, it makes for the ultimate day on the water.
What to Know About El Palmar & Albufera Spain
El Palmar has an interesting history that dates back to Spain’s Islamic era. It has roots as a fishing enclave, and some of the practices from hundreds of years ago are still in use by the locals.
Before it became an established town, fisherman would stay in small houses called barracas made from wood, mud, and thatch roofs. These white structures can still be seen along the water, although they are mostly used as vacation homes now.
During our Albufera boat trip, the local guide explained to us that freshwater lagoon used to be much larger. Once the rice cultivation began to increase dramatically in the 18th century, the fields took over the open water.
In 1911, King Alfonso XIII put this area under the control of the city of Valencia, and halted further production of rice fields. Albufera officially became a natural park in 1986, and is now fully protected.
Another fascinating fact about El Palmar is that it is really an island! Up until the 1930’s the only way to access it was by boat. If you drive in the wild way our GPS took us, you will go over a series of small bridges that connect the mainland to the town.
Hopping on an Albufera Boat Trip
We started off our day in El Palmar with a leisurely boat ride. This is the exact tour we took if you’d like to book in advance.
There are several companies along the water, so it’s easy enough to find your own driver before or after your El Palmar paella meal. The cost is typically around 5-7 Euros per person. If you have enough people, you can even book a private boat for your group!
The Albufera Valencia boat tour starts from the town cruising down one of the main canals. Eventually, it will open up into Spain’s largest freshwater lagoon.
While it’s connected to the Mediterranean Sea, there are actually a system of gates and channels to control the environment. Rain and rivers supply the freshwater needed to irrigate the rice to make all that hearty paella.
The best part of our Albufera boat trip was that the guide gave us a breakdown of the history of El Palmar, explaining all about the lagoon’s ecosystem. We could see all kind of fish jumping and birds soaring as we worked our way through the wetland area.
One of the most unique species in the waters of Albufera Spain is the European Eel. They are considered a delicacy in this region and are cooked in a traditional stew called all i pebre.
In total, our boat tour lasted around 45 minutes. We’d love to go later in the day on our next visit to see it during the magical sunset hours!
Eating the Famous El Palmar Paella
By now, you could probably guess that there are dozens of restaurants in El Palmar to order paella from. The town is surrounded by rice fields after all!
After getting a local recommendation, we decided on Arrosseria El Rek. This is one of the largest restaurants in town and has both inside and outside seating facing the water.
One important thing to note is that you should call your El Palmar paella order in at least one day in advance. Since we were visiting in the summertime, we made our reservation about one week before.
We ordered a traditional Valencian paella with rabbit, chicken, beans, and spices. Other local treats to try from Albufera Spain are gambas, mullet, carp, sea bass, and the eels we mentioned before.
So how good was it? Well, we’ve eaten plenty of Paella during our time in Spain, and all over the Valencia region. Yet, the one we ate in El Palmar Valencia is hard to beat! The flavors were out of this world, the ingredients were as fresh as can be, and eating it with a view of the rice fields only added to the experience.
You can check out this detailed breakdown of authentic Spanish paella for more information on the world-famous dish.
Is Visiting El Palmar Valencia Worth it?
Absolutely! This is one of our favorite day trips we’ve taken in Valencia. The combination of the unreal paella, Albufera boat trip through nature, and the local atmosphere of the town was so much fun.
The village itself is quite small, so you don’t need to plan to spend the night. Plan for at least 3 hours to take a boat ride, have lunch or dinner, and take a stroll along the colorful streets. Be sure to add Albufera Valencia to your itinerary if you’re heading to the area!
Have any questions about this article or want to share your favorite El Palmar paella restaurant? Let us know in the comments below!
Safe Travels,
Brigitte & Jake
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We’re Brigitte and Jake! American travel bloggers currently based in Spain. If you can believe it, we started Nothing Familiar way back in 2015 on an Ipad in the Ecuadorian jungle. Ever since, we haven’t stopped traveling! We’ve now been to over 60 countries around the world, with our expertise being Europe and Southeast Asia. We love outdoor adventures, tasting local specialties, and island hopping through tropical destinations. Hopefully, our guides and authentic experiences will inspire you on your own travels!
