14 Valencia Hotels and the Arab Wall Inside One of Them
A palace with a stretch of the twelfth-century city wall in its fabric, a 1917 wool factory turned hotel, the 1913 grand dame on Hemingway’s route, and a parador in the pines by the Albufera.
Valencia’s hotels sit on the Arab wall, in a wool factory and on the sand Sorolla painted. This list has the Caro, built into the Palacio del Marqués de Caro with the twelfth-century wall running through it, the Westin in the 1917 La Lanera textile factory, the Reina Victoria, open since 1913 and a stop on the city’s Hemingway route, and the Parador de El Saler in the pine forest between the sea and the Albufera lagoon.
The list is grouped by character, not ranked. Each hotel’s name links to its own site, so you see the current rate and book direct.
Palaces and town houses of the old city
Caro Hotel · Ciutat Vella / La Seu
The Caro occupies the Palacio del Marqués de Caro, a nineteenth-century palace whose fabric incorporates a stretch of the twelfth-century Arab city wall. Roman remains and a Gothic arch uncovered during the works were left exposed, and the hotel presents itself as a hotel-monument spanning more than 2,000 years of the city. The interior architect Francesc Rifé converted it, and it opened in 2012.
MYR Palacio Vallier · Ciutat Vella / La Seu
The Palacio Vallier stands on the Plaza de Manises directly facing the Palau de la Generalitat. It was built in the late nineteenth century as the Vallier family’s mansion, by the hotel’s account. The interiors showcase a collection of Lladró porcelain, and the restaurant carries the Lladró name.
SH Inglés Boutique Hotel · Ciutat Vella / La Xerea
The Inglés is housed in the eighteenth-century Palacio de los Duques de Cardona, directly opposite the Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas and its ceramics museum. It has traded as the Hotel Inglés since the nineteenth century, which the hotel presents as making it one of the oldest in Valencia, and it is stop seven on the city council’s Ernest Hemingway route.
Hospes Palau de la Mar · Eixample / Pla del Remei
The Palau de la Mar is formed from two adjoining nineteenth-century palatial town houses on Navarro Reverter, joined around an inner courtyard garden, by the hotel’s account. The original salons now hold its wedding and events business.
Ad Hoc Monumental 1881 · Ciutat Vella / El Carmen
The Ad Hoc Monumental is a town house dated 1881 whose exposed brick vaults and timber beams were kept in the conversion, a few steps from the Torres de Serranos, the fourteenth-century city gate. It was one of the first boutique hotels to open in Valencia’s old town, in the 1990s, by the hotel’s account.
Hostal Antigua Morellana · Ciutat Vella / El Mercat
The Antigua Morellana occupies an eighteenth-century building that the owners say served as an inn for traders from Morella coming to deal at the Silk Exchange. The Lonja de la Seda next door has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.
Modernista Valencia and the century of the grand hotel
The Westin Valencia · Pla del Real / Alameda
The Westin’s building is the former La Lanera wool-textile factory, a protected Modernista industrial monument listed by the city and built in 1917, by the hotel’s account. It opened as the Westin in September 2006 after a two-year conversion of the factory.
One Shot Palacio Reina Victoria 04 · Sant Francesc / Ayuntamiento
The Reina Victoria opened in 1913, named for Queen Victoria Eugenie. It bills itself as the oldest hotel in the city and is a stop on the official Ernest Hemingway route for his 1925 stay. It reopened under the One Shot brand after a restoration by Alfaro-Manrique Atelier.
Palacio Santa Clara, Autograph Collection · Sant Francesc / Ayuntamiento
The Palacio Santa Clara is an early twentieth-century Modernista building in the commercial quarter beside the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, by the hotel’s account. It takes its name from the Santa Clara convent that once stood in this part of the city, and is Marriott’s Autograph Collection hotel in Valencia.
Catalonia Excelsior · Sant Francesc / Ayuntamiento
The Excelsior opened in 1930, by the hotel’s account, one of the classic hotel names of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento quarter. It sits a block from the square where the Fallas mascletà fires at two o’clock every afternoon of the March festival.
Only YOU Hotel Valencia · Sant Francesc / Ayuntamiento
Only YOU is the former Hotel Astoria Palace on the Plaza Rodrigo Botet, a 1950s grand hotel long favoured by visiting bullfighters and celebrities, by the hotel’s account. It closed in 2019 for a full rebuild and reopened in 2021 under Palladium’s Only YOU brand.
Sand, sea and the Albufera
Hotel Las Arenas Balneario Resort · Malvarrosa / Cabanyal beach
Las Arenas stands on the site of the Balneario de Las Arenas, the sea-bathing establishment opened in 1898. The neoclassical columned pavilions of the old balneario were rebuilt into the hotel, which opened in 2006, by the hotel’s account.
Hotel Boutique Balandret · Malvarrosa / Cabanyal beach
The Balandret is a restored early twentieth-century beach house on the Paseo de Neptuno, directly on the sand, by the hotel’s account. This beachfront is the stretch Joaquín Sorolla painted in his Malvarrosa and Cabanyal canvases.
Parador de El Saler · El Saler / Albufera
The Parador de El Saler sits in the Dehesa pine forest between the Mediterranean and the Albufera lagoon, inside the Albufera Natural Park. Its links course was designed by Javier Arana in the 1960s and is regularly ranked among the best in continental Europe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these hotels ranked?
No. The groups sort them by character, and the order within each group carries no meaning.
Why fourteen and not fifteen?
Fourteen was the honest number. The remaining candidates qualified on comfort or location alone, so they were left off rather than added to round out the list.
Why are there no prices?
Rates change daily and a priced list goes stale in a month. Each hotel’s name links to its own site, so you see the current rate and book direct.
Should I stay in the old city or at the beach?
The Ciutat Vella hotels put you among the Silk Exchange, the cathedral and the Central Market, with the beach twenty minutes away by tram. The Malvarrosa hotels put you on the sand with the paella restaurants of the Cabanyal, and the old city twenty minutes back the other way. During Fallas in March the old city is loud until late.
Which hotel puts me closest to the day trips on this site?
Most day trips from Valencia run to the Albufera for the rice fields and the lagoon boats, to Xàtiva and its castle, to Sagunto, to Peñíscola, or inland to Requena’s wineries. The hotels around the Plaza del Ayuntamiento sit closest to the Estació del Nord and the coach pickups.