Street view of Plaza de Toros

©Penny Kidd/Lonely Planet


This roughly 170-year-old bullring is an iconic site next to Estación del Norte. Similar in style to Rome’s Colosseum, the 10,500-capacity bullring has four levels of brick arches that are particularly impressive when illuminated at night. Concerts and sporting events such as Davis Cup tennis are held at the venue (mega-fans often camp overnight for tickets). The nearby museum has a comprehensive collection of artefacts and can organise tours of the bullring.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Estación del Norte

0.06 MILES

Trains first chugged into this richly adorned Modernista terminal in 1917. Its main foyer is decorated with ceramic mosaics and murals – and mosaic ‘bon…

2. Sporting Club Russafa

0.19 MILES

Not by any means a football club, this offbeat gallery space is run by a cooperative not-for-profit arts organisation. Its exhibitions are often worth a…

3. Ayuntamiento

0.23 MILES

Valencia’s handsome neoclassical town hall dominates the square that takes its name. Within is the Museo Histórico Municipal, a repository of items…

4. Museo de la Seda

0.38 MILES

This visually elegant modern museum makes the most of its lovely location in the 15th-century (with baroque additions) palace that was the seat of the…

5. Public Library of Valencia

0.41 MILES

Obscured by palm trees in the gardens of a former psychiatric hospital, the city’s main public library is in a grand 16th-century building. The Gothic…

6. Centro Cultural La Nau

0.41 MILES

Long the headquarters of the University of Valencia, with a harmonious cloister-courtyard that's worth popping into. It's lined with plaques of notable…

7. Museo Nacional de Cerámica

0.42 MILES

Inside a striking palace, this ceramics museum celebrates an important local industry. Downstairs (which also features a decadent hand-painted 1753…

8. Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas

0.42 MILES

Quite a sight from outside, this immoderate palace has a pair of wonderfully extravagant rococo caryatids curling around the main entrance. The exterior…