Albufera Natural Park

La Albufera park is the best place for residents of Valencia to take friends and family when they come to visit. It’s 11 km outside of the city and has a magnificent vantage point (La caste del Pescador – the fisherman’s hut) on the highway around Saler al Perelló. Boats pass through the natural park and the sunset is tremendous from the wharf. Many people head here to spend the day on weekends, especially in the summer. It’s fairly calm there the rest of the year, making it perfect for a stroll. You’ll find a large variety of birds, as it’s one of Spain’s biggest wetlands. So, when you come to

About 10 km to the south of Valencia lies the La Albufera Natural Park, a costal lagoon and wetland surrounded by rice fields. It’s one of those places that you have to see up close and in person, or you can’t truly appreciate it.

You can go to La Albufera to see the park, to enjoy the sunset, or to take a boat trip. Once inside the park, it’s not hard to find a captain ready to give you a short cruise through the lagoon on his boat. You can eat on the boat, and enjoy a great rice dish (paella). The price is usually 10/15 euros per person and is a spectacular trip to take at sunset.

I was at La Albufera park during the eel fishing festival, which proceeds the preparation of “All I Pebre” (garlic and pepper), a typical dish in Valencia.

In reality, “All I Pebre” is made with different types of fish, as its sauce is made from a base of bread, garlic, pepper, wine and vinegar. In La Albufera, they prefer to eat it with eel. I’m sure that the catch is very well regulated and it doesn’t take place year round, considering La Albufera is a heavenly place that’s been declared a nature reserve. I was there last Feruary.

Afterwards, I ate at the Mateu restaurant,

Personally, I recommend visiting the park to anyone ve comes to Valencia and wants to see one of our richest natural treasures. La Albufera Natural Park is only 10 km outside of the city and contains 21,120 hectares of land, where you can see fauna and flowers from the area. It was included on the international list of important wetlands in 1990. There’s a protected area for birds, which was established in 1991.