When you want to relax but you are in the middle of the city, look for one of these gardens and let its trees and plants welcome you.

If in Valencia we boast 300 days of sunshine a year, we’ll also have to make it easy for you to take refuge when the sun goes down, won’t we? Well, that is precisely what we intend to do when we present you with this selection of some of the most unique gardens in the capital of the Turia. Keep in mind that there are more, but within the gardens that the Valencians keep for themselves, these are their favourites because of their history or their privileged location. What are we waiting for? Get in and leave the bustle of the city behind for a moment:

Monforte Garden

To find this marvel, go to the Paseo de la Alameda and look at the back of the residential building known as “la Pagoda”. Here you will find the garden that the Marquis of San Juan ordered to accompany the palace that presides over it, and through which you will access the entire complex. 

Once inside, you will be greeted by two small statues of lions that were originally intended to guard the doors of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, but were eventually replaced by larger ones. The whole garden is “guarded” by 33 marble statues, which you can discover through different routes, choosing between routes in which you can hide to meditate or others in which you can cross with other visitors. To relax as much as possible, look for some of the fountains that play music in this garden.

Botanical Garden of the University of Valencia

The most popular garden on this list, and the largest, you will discover just a few metres from the Torres de Quart. It is distinguished by the architecture of its research building, being one of the most recent constructions around it.

This space is dedicated to the study, conservation and dissemination of information and is open to the public to show the great variety of species that have been cultivated and cared for continuously for the last 200 years. This is the only garden where access is not completely free, but the maximum price is only 2.50 euros. Up to four hectares are home to both native and exotic species from around the world. Check out the dates of their guided tours, as the last Sunday of each month you can join them or even request a group visit.

Ayora Garden

In this case, only those explorers who dare to go into the less central areas of Valencia will get to know it. You can visit it by stopping at Ayora metro station on your way to the beach. 

We are in front of another garden that was commissioned to accompany the palace that stands out from it. Once this Valencian modernist style building stopped being a family residence, it was used for different purposes throughout its more than one hundred years of history. It became the Paraíso discotheque in the 1970s and is currently used for activities of the Universitat Oberta de València. This garden is a great lung for the Ayora neighbourhood, due to the large number and variety of trees it houses.

Garden of the Hesperides

A garden that is located at a key crossroads for Valencians: at one end of the Gran Via itself, next to the Turia gardens and only 5 minutes from the old town. 

In this garden the plant species and the sculptures combine to tell us a story: that of the myth of the Hesperides. It is easy to pay attention to the story, because when we go into the garden it is easy to forget what is around. Moreover, the large adjoining building belonging to the Jesuit monks makes it seem as if we have really been transported to another era. You can play at finding the origin of the water that runs through some areas of the garden, which serves as an element of relaxation almost without you realising that it was there all along.

If you want to continue getting to know Valencia at a slow pace, discover the wellness experiences that these hotels offer.