Wild Valencia: Flamingos, Herons and the Albufera

The natural side of Valencia, from the Albufera natural park, a wetland of international importance with herons, flamingos, cormorants, gulls and terns, to the dunes of the Devesa and the nine-kilometre Turia Garden, with a directory of the parks in our guide.

Valencia has one of the great wetlands of the western Mediterranean on its doorstep. Just south of the city, the Albufera natural park spreads across 21,120 hectares around a large freshwater lagoon, ringed by rice fields and separated from the sea by the dunes and pinewoods of the Devesa.

This is a short, honest guide to Valencia’s wild side: the birds of the Albufera, and the green river of the Turia Garden through the city. Go to the Albufera in the morning or for the sunset, and in autumn, when the birds are most numerous.

Birds of the Albufera

The Albufera is a refuge for more than 300 species of bird, according to the city’s tourist board: herons, flamingos, cormorants, gulls and terns, and several kinds of duck. Grey herons stand among the stakes and nets of the fishermen, flamingos feed in the shallows, and the colours of the rice fields change from gold to bright green through the farming year.

At the Racó de l’Olla interpretation centre, on the Devesa side of the lagoon, you can learn the birds before you look for them from the viewpoints and hides. From El Palmar and the landing stages, traditional albuferenc boats take visitors across the lagoon on short trips, best of all at sunset.

The Turia Garden

In the city, the Jardín del Turia runs for about nine kilometres through the old bed of the River Turia, from the Parque de Cabecera in the west to the City of Arts and Sciences in the east: a green corridor of trees, ponds and lawns crossed by old bridges, and the place for a morning walk or run with the birds.

At the gates of Valencia, flamingos wade in the shallows of Spain’s largest freshwater lake.

Feature: a wetland of international importance

The Albufera was declared a natural park in 1986, and since 1989 it has been listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance, especially as a habitat for waterbirds. It is also a Special Protection Area for birds within Europe’s Natura 2000 network. Its lagoon, its rice fields and its traditional fishing, still a way of life here, are protected together.

Did you know? The Albufera’s lagoon is Spain’s largest freshwater lake, and the natural park reaches into thirteen municipalities, from Valencia itself to Cullera.

Our advice

Our advice: start at the Racó de l’Olla centre, open daily from 9am to 2pm (last entry 1.30pm; closed on a few holidays), then walk the Devesa or take a boat at sunset. Bring binoculars, keep to the paths and hides, and leave dogs at home: the centre admits only guide dogs. Autumn brings the greatest numbers of birds.