Best Sports & Active Experiences in Valencia: Padel, Beach Volleyball & More
Valencia is an easy city to enjoy outdoors. With more than 300 days of sunshine a year, long beaches, the Turia Gardens running through the city and plenty of sports facilities, staying active here doesn’t really feel like exercise.
You can play padel in the morning, join a beach volleyball game by the Mediterranean, cycle through the city, go running in the Turia Gardens or spend a few hours on the water.
And if you’re looking for something a little more special, there are some great places just outside the city where sport, swimming, wellness and a relaxed afternoon with friends all come together.
Here are some of our favourite ways to stay active while you’re in Valencia.
1. Play Padel – One of Spain’s Favourite Sports
If you’ve never tried padel before, Valencia is a great place to start.
It’s social, relatively easy to learn and you don’t need to be an experienced tennis player to enjoy your first game. You’ll see padel courts everywhere around Valencia, with people playing from early morning until late in the evening.
Our Pick: Calderona Wellness
If we had to choose one place, Calderona Wellness would be our personal favourite.
Located outside Valencia and surrounded by greenery, it feels completely different from playing at a normal city sports centre. There are several padel courts, swimming pools, fitness and wellness facilities, so you can easily spend much more than an hour here.
What we particularly like is the atmosphere.
Come for padel, stay for a swim or a drink and don’t rush back into the city. On selected weekend evenings there can also be DJ music and a relaxed outdoor chill-out atmosphere, making it just as much a social place as a sports complex.
It’s one of those places where a padel game can easily turn into an entire afternoon or evening out.
Family Sport Center
For something more focused on simply getting active and playing, Family Sport Center is another good option around Valencia.
It’s particularly useful if you’re travelling with friends or family and want a proper sports environment without turning it into a full wellness day.
SUMA Enjoy Samaranch – Sports in the City
If you want to stay active without leaving Valencia, SUMA Enjoy Samaranch is one of the most convenient options.
Located close to the Turia Gardens, it’s a large sports complex used by locals, with padel courts, fitness facilities, swimming pools and a wide range of activities.
It doesn’t have the resort-style atmosphere of Calderona Wellness, but that’s exactly why we like including it here – it’s a practical option if you’re staying in the city and simply want to fit a workout, swim or game of padel into your day.
You can easily combine it with a walk or run through the Turia Gardens before continuing into the city..
Depending on where you’re staying, it can be a convenient choice if you simply want to get a game in during your trip.
Never played padel before?
That’s absolutely fine.
You don’t need to find a club, coach and equipment yourself.
Travel to Valencia can help arrange a padel session or private lesson according to your experience and level.
Whether it’s your first time holding a padel racket or you already play regularly, message us on WhatsApp and we’ll help organise it.
2. Beach Volleyball on Valencia’s Beaches
Few sports fit Valencia better than beach volleyball.
Head towards Malvarrosa or Cabanyal beach and you’ll regularly see people playing on the sand, particularly during the warmer months and towards the evening.
And that’s probably the best part of it.
You’re not travelling across the city to spend an hour inside a sports hall. You’re already at the beach.
Play for an hour or two, jump into the Mediterranean afterwards and stay around for a drink or dinner by the sea.
Even if you don’t normally play volleyball, it’s a fun activity for groups of friends visiting Valencia.
3. Cycle Through Valencia
Valencia is one of those cities where renting a bike actually makes sense.
The city is relatively flat and has an extensive network of cycle lanes, while the former Turia riverbed gives you kilometres of green space running through the city without normal road traffic.
One of our favourite easy routes is:
Turia Gardens → City of Arts and Sciences → Marina → Valencia Beach
You get several completely different sides of Valencia in a single ride.
Start surrounded by gardens, pass underneath historic bridges, reach the futuristic City of Arts and Sciences and continue towards the Mediterranean.
There’s no need to treat it like a cycling workout either. Stop for coffee, take photos, have lunch by the beach and cycle back when you feel like it.
For many visitors, it’s actually one of the nicest ways to discover Valencia.
4. Running in the Turia Gardens
If you’re one of those people who packs running shoes even for a weekend away, you’ll probably love Valencia.
The Turia Gardens are the obvious place to run.
Instead of traffic lights and crowded pavements, you have a long green corridor stretching through much of the city.
Early morning is particularly pleasant, especially during the warmer months.
You’ll also be running alongside locals – runners, cyclists, football players and people simply starting their day outside.
And the best thing?
It’s completely free.
5. Get Out on the Mediterranean
Being next to the Mediterranean opens up another side of Valencia that many short-stay visitors don’t experience.
Depending on the season and weather, you can try activities such as:
Stand-up paddleboarding, kayaking, windsurfing, sailing and other water experiences.
Some are relaxing enough for complete beginners, while others can be considerably more active.
You don’t necessarily need to spend hours searching through different operators either.
Want to try a water activity in Valencia?
Tell us what you’d like to do, how many people are travelling and roughly when you’re available.
Message Travel to Valencia on WhatsApp and we’ll help arrange the experience for you.
This is especially useful for families and groups where everyone has a different level of experience.
6. Hiking Around Valencia
You don’t have to travel very far from Valencia before the landscape changes completely.
Leave the coast behind and you’ll find mountains, forests, canyons, rivers and small villages that feel surprisingly far removed from the city.
Serra Calderona is one of the closest options and works particularly well if you want nature without spending most of your day travelling.
If you’re willing to go further, there are plenty of more adventurous possibilities around the Valencian Community.
This is also where Valencia becomes interesting for trail runners rather than just casual hikers.
And if hiking is more your thing than padel or beach sports, take a look at our best day trips from Valencia, where we cover some of our favourite places outside the city.
7. Golf Under the Valencian Sun
Golf deserves a mention too.
The climate means you can play during much of the year, and there are several courses around Valencia rather than directly in the busy city centre.
It’s obviously a different kind of active day from beach volleyball or running through Turia, but for golfers travelling to Valencia, bringing a round into the holiday is surprisingly easy.
We’d particularly consider it if you’re staying for more than a weekend and want one day away from sightseeing.
You Don’t Have to Choose Just One
One of the things we like about Valencia is that being active doesn’t need to take over your holiday.
Play padel in the morning and have lunch in the city afterwards.
Cycle to the beach and spend the afternoon there.
Go running through Turia before everyone else wakes up.
Or leave the city for a few hours of sport and wellness at Calderona.
That’s probably the best way to approach it – don’t plan a sports holiday. Just add something active to your Valencia holiday.
Need help arranging an activity?
If you’d like to organise padel, a private lesson, water sports or another active experience, send us a message.
Tell us your dates, number of people and what you’d like to try and we’ll see what we can arrange.
Contact Travel to Valencia on WhatsApp
