The Turia Park, an urban place for leisure, sports and nature for citizens and visitors of Valencia.
The Turia Garden is a public urban park located in the old Turia riverbed in the city of Valencia. It has a length of around 8.5 km and an average width of around 160 m.
The park has integrated in its interior many playgrounds, also the Gulliver Park (a huge slide park) and the Parque de Cabecera (small boats can be rented to enjoy the lake); the Palau de la Música (music and cultural events), the Bioparc (Zoo) and the famous City of Arts and Sciences (interactive science centre, IMAX, 3D cinema), the Oceanogràfic, Europe's largest aquarium.
It also has several bars along it, where you can sit and enjoy tapas, sandwiches, coffee and drinks. This makes it perfect to go with children, while they play outdoors, you can recharge your batteries by resting and having a drink, and then continue with the beautiful walk through the park. I recommend it, because this is what I often do with our three children...
It is a wonderful place with large areas of grass, perfect for sitting and enjoying the scenery. Many people use these green areas for practicing yoga, gymnastics sessions or for picnics.
There are also tables for those who don't want to sit on the grass.
Along the way you will also find different “forests”, lakes, ponds and even small rivers.
There are an infinite number of activities that can be carried out along the Turia park. There are football pitches, baseball fields, rugby, handball and basketball courts. You will also find ping pong tables, skateboarding areas and athletics tracks.
In addition, the riverbed has become a training ground for thousands of runners who run along its almost 8.5 km from end to end every day, and there is also a track that is prepared and used exclusively for runners.
It has a cycle lane that runs along the river, whether to get to know it and cycle along it, to go to a meeting place or to work, etc. I tell you from my own experience, cycling to work along the river Turia is a positive and beautiful start to the day.
Throughout the park, from one end to the other, there are 18 bridges from different periods and architectural styles. After many years, I still can't decide which one is my favourite... The historic bridges of Trinidad (15th century), Real (16th century), del Mar (16th century), Serranos (16th century), San José (17th century) stand out, contrasting with the more recent bridges such as the Exhibition Bridge, the 9 d'Octubre Bridge and the Bridge of the Flowers, among others.
It is no less important to mention that the Turia Garden has public toilets, which are sustainable, safe and accessible for people with reduced mobility.
Its linear shape, running through the city, makes a large part of the population want to live near the park, as we do.
After all that I have said, what do you expect me to say? I highly recommend you to dedicate a good part of your time to this beautiful park when you come to visit us in Valencia!