Opening Hours and Other Useful Info for Eating in Valencia

Be aware of the opening hours - they are quite different from your country's. Walking around hungry when everything is closed is no fun.

Restaurants

Opening Hours: The restaurants usually open from 1.30pm (2pm to be safe) to 4.30pm-5pm (although some will go only until 3.30pm). Then they close until 8 or 9 pm. Yes, the Spanish dine late. The restaurants will close again at around 11-11.30 on weekdays and midnight or 1 am on weekends.

Be aware that the kitchen will start rolling down about an hour before the times above.

Basically, just imagine that the restaurants work when no one else does - during the siesta or after the working hours. And they rest when everyone else is at work.

The opening hours given by a restaurant often mean the hours of the kitchen, i.e. you will be able to stay longer if you are already inside, but you won't be served if you have just come in. However, we can not vouch that all of the hours on this site are kitchen hours, so to make sure come at least half an hour before.

Days Off. This really varies. More traditinal Spanish restaurants will want to rest on Sundays and / or Mondays. Others will take off Mondays. There are also all kind of variations from Sunday to Tuesday, e.g closed on Sun night and Mon afternoon, etc. It is also an annoying but popular thing to close restaurants on Saturday afternoon (perhaps that only makes sense to the Spanish who are still partying at 7am on Saturday morning). Do check our listings to be sure. The only restaurants sure to open every day are the Asian ones (Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc)

Paella important point: if you want a fresh paella to be cooked for you keep in mind that most places will only cook for two persons, and it will take them around 30 min.

Reserve - it is normal for a restaurant to be full, since the Spanish are religious about eating out.

Don't worry if the menu is only in Spanish - someone in a restaurant usually has sufficient English to help.

Be aware that some prices will not include VAT - 7% added to the bill later.

Tapas Bars

To quench you hunger while you are waiting for the restaurants to open, the Spanish take a snack of tapas. It is small enough to preserve your appetite for the dinner later, and big enough to keep you alive. Most tapas bars are open from 10-11am to 11pm-midnight without the siesta, although some will open only in the evening.

Bars

Likewise the bars, which will offer you basic tapas and basic dishes, at the same timetable. If you are not looking for a particularly impressive food or ambience, you can dine in bars all day long.

Panaderias

The bakeries work from early morning to 8-9pm. However, they have less stuff as the day progresses.

Holidays

Be warned that the Valencians are religious about August holidays. Many restaurants will close entirely for 2 or 3 weeks in August, and some will also close for the Holy Week (Semana Santa) in April. The dates vary a lot and if you have a particular restaurant in mind during August or Semana Santa, you really should call to check that they are open. Don't worry if you can't speak Spanish - if someone picks up the phone it means there are survivors to serve you.

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