A beautiful late-15th-century Gothic building with multiple rooms and gardens, originally a trading hall for the city's silk merchants. The main hall is famous for its towering spiral columns, and the whole site is a UNESCO World Heritage monument. Today it's often used by Spanish royalty and politicians for important gatherings. It's right around the corner from the Central Market, so it's a nice stop before hitting up the market for lunch/provisions.

The ceramics collection is fascinating, but you can also go just to marvel at the building itself — the Palacio del Marqués de Dos Aguas, an 18th-century rococo palace. The exterior alone is worth a visit for the dramatic alabaster carvings over the entrance. And the rooms inside are stunning, with hand-painted ceilings and gilded details throughout.

A mostly Gothic cathedral built across the 13th–15th centuries on the site of a former mosque. They claim to have the Holy Grail. Both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI used the Santo Cáliz (Holy Chalice) during mass. It's worth climbing the bell tower (the Miguelete) for excellent panoramic views over the old city.

While you should definitely go to the main Cathedral of Valencia (and climb the bell tower if you aren't afraid of heights), this is a smaller church in the same Old Town area, sometimes called "the Sistine Chapel of Valencia" because the walls and entire ceiling are covered with amazing frescoes. The audio tour is well worth doing — it walks you through the story in each fresco.

The two surviving medieval gates from Valencia's old defensive walls. Serranos is the more dramatic of the two — climb to the top for a great view over Old Town and the Turia Gardens below. Both are right at the edge of the historic center, and you'll likely walk past them on the way in. The Torres de Quart still has visible cannonball scars from Napoleon's troops.

The central plaza of Old Town, bordered by the Cathedral, the Basilica de la Virgen and the Turia Fountain. It's the main gathering spot in the historic center. Worth knowing: every Thursday at noon, the Tribunal de las Aguas meets right outside the Cathedral — a thousand-year-old water court that still settles irrigation disputes between local farmers, in public, in Valencian.

One of Spain's most important art museums, often ranked second only to the Prado. The strongest holdings are in Valencian masters like Joaquín Sorolla and José de Ribera, with additional works by Velázquez, El Greco and Goya. It's housed in a 17th-century former seminary just across the Turia from the Old Town, and admission is free. We didn't make it there, but it's supposed to be great.

An awesome underground museum showcasing well-preserved Roman ruins, right in the heart of Old Town just steps from the Cathedral. As you walk through, you can see layers of civilizations stacked on top of each other — Roman, Visigothic, Islamic and medieval Christian. Natural light flows in from above, since the museum sits beneath a tranquil glass-bottom fountain at street level.

A bustling food market with lots of stands selling everything from jamón and cheese to olives, nuts and more. It's lively all morning until lunchtime, when it closes. A great place to grab snacks, have lunch at Central Bar (see below) or one of the other stands, or just take photos.

Founded in 1989, IVAM (Institut Valencià d'Art Modern) was the first modern art museum in Spain and is still extremely well regarded. The permanent collection focuses on 20th-century Spanish artists — especially the sculptor Julio González and the Valencian painter Ignacio Pinazo — alongside rotating contemporary exhibits. There's also a really cool basement room built around the remnants of Valencia's medieval city walls.