I plan on going to Valencia, Spain for 4-5 weeks in March/April to study Spanish. I would like a recommendation for a school and a hostal/guesthouse. Also, I have been advised to leave town during Las Fallas. Pros and cons of Las Fallas?
I am in my 60s, love to hike and ride bikes. I enjoy meeting people of all ages.

Thanks.

Can't help with the school or lodging, but why would you leave during Las Fallas ? Do you have a lung condition ? Doesn't sound like it if you hike and bike.

A group of Fodorites went to Valencia in 2016 specifically to enjoy Falles, and we all had a great time roaming around the city enjoying the festival. Most of us left before the burnings on the last day, which might be a bit too crowded/crazy, but we enjoyed it so much we plan a return in 2019.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falles

Maybe Linca is around.

In Valencia they speak Valencian and Castilian and I wonder how much Valencian is spoken in the shops and restaurants.

Politically and culturally they people of Valencia consider their language separate from Catalan.

as a city, I would have thought that it was a great place to study, and I'm sure that any language school that says it is offering Spanish lessons will teach you Spanish. As for using it round the city, we had no problem [or at least the problems were caused by our inadequate Spanish, not by the locals refusal to speak it] - clearly the locals understand that tourists who are trying to speak Spanish are unlikely to know Valencian.

So far as choosing a school is concerned, it rather depends whether you are a beginner or not. I've never been to a spanish language school but I have been to quite a few italian ones and i doubt that the general principles are very different.

You may feel more comfortable in a class of people of your own age, which probably means a larger rather than a smaller school. If you've got some Spanish under your belt, you should also consider a larger establishment as you want to be with students of roughly the same standard. This becomes increasingly important the more experienced you become as IME the numbers of students at higher levels decreases.

Also the location of the school and your accommodation is important. You probably don't want a long traipse across town every day. Apart from anything else, it's a real pain wanting to go out into the city on a trip or excursion after lessons have finished and to have to carry your books around with you. [well, I found it to be so]. Much nicer to be able to nip back to wherever you are staying and drop them off. And make sure that the school you are signing up with offers excursions or activities - most do and it's a good way of getting to know your teachers and the other students, as well as getting an insider's view of where you are staying.

Which raises another issue - most schools will arrange or suggest accommodation for you. It's a bit daunting, but you will probably make better progress if you stay with a local in lodgings than if you pick a B&B or a hotel. for 4-5 weeks it will be a lot cheaper too.

Finally I've not been to the Falla but I have said i will go in March '19 - it looks terrific. If the crowds get too much, you just walk away!

Thank you for your helpful replies. If I can find a place to stay during Las Falles, I will remain in Valencia.
I have been studying Spanish for many years, but do not speak it well. Reading is much easier.
I will consider proximity to a language school when looking for lodging.
Which neighborhoods are more residential and quaint? Thanks.

You need to get yourself a Spanish-speaking boyfriend (seriously). When I said that to my adult English learners, they replied, But I'm married. I replied, yes, but get yourself and English-speaking boyfriend. Much laughter. It was a great ice-breaker!

I will consider proximity to a language school when looking for lodging.
Which neighborhoods are more residential and quaint? Thanks.>>

I can't help you with that, sorry. we just stayed in a hotel in the centre of Valencia. But if you look at the websites of the language schools you are considering, you will see that they refer to accommodation [well, all the italian ones do]. Why not ask them what they recommend? I found the one that I am going to in Bologna very accommodating. [oops, sorry for the pun] - when I said that their suggestion was too far out of the centre of the city, they came up with another one.

Are there any particular schools that you are looking at?

I am happily married, but I love the idea of a Spanish boyfriend, especially one who wears his long dark hair pulled back and can dance like a dream.

On a different topic... I am considering Hispania, escuela de espanol.

Is this the one?

https://www.hispania-valencia.com/en/location

it doesn't have a lot to say about where the accommodation is, but of course you can ask them. I do like the position of the school - the area just outside the centre but by the university and the park is very nice. And it looks as if they cater for more experienced students like you, to judge from the list of the courses they offer.

I found several other schools in the centre of Valencia - a google search for language schools in Valencia brings up about a dozen. Can you say what attracted you to this one? I think that it would be a good idea to contact several. IME you can tell a lot about a school by how quickly they respond to your queries, how friendly they are on line, etc.

Annhig,
Thank you for taking the time to search for schools! The link is for the school that I am considering. A friend recommended the school because she found that the students were of a wide age range and were from many countries. She and her husband both found the school to be excellent.
I agree that I should make inqueries to other schools.

If you have a personal recommendation that's a very good reason for picking it, GloriaMae but it's still a good idea to ask them some questions, to satisfy yourself that all is as you want it to be. I have done this with the school I am going to in Bologna - I have friends who went there last year but I still had to arrange accommodation etc which gave me a chance to suss them out properly. So now I have a personal contact with them before I arrive, which IME is very important.

Good luck and tell us how you get on!

I went to school in Valencia many years ago. I did it to improve my Spanish. Yes, the boyfriend is a good idea. Later on, one can find a husband if interested.
(My mother's comment on that: ".....but why couldn't you just have slept with him..why did you have to marry him??")

In any case, it is a lovely city; I studied at Universidad de Valencia and lived at Colegio Luis Vives.

https://www.uv.es/uvweb/universidad/...847263248.html

(My mother's comment on that: ".....but why couldn't you just have slept with him..why did you have to marry him??")>>

lol, eck, that's hilarious. I don't think that your mother is quite the same as mine; she'd no more say that than die!

Thank you Ekscrunchy. My mother would not have said that either. However, I definitely would (and probably did) have said it my my children.

I will look into the Univeristy of Valencia.

take trains on weekends to many nearby places with Spain's ever-better high-speed train system, often blasting around at speeds approaching 200 mph. Booking tickets early can save tons of money - do it yourself at www.renfe.com- Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and nearly all of Spain possible esecially on long weekends or during the fair. www.seat61.com has amazing advice on booking your own discounted tickets; other good sources of where to go by train - www.ricksteves.com and www.budgeteuropetravel.com.

Valencia IME is one of the very nicest large cities in Spain, especially area around the great cathedral.

Pal - we took an ordinary regional train to Sagunt and it was very cheap. No need to book if only doing short local journeys and there were lots of possibilities had we been there longer.

I agree about how nice it is - a bit like I imagine Barcelona was 30 years ago before the tourists got there and ruined it.

Did you end up visiting Valencia, please provide feedback on the Spanish course you took. I just recently took a course in Madrid in a school called Walk Spanish Madrid Language School which I loved but would like to continue learning in a different city because Madrid is way too touristy now.

I took Spanish in Valencia and we were lodged at COLEGIO LUIS VIVES. Cannot recommend more highly. I am fairly fluent now and that was a great intro.....if you need more info I a dig it up..it was many decades ago but I look on that time very fondly. It was actually my first visit to Spain, at age 17.

https://www.colegioluisvives.es/es