Visiting Valencia Immediately After Las Fallas Festival
Aug 18th, 2019, 04:55 PM
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Visiting Valencia Immediately After Las Fallas Festival
We are seniors planning a trip to Spain with our 15 year old granddaughter March 14-21. While we would love to see the Las Fallas festival we are concerned that the noise level would be a problem for us. Does anyone know what we could expect if we visited immediately after the festival, or if there is a way to avoid the very loud noise. We would really like to include Valencia on our trip.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Aug 18th, 2019, 05:02 PM
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I was there the week after the festival this past March. If you didn't know about it you would never know it had happened. They were just finishing taking down some fencing/gates that they had put up on the main square.No other signs of it.
Here's the trip report I did about my visit to Valencia last week of March 2019
https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/blog/20...a-and-valencia
Here's the trip report I did about my visit to Valencia last week of March 2019
https://andiamo.zenfolio.com/blog/20...a-and-valencia
Aug 19th, 2019, 02:17 PM
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If you stay away from the Mascletà in the afternoons (every day at 2 pm on Plaza Del Ayuntamiento) and the final fireworks show, you can easily avoid the very loud noise and still enjoy the parades if you go during Las Fallas. It's so special.
Aug 21st, 2019, 12:33 PM
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Like MyriamC, I recommend that you go for the last 3 days: 3/17, 3/18, 3/19--
And as elberko says, it's really special, a totally unique experience.
After all the Fallas are erected, the "plantà" on 3/16, you can then see the afternoon & evening Ofrenda Floral parades on 3/17 and 3/18, which are really gorgeous and go on for hours & hours, and you'll be able to witness the final, spectacular product on the Plaza de la Virgen, Our Lady of the Forsaken beautifully produced in flowers.
Very late on the night of 3/18 there is the spectacular fireworks display.
And on 3/19 there's a solemn mass in the cathedral and the really colorful & musical "fire parade" on Calle Colón at 7 pm. Yes, this event is noisy but incredible.
On 3/19 the burning of the fallas, the "cremà" begins at 10 pm and goes on beyond midnight.
On 3/20 the city goes back to normal.
I've been for the final 4 days, which are the most crowded (truly packed) but the most fun.
This March we were there for the very first days, March 1-5, far before the Fallas went up.
(We didn't stay because we had enjoyed the full Falla experience a few years back with the Valencia Tourist Board.)
Other than the 2 pm mascletà and the midnight mascletà on Saturday, there's not much festive atmosphere in the the first days, well before 3/15. And you won't see many falleras dressed in their beautiful costumes (we saw just a few) or many pop up food tents or outdoor paellas.
It's a great, great party to be experience once.
And as elberko says, it's really special, a totally unique experience.
After all the Fallas are erected, the "plantà" on 3/16, you can then see the afternoon & evening Ofrenda Floral parades on 3/17 and 3/18, which are really gorgeous and go on for hours & hours, and you'll be able to witness the final, spectacular product on the Plaza de la Virgen, Our Lady of the Forsaken beautifully produced in flowers.
Very late on the night of 3/18 there is the spectacular fireworks display.
And on 3/19 there's a solemn mass in the cathedral and the really colorful & musical "fire parade" on Calle Colón at 7 pm. Yes, this event is noisy but incredible.
On 3/19 the burning of the fallas, the "cremà" begins at 10 pm and goes on beyond midnight.
On 3/20 the city goes back to normal.
I've been for the final 4 days, which are the most crowded (truly packed) but the most fun.
This March we were there for the very first days, March 1-5, far before the Fallas went up.
(We didn't stay because we had enjoyed the full Falla experience a few years back with the Valencia Tourist Board.)
Other than the 2 pm mascletà and the midnight mascletà on Saturday, there's not much festive atmosphere in the the first days, well before 3/15. And you won't see many falleras dressed in their beautiful costumes (we saw just a few) or many pop up food tents or outdoor paellas.
It's a great, great party to be experience once.
Aug 21st, 2019, 12:47 PM
#8
It is extraordinary to experience!* OTOH some of our group stayed after Las FAllas and there was a Paella Festival and Vermouth Festival the following week - so always lots to do.
Aug 21st, 2019, 01:30 PM
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Our experience this past March differs from this, if you're considering staying in the Old Town. * We stayed in an apartment just north of the Mercado with good double pane windows.* Even so the noise from music and firecrackers kept us awake --- sometimes until 3 or 4 in the morning.
Aug 21st, 2019, 02:35 PM
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We also stayed just south of the Plaza del Ayuntamiento this March. I can only say that I did wake up for the thundering Saturday-at-midnight mascletà on the square, but much to my surprise, my husband slept through it all! "What mascletà?", he asked the next morning.
On the previous trip with the Tourist Board, half the large group stayed at the NH Center, which was not at all handy but quiet, and the other half stayed at the Astoria Palace, now closed in 2019 for renovation. The Astoria Palace group got the "front row seats" to everything, just 3 minutes from the square, but also the most noise since they were in the thick of things.
On the previous trip with the Tourist Board, half the large group stayed at the NH Center, which was not at all handy but quiet, and the other half stayed at the Astoria Palace, now closed in 2019 for renovation. The Astoria Palace group got the "front row seats" to everything, just 3 minutes from the square, but also the most noise since they were in the thick of things.
Aug 22nd, 2019, 04:59 AM
#11
My husband and I were with the same group this March as several of the above posters.
We were at the AC Marriott Colon, which was just on the periphery of the old town, and it was central to the action but not deafeningly loud as the poster who stayed right near the plaza del Ayuntamiento, which is ground zero for the very loud mascleta every day.
We left the day after the end of the festival, and all was quiet, calm, and normal feeling. The night before, I really enjoyed the fire parade, which passed just in front of the hotel. We loved Las Fallas, it was full of good cheer, had the feeling of a really local celebration with the participation of thousands of local residents. One of the best vacations we have ever taken.
My trip report might be interesting, whether or not you decide to visit during Las Fallas:
Las Fallas and beyond: Nikki's trip to Valencia and Lisbon
We were at the AC Marriott Colon, which was just on the periphery of the old town, and it was central to the action but not deafeningly loud as the poster who stayed right near the plaza del Ayuntamiento, which is ground zero for the very loud mascleta every day.
We left the day after the end of the festival, and all was quiet, calm, and normal feeling. The night before, I really enjoyed the fire parade, which passed just in front of the hotel. We loved Las Fallas, it was full of good cheer, had the feeling of a really local celebration with the participation of thousands of local residents. One of the best vacations we have ever taken.
My trip report might be interesting, whether or not you decide to visit during Las Fallas:
Las Fallas and beyond: Nikki's trip to Valencia and Lisbon
