The Jardín del Turia is a 9-kilometer-long (over 5 miles) green ribbon that winds through the heart of Valencia along the former bed of the Turia River — making it the largest urban park in Spain. Its existence is the direct result of one of the country's worst natural disasters: the catastrophic flood of October 14, 1957, when the Turia River burst its banks after three days of torrential rain, killing an estimated 81 people, destroying thousands of homes, and submerging much of the city under several meters of water. In the aftermath, the Franco government approved Plan Sur, a massive civil engineering project that rerouted the entire river south of the city through a new artificial channel. The old riverbed, slicing through Valencia's urban core, was left empty.
What happened next was a rare victory for civic life over urban planning. Through the 1960s and 1970s, authorities initially planned to convert the dry riverbed into an urban motorway — a proposal that provoked fierce public opposition. Valencians responded with the now-legendary slogan: "El Riu és Nostre i el volem verd" ("The river is ours and we want it green"). By the early 1980s, the city government sided with its citizens, and the transformation into a park began. Landscape architect Ricardo Bofill designed the western sections, while the eastern stretches — closer to the sea — were developed alongside Santiago Calatrava's iconic City of Arts and Sciences, which opened in stages between 1998 and 2005 and anchors the park's most dramatic end.
Visitors today find a park that is genuinely used, not merely visited. The garden hosts over 18 bridges — many of them historic stone crossings that once spanned the living river — connecting the park to Valencia's neighbourhoods at regular intervals. Cyclists, joggers, and families on weekends fill the wide paths lined with orange trees, rose gardens, and pine groves. Children flock to the Parque Gulliver near the eastern end, an enormous sculptural playground built in 1990 featuring a 70-metre reclining figure of Gulliver from Jonathan Swift's novel, fitted with slides and climbing nets. Sports pitches, outdoor gyms, and open-air concert venues are scattered throughout the length of the park.
The Jardín del Turia also functions as a cultural spine of the city, threading past the Palau de la Música concert hall, the Bioparc Valencia, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía opera house. Entry to the park is free and it is accessible at any hour. The best time to walk or cycle the full length is early morning on weekdays, when the garden is at its most tranquil. Bike rentals are available throughout central Valencia, and the flat, uninterrupted path makes the full route manageable for all fitness levels in under two hours by bicycle.
