The unblinking heavy-lidded eye of the Hemisfèric is at once planetarium, IMAX cinema and laser show. Sessions are roughly hourly, with a break at lunchtime, and multilingual soundtracks are available. It's definitely worth booking ahead in summer, as it has limited capacity and often fills up.
©Penny Kidd/Lonely Planet
Hemisfèric
L'Eixample & Southern Valencia
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias
0.06 MILES
This aesthetically stunning complex occupies a massive 350,000-sq-metre swath of the old Turia riverbed. It’s occupied by a series of spectacular…
1.73 MILES
Valencia’s cathedral was built over a mosque after the 1238 reconquest. Its low, wide, brick-vaulted triple nave is mostly Gothic, with neoclassical side…
1.91 MILES
Recently reopened to the public after a magnificent restoration, this single-naved church down a passageway is a striking sight. Over the original Gothic…
1.49 MILES
This seminary was founded in the late 16th century by San Juan de Ribera, a towering Counter-Reformation figure who wielded enormous spiritual and…
1.8 MILES
This splendid building, a Unesco World Heritage Site, was originally Valencia’s silk and commodity exchange, built in the late 15th century when the city…
3.24 MILES
This zoo devoted solely to African animals has an educational and conservationist remit and an unusual approach. Though, as always, the confinement of…
1.8 MILES
Bright and spacious, this gallery ranks among Spain’s best. Highlights include a collection of magnificent late-medieval altarpieces, and works by several…
1.78 MILES
Valencia’s vast Modernista covered market, constructed in 1928, is a swirl of smells, movement and colour. Spectacular seafood counters display…
Nearby L'Eixample & Southern Valencia attractions
1. Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias
0.06 MILES
This aesthetically stunning complex occupies a massive 350,000-sq-metre swath of the old Turia riverbed. It’s occupied by a series of spectacular…
2. Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe
0.14 MILES
This interactive science museum, stretching like a giant whale skeleton within the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, has plenty of touchy-feely things…
3. Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía
0.15 MILES
Brooding over the riverbed like a giant beetle, its shell shimmering with translucent mosaic tiles, this ultramodern arts complex, grafted onto the Ciudad…
0.29 MILES
At each Fallas festival, just one of the thousands of ninots, the figurines that pose at the base of each falla (huge statues of papier mâché and…
0.45 MILES
Spain's most famous aquarium is the southernmost building of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. It's an impressive display, divided into a series of…
0.87 MILES
Down near the docks, this former warehouse space has been turned into a hive of creativity, with art and photography exhibitions, a library, rehearsal…
1.06 MILES
One of the most attractive of the Turia's old bridges, this elegant stone Renaissance span was commissioned in 1591 to replace a wooden bridge that had…
1.07 MILES
This low, squat market has an unusual indoor-outdoor design and is worth a look for its palpable sense of history (opened 1910) and community, but at the…