VALENCIA - A city of two integrated parts, is rapidly becoming one of the hottest destinations in Spain. The combination of Gothic and Modern architecture makes Valencia a visual and cultural feast. This new Valencia, whilst still embracing its past history and culture, is a city that far from getting outdated, is entering the new millennium as one of the most futuristic cities in Europe.

Valencia is full of tourist appeals which are eager to captivate them - Museums, Festivities, Beaches, Sports events, Catering and Leisure Centres, together with a rich and varied historical, cultural and natural heritage waiting to be discovered.

HOW TO GET TO VALENCIA - Valencia Airport (VLC) is located 9km from the city centre, and one has a choice of 2 buses (Aerobus is more direct) or a taxi ride (approx. cost 10euros).

BY TRAIN - mainly from Madrid or Barcelona, the Estacion Del Norte is located in the centre of the city.

BY ROAD - Approx. 2 hours drive from Valencia along the A7 main toll road and approx. 3 hours drive from Barcelona. There are many bus and coach trips that go into Valencia Bus Station, which is about 15 minutes walk from the centre.

BY SEA - There is a ferry service to the nearby Balearic Islands of Mallorca (about 3 hours) and Ibiza (about 2 hours). VALENCIA'S CITY OF ARTS AND SCIENCE - The city of arts and sciences, the Congress Centre, The Alameda Underground Station or the transformation of the port in preparation for the America's Cup Sailing event in 2007, have brought to Valencia the talents of such great 20th century architects as Santiago Calatrava, Norman Foster and Felix Candela. Between them they have drastically changed the outward appearance of the integral port area, with steel, white concrete and ceramic panelling intermingling with water features, high planted areas and lush lawns.

Conceived as a place to make known scientific and artistic knowledge, the city of arts and sciences has five main areas - L'HEMISFERIC - A half sphere surrounded by some enormous metal "eyelashes" and which is duplicated through its reflection in the spectacular pool that surrounds it. With a semicircular screen of 900 metres square, where three-dimensional films in the Imax format are projected, this building seeks to instruct people in the subjects that are normally the province of scientists.

THE REINA SOFIA PALACE OF ARTS - This is the jewel of the city of arts and sciences, with 40,000 metres square distributed over three auditoriums dedicated to opera, dance, theatre and music in general. Like a large symbolic sculpture, its nautical shape is a contrast between the opaque and the transparent, giving rise to feelings that change as we move. This building created by Santiago Calatrave is full of architectural surprises, a place that according to its creator, seeks to "take people into a circular place so that they can move around music".

THE PRINCIPE FELIPE SCIENCE MUSEUM - The educational approach inherent in the complex, finds its greatest expression here. In a centre that seeks to synthesise the contents of the 17 museums of this kind of Spain. It is an iron, glass and concrete structure that plays with light, creating the sensation of seeing the skeleton of a great white dinosaur. Modernity and Technology are combined at the service of a museum of the future, a place where the visitor ceases to be a mere spectator and is transformed into an interactive element in this new way of understanding science.

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