Is the Valencia tourist card worth it in 2027?
Most visitors buy the Valencia Tourist Card assuming a city tourist card is automatically good value, the way it often is in other European cities. Here, the honest maths only works out for a specific kind of trip — dense sightseeing hitting several paid attractions. This is what the numbers actually look like for 2027.
| Price (adult) | 24h €17, 48h €24, 72h €30 (7-day version: see official site) |
| Covers | Metro, tram, EMT buses, airport metro, free municipal museums and monuments, discounts at other attractions |
| Doesn’t cover | Hop-on hop-off bus, Cathedral, Oceanogràfic and similar paid venues (discounts at most), boat tours, excursions |
| Buy where | Online at visitvalencia.com (check the site for pick-up points) |
| Break-even | Heavy transit use plus several of the free municipal sights; most trips fall short |
What the Valencia Tourist Card actually includes
The Valencia Tourist Card (Tarjeta Turística Valencia) comes in 24-hour, 48-hour, and 72-hour versions, plus a 7-day option that the official page lists without transport. The core inclusions are:
- Unlimited public transport (24/48/72h cards): metro, tram, EMT city buses, and the airport metro line
- Free admission to municipal museums and monuments: 14 in the official list, such as the Lonja, the Torres de Serranos and Quart, and the Valencia History Museum
- Discounts at other attractions, tours and shops: check the official discount list before assuming the Oceanogràfic, Bioparc, Science Museum, Hemisfèric or the hop-on hop-off bus are on it
Official adult prices: 24h €17, 48h €24, 72h €30, with a small discount when buying online. Check visitvalencia.com for the 7-day card and child prices.
The full detailed breakdown of included attractions is in the Valencia Tourist Card guide, and the tourist card attractions list covers the venues one by one.
The honest maths
The tourist card is a reasonable deal if you plan to use it aggressively. Here’s the problem: most visitors don’t.
A typical honest accounting for a 48-hour card (€24):
- Metro from airport to centre + back: €5.60 total (L3/L5, €2.80 each way)
- Oceanogràfic or Bioparc: at most a discount, never free entry; check the official list for the exact amount
- Various metro (€1.50) and EMT bus (€2.00) trips you’d have taken anyway: ~€3–6
- Free municipal sights such as the Lonja (€2 normally): €2 each
Running total savings: roughly €10–14. You paid €24 for the card. Net loss: ~€10 or more.
This is the most common scenario. The card works mathematically only if you take many metro or bus journeys AND visit several of the free municipal sights. That requires a fairly dense sightseeing schedule.
If your Valencia trip looks like: morning at Central Market, afternoon at the Turia Gardens (free), paella lunch, evening in Russafa (free), most of the next day at the beach (free) — you’re not hitting the break-even threshold.
A second scenario: the attraction-heavy weekend
Compare that with a genuinely attraction-heavy 72-hour weekend: several municipal museums and monuments for free, discounts at the paid venues that are on the official list, and daily metro/bus use for three days. Stack those savings against the 72-hour card at €30 and it can come out ahead, but only if you count real prices from the official sites. The difference between this scenario and the break-even-negative one above isn’t the card itself, it’s how densely you pack eligible sights and transport into the window.
How to run the numbers before you buy
Write down every paid place you genuinely want to see, then check each one against the discount list in the tourist card attractions guide. Be strict with yourself: only count the places you would visit even without the card. A discount on something you were lukewarm about is not a saving, it is an extra expense. Then add up the metro and bus rides you expect to take, using the fare rules in the metro and EMT guide, and compare the total with the price of the card for the number of days you will be in the city.
If the gap is small, the simpler option wins. A card you have to plan your whole day around is not much of a bargain, and one of the nicest things about Valencia is how much of it is free and walkable.
When the card is clearly worth it
You’re going to the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias seriously: the Oceanogràfic, the Hemisfèric and the Science Museum are not free with the card, so check the official discount list and the official ticket prices (cac.es, oceanograficvalencia.com) before counting on savings there. A full day at Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias is better compared against the combined ticket below.
You’re flying in and out: both airport metro trips (L3/L5) cost €2.80 each. If you’re also taking buses and metro regularly, the unlimited transport component adds genuine value.
You have 72 hours and a dense itinerary: a structured 3-day Valencia itinerary hitting multiple paid attractions — Bioparc, Oceanogràfic, the Cathedral tower, a hop-on hop-off bus lap — can make the 72-hour card worthwhile, if you check the discounts first. The how many days in Valencia guide helps calibrate whether your trip length suits this pace.
If you would rather lock in a single day at the City of Arts and Sciences than collect discounts, booking the venues directly can be simpler: there is a combined ticket covering the aquarium, the planetarium-style Hemisfèric and the Science Museum, which keeps the whole complex on one reservation. Our guides to the City of Arts and Sciences, the Science Museum and the Hemisfèric explain what each building is like inside, and the Oceanogràfic worth-it review helps you decide how much of the day the aquarium deserves.
When to skip it
Short trip focused on free activities: the Turia Gardens, the beach at La Malvarrosa, El Carmen street art, Russafa — these cost nothing. If your itinerary is predominantly free activities with one or two paid attractions, pay-as-you-go is cheaper. The Valencia on a budget guide has the wider picture of free and low-cost options across the city.
Day-trip focused trip: if you’re spending significant time at Albufera or on a day trip to Xàtiva or the coast, check the official page for the transport zones the card covers (metro, tram, EMT, Cercanías and Metrobus AB are listed); boat tours and excursions are not included.
Budget traveller with a Mobilis card: the monthly Mobilis transport card (or even a 10-trip Bonobus) covers transport much more cheaply if transit is your main concern and you’re not interested in attraction discounts. The Mobilis card guide explains how it compares fare by fare.
Museums can also be cheaper than they look: the free museum Sunday guide shows how to fit some paid venues into a day when entry costs nothing, and the free walking tours guide covers a good way to see the old town without spending a cent. If your plan leans that way, the card has even less to offer. For the climb up the cathedral bell tower, see the cathedral and Miguelete guide before assuming it needs a discount.
The seven-day card: for extended stays only
The 7-day tourist card is listed on the official page without the transport component, so it is only logical if you’re in Valencia for a full week AND plan to use the free municipal sights and discounts. Most visitors spending a week in Valencia mix paid attractions with free sightseeing and day trips to the coast or inland towns. For transport over a week, compare it with a SUMA 10 or a Mobilis card.
A longer stay also leaves room for the trips the card does not cover, so budget separately for the day trips by train and the Albufera day trip. Planning a week usually goes better with a rough outline first; the 3-day itinerary and the one-day itinerary show how many paid stops a realistic day holds.
Buying the card
The tourist card is sold online through the official shop at visitvalencia.com; check that site for any pick-up points. Buying in advance online lets you cover your airport metro journey from the first moment.
The card is activated on first use, not when you buy it.
If the maths says yes, you can reserve the 24, 48 or 72-hour card online before you travel, and for a longer trip there is also the seven-day version. Arriving by air? The airport to city guide walks through the metro ride that the card will cover. Families should also read the Valencia with kids guide, since child discounts change the sums, and the best time to visit guide helps you choose dates when paid attractions are least crowded.
For the full attraction-by-attraction breakdown and current prices (which change seasonally), the Valencia Tourist Card complete guide is the reference, and the honest tourist card review goes deeper on the value proposition.
Frequently asked questions about Is the Valencia tourist card worth it in 2027?
Does the tourist card cover the Albufera boat tour or trip to Xàtiva? The official page lists metro, tram, EMT buses and Cercanías, but boat tours and organised excursions are not included. Check the official page for which zones the transport covers before relying on it for Xàtiva or coast trips.
Is the 24-hour card ever worth buying? Only for a very packed single day — for example, arriving by airport metro and visiting two major paid attractions the same day. For a lighter single day, pay-as-you-go is usually cheaper.
