Where to eat in Valencia: Ricard Camarena, Casa Carmela, La Salita and the places that English and Spanish lists name most, with the Michelin stars, the paella rules and the closed days

💡 The Short Version: The places named by the most of the 39 publishers counted are Ricard Camarena (28), Casa Carmela (20), La Salita (18), Casa Montaña (16) and Canalla Bistro and Flores Raras (12 each). The Michelin Guide Spain 2026 gives the city eight starred restaurants. Casa Carmela is closed on Sundays and makes its Valencian paella only to order. The Central, Ruzafa and Cabanyal markets close on Sundays; the Mercado de Colón does not. Palace Fesol closed on 27 September 2026. Or book a tour: the old-town wine and tapas tourad is from €80 and the paella class with a Central Market tourad from €70 (GetYourGuide).

📊 The evidence behind this guide. Nothing here is ranked on one visit. This pass read 41 list pages from 39 publishers, 27 English-language and 14 Spanish-language, and counts the publishers that name each place. Two sites publish in both languages and count once, so the English and Spanish columns add up to more than the total. They are local and expat sites such as Valencia Secreta and Abroad in Valencia, Spanish newspapers and magazines such as Time Out Spain, Vogue España and El Periódico, and English-language outlets among them The Infatuation and The Independent. Tripadvisor and other review sites, tour operators and the restaurants’ own sites are not counted, and Visit València’s own lists are read apart. A name on a list is not a recommendation: the count shows who is on the shortlist. How the guides are made

⚠️ Check the day. Casa Carmela is closed on Sundays and La Salita serves Monday to Saturday only. The Central Market, the Ruzafa market and the Cabanyal market are closed on Sundays and run to 15:00. Most restaurants cook paella to order for two or more people, so book.

The places named by the most sources

The count is the number of publishers that name the place on a list of Valencia restaurants, bars, horchaterías or markets, with the split between English and Spanish publishers. A place named by fewer than 8 is left out of this table.

The English lists lean towards the beach and the tourist canon: La Pepica (10 English, 2 Spanish), Casa Montaña (13 and 5), the Central Bar (9 and 2) and Casa Roberto, a rice restaurant that six English lists and no Spanish list name. The Spanish lists lean towards the starred and the neighbourhood: Fierro (6 Spanish, 4 English), La Salita (11 and 9) and Bodega Anyora, a Cabanyal tapas bar that seven Spanish lists name against one English. Visit València’s own lists, read apart, name Ricard Camarena, La Salita, Fierro, Riff, Lienzo and Flores Raras on four of their five restaurant pages each.

These have their own guides: best paella in Valencia, best horchata in Valencia and Valencia food tours.

Michelin and the other awards

The Michelin Guide Spain 2026 lists 37 restaurants for Valencia and the area round it. In the city it gives two restaurants two stars and six one star, and two more one-star restaurants are outside it, Simposio at San Antonio de Benagéber and Arrels at Sagunto. Check the restaurant’s own site for the days and hours it opens.

Michelin’s Bib Gourmand, its mark for good value, goes to two restaurants in the city, 2 Estaciones and Memoria Gustativa, and to Arrocería Maribel in El Palmar, Huerto Martínez in Cheste and Napicol in Meliana.

• Guía Repsol 2026. The gala was held on 16 February 2026 in Tarragona, and the Comunitat Valenciana has 68 Soles restaurants. Fierro joined at two Soles, the only restaurant in the Comunitat Valenciana to debut in that category in 2026, and 2 Estaciones won its first Sol. Ricard Camarena and La Salita hold three Soles.
• The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2026. The top 50 is revealed on 4 November 2026 in Lima. The 51 to 100 list, published on 21 October, has no Valencia restaurant. Valencia held the 50 Best Restaurants’ gala in 2023.

Starred and destination dining

Ricard Camarena

Avenida Burjassot 54, in Bombas Gens · tasting menus €195, €220 and €250 without drinks · two Michelin stars · Repsol 3 Soles · Cited by 28 of 39 sources (19 English, 11 Spanish)

The place the lists name above any other. Michelin calls the cooking creative. The restaurant’s own site prints three menus, from the €195 Menú Carta, with three fixed starters and a choice of main and dessert, to the €250 Ricard Camarena Experience, and wine pairings cost €115 to €175 more.

Flores Raras

Calle Correos 8 · two Michelin stars · Cited by 12 of 39 sources (as Flores Raras or El Poblet) · floresraras.com

The restaurant that was El Poblet until January 2026, renamed under the chef Carolina Álvarez, with its two Michelin stars carried over. Michelin says it shares the creative approach of Quique Dacosta’s three-star restaurant in Dénia. Several lists still print El Poblet.

La Salita

Calle Pere III el Gran 11, Ruzafa · Monday to Saturday, lunch 13:30 to 14:45, dinner 20:00 to 21:30 · one Michelin star · Repsol 3 Soles · Cited by 18 of 39 sources (9 English, 11 Spanish)

The restaurant the Spanish lists name more than the English ones. Michelin lists its cooking as creative and modern. The restaurant’s site takes bookings and prints its menus. See Ruzafa.

Fierro

Calle Doctor Serrano 4, Ruzafa · tasting menus €75 to €195 · one Michelin star · Repsol 2 Soles · Cited by 9 of 39 sources (4 English, 6 Spanish) · fierrovlc.com

Modern cooking by Carito and Germán. The site prints six menus, from the €75 Armonía Botánica to the €195 ten-year menu, and gives an email address for bookings.

Lienzo

Plaza de Tetuán 18 · one Michelin star · Repsol 1 Sol · Cited by 8 of 39 sources (5 English, 4 Spanish)

Michelin lists the cooking as modern and Mediterranean, and Visit València files it under the historic centre.

Paella

Paella valenciana has no legal recipe. The Generalitat declared it an intangible cultural asset, a Bien de Interés Cultural Inmaterial, in 2021 as heritage, and the decree names rice as the one essential ingredient. Visit València calls it a lunchtime dish, and says most restaurants cook it to order for a minimum of two portions, so book and say which paella. Best paella in Valencia has the rest.

Casa Carmela

Calle Isabel de Villena 155, Malvarrosa · Monday to Saturday 13:00 to 16:00, closed Sunday · Cited by 20 of 39 sources (15 English, 7 Spanish) · casa-carmela.com

Open since 1922 and cooking over orange wood. The menu has 20 types of rice, and the Valencian paella is made only to order, in a limited number each day: the restaurant says it must be booked in advance, and a booking is not valid until the restaurant confirms it.

La Pepica

Avenida Neptuno 6, Malvarrosa · Monday to Friday 13:00 to 16:00 and 19:30 to 23:00, Saturday and Sunday 12:30 to 16:00 and 19:30 to 23:00 · Cited by 11 of 39 sources (10 English, 2 Spanish) · lapepica.com

A paella restaurant on the seafront since 1898, with a terrace facing the sea. Its site says the paella Pepica, a seafood paella with the seafood peeled, was first made for the painter Joaquín Sorolla. The restaurant takes bookings by phone or on its site.

The dining room at La Pepica on Avenida Neptuno. Photo: cdamian, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Tapas, bodegas and bars

Casa Montaña

Calle José Benlliure 69, Cabanyal · Cited by 16 of 39 sources (13 English, 5 Spanish) · emilianobodega.com

A wine bodega and tapas bar that describes itself as the house of good wine and good produce, with a free car park. The site takes bookings by phone and online.

Casa Montaña, in El Cabanyal, with its name painted on the wall. Photo: 19Tarrestnom65, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Canalla Bistro

Calle del Maestro José Serrano 5, Ruzafa · Cited by 12 of 39 sources (10 English, 4 Spanish) · bookings on its site

Ricard Camarena’s casual restaurant, which says it has no tablecloths and no gourmet posing. It remixes dishes from Asia to America with Valencian ones, and it is the cheaper way into his cooking.

Central Bar

Inside the Central Market · Cited by 10 of 39 sources (9 English, 2 Spanish)

Ricard Camarena’s bar in the market, which Visit València recommends for the esmorzaret, the mid-morning sandwich with a drink, between 9:00 and 12:00. It shuts with the market, so not on Sundays: see the Central Market.

Bar Ricardo and Rausell

Bar Ricardo, at Calle Doctor Zamenhof 16 in La Petxina, is a seafood counter bar that The Infatuation puts on its list of 24, and Rausell, at Calle Àngel Guimerà 61, is a family restaurant and bar with a Repsol Sol. Each is named by 8 of the 39 publishers.

Horchatería Santa Catalina and Daniel

The horchatería on Plaza Santa Catalina 6 in El Carmen is open every day from 08:15 to 21:30 and is named by 11 of the 39 publishers (8 English, 4 Spanish). Horchatería Daniel, at Avenida de la Horchata 41 in Alboraya, is named by 4. Best horchata in Valencia has the hours and the tigernut rule.

Markets and food halls

The iron-and-glass hall of the Mercado de Colón. Photo: Joanbanjo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

What to eat

Food tours

A food tour is a guided walk that stops to eat. GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices are per person:

Valencia food tours compares them and names the paella classes.

Closed and changed

• Palace Fesol served its last meals on Sunday 27 September 2026. The rice restaurant on Calle Hernán Cortés had been open since 1909, and some lists still name it.
• Marisquería Bolos, a seafood bar open 53 years, closed in early 2026.
• El Poblet is now Flores Raras, since January 2026.
• Llisa Negra moved in June 2026 to Calle Correos 8, the same building as Flores Raras.

At the table

• Paella is lunch. Book it, and say which paella you want. A mixed paella of meat and fish is on some menus, and Visit València says Valencians keep meat and fish apart.
• Tourist traps. Commenters on r/valencia say the good paella is outside the old town, in El Palmar, Malvarrosa and Campanar, and warn against any restaurant that advertises a “Paellador”.
• Tipping. Optional; 5 to 10 per cent is usual in restaurants.
• Christmas. The dates are in Valencia at Christmas 2026, and the roscón de Reyes is the food of 6 January.

Plan the rest

3 days in Valencia fits the meals to the sights, where to stay in Valencia compares the areas, and what to book before you go to Valencia lists the closed days. For other Spanish cities, see Madrid, Barcelona and Seville.