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About 10 km south of the city is the vast Llac Albufera, surrounded by rippling rice fields, marshlands and pine forest, all part of the Parc Natural de l’Albufera. Low wooden boats ply the reedy canals, overlooked by barrancos, traditional Valenciano houses with pitched, thatched roofs. The rice is used in paella, which comes from Valencia originally, and you can taste it in one of the villages scattered around the lake. This stretch of coastline south of the port has the prettiest, cleanest and least crowded beaches, backed by sand dunes and pine forest and home to a wide variety of bird life. If you are planning to go further afield, the Valencia region offers everything from hedonistic seaside resorts to Roman ruins, wine-producing villages and medieval cities perched on remote mountain tops. North of Valencia are a string of low-key, mainly Spanish, seaside resorts, if beaches pall, visit Roman Sagunt/ Sagunto with its ruined castle and amphitheatre, magical Peníscola emerging dramatically from the sea, and spectacular Morella ringed by medieval walls and set in the wild, mountainous region of the Maestrat/Maestrazgo. South of Valencia is the famous – or infamous – Costa Blanca and its unofficial capital, the neon-lit Babylon of Benidorm. But it's not all 'tea like your mum makes' and lobster-red tourists on the Costa Blanca: pretty, whitewashed Xàbia/Jávea, tucked around a horse-shoe bay, offers excellent hiking around the cape and the arty little pueblo of Altea is piled winsomely on a hilltop overlooking the sea. Inland, you can escape the heat in tranquil Xàtiva/Játiva, take in the wine-producing villages west of Valencia or join in the world's biggest food fight in Buñol.
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