New in Valencia: your first month

Your first month, step by step

1. Week 1

   Padrón: register at your address

   Registering on the padrón (alta en el padrón) is free and is the first step for the health card and other procedures. Book an appointment (cita previa) online or by calling 010, then go to any padrón office: the City Hall (entrance at C/ Periodista Azzati 2), OAC Tabacalera or one of nine Juntas Municipales, 8:30–14:00. Bring a valid passport or residence card and, if you rent, a lease of more than 6 months signed by everyone in it plus your last rent receipt; if you live in someone else's home, the owner's authorisation form. Documents must be in Spanish or Valencian, or come with a sworn translation.

   Padrón registration, PA.GP.11 (València City Council) · Padrón offices · Appointments · Padrón certificate

2. Week 1

   A SUMA card for metro, bus and tram

   SUMA tickets work on Metrovalencia, EMT buses, MetroBus and Renfe Cercanías. Until 31 December 2026 they are discounted: SUMA 10 (10 trips) costs €5.40 for one zone and the SUMA Mensual €21 a month for one zone; under-31s pay €14.90 for the monthly Móbilis30 / SUMA Mensual Jove (residence certificate needed if you are a foreigner). The card itself is extra: €2.20 for the anonymous plastic card, €4.40 personalised. EMT also has its own Bonobús. For short trips, Valenbisi is the city's bike share: the first 30 minutes of each trip are free with a pass, and you sign up on its website or app.

   Metrovalencia fares · Temporary discounts 2026 · Móbilis30 / SUMA Mensual Jove · EMT fares (València City Council) · Valenbisi

3. Week 1

   Phone: SIM or eSIM

   In Spain you need an identity document to buy a prepaid SIM: operators must register the buyer's name, nationality and ID number. Prepaid users have the same rights as contract users, keeping your number when you switch operator takes one working day, and you can cancel at any time with two working days' notice. The government's telecom user office explains your rights and takes complaints.

   Prepaid SIM registration, Ley 25/2007 (BOE) · Mobile users' rights (Ministry)

4. Week 1

   Safety basics

   Save 112, the European emergency number, and 092 for València's Policía Local. Beaches have lifeguards at Malva-rosa and Cabanyal only from 1 June to 15 September, 10:00–20:00: outside that season, swim with extra care.

   Policía Local, emergencies (092) · Beach service 2026

5. Weeks 1–2

   NIE, EU certificate or residence card

   Foreigner procedures are handled by Spain's National Police. EU and EEA citizens staying more than three months apply in person for the EU registration certificate (form EX18, fee €12), which shows your NIE; other procedures include the NIE on request (EX15, €9.84) and the first residence card (TIE). Pick the exact procedure there and download its form before you go.

   National Police, foreigner procedures · EU registration certificate (EX18) · Fees

6. Weeks 2–3

   Health card (SIP)

   The SIP card gives you access to public healthcare in the Valencian Community. If you are registered with Social Security, go to your nearest health centre with a padrón certificate (valid 6 months) and the INSS document recognising your right to healthcare. You can also apply online with a digital certificate or Cl@ve.

   SIP card procedures (Generalitat Valenciana) · SIP card FAQ

7. Weeks 2–3

   Open a basic payment account

   Anyone legally resident in the EU, even without a fixed address, can open a basic payment account. Its fee is capped at €3 a month and it includes cash deposits and withdrawals in euros, debit card payments and 120 payments a year within the EU.

   Basic payment account (Banco de España) · Fees

8. Weeks 3–4

   Your first plan to meet people

   Get the free municipal library card, ask CAI-PANGEA, the city's immigration centre, about its welcome course (Escuela de Acogida), or sign up for a Universitat Popular course. Or go to one of the events below: they are picked because it is easy to go alone and talk to people.

   Library card · CAI-PANGEA · Universitat Popular

Rules change: always confirm on the official page before you go.

Free public places to start

Municipal libraries, services, parks and museums in Valencia, each with its official page. Hours change: check the page before you go.

• Bibliotecas Municipales de València

  The municipal library card is completely free: fill in the form and bring a photo and your DNI, NIE or passport; it lasts 5 years. Libraries also run cultural activities; check the timetable page before you go.

• CAI-PANGEA, Centro de Atención a la Inmigración

  The city council's centre for migrants (C/ Pozo s/n): information, legal advice and the Escuela de Acogida welcome course. Walk-in information Monday to Thursday 8:30–13:30, or by phone Monday to Friday.

• Universitat Popular

  The city's adult education courses: €25 for basic courses and €55 for the rest for the 2026/27 year, with no monthly fees. Remaining places can be booked online until groups are full: a simple way to meet neighbours.

• Jardí del Túria

  The park along the old Turia riverbed crosses the city: free entry and it never closes. Walk, run or cycle it on your first weekend.

• Museos y monumentos municipales

  València's municipal museums and monuments are free on Sundays and public holidays. Check the page for each venue's hours.

• Agenda cultural de València

  The city council's culture agenda: exhibitions, concerts, guided visits and activities, many of them free. Good for finding something to do near you.

This week: events to go to alone

Tue17Nov

LearningValencia

18:00–19:55

Los caníbales by Liliana Cavani, with a cycle talk, at the Rialto

Edificio Rialto

On Tuesday 17 November 2026 at 18:00 the Filmoteca de València shows Los caníbales, I cannibali, a 1970 film by Liliana Cavani, with a presentation of the film and of the cycle Memoria y utopía by Javier H. Estrada, co-director of the Seminci festival and programmer of the cycle. The listing imagines a totalitarian Milan where collecting the corpses from the streets is forbidden. Britt Ekland plays a contemporary Antigone, determined to bury her brother, killed during a protest, and Tiresias accompanies her in a challenge that makes them beacons for a youth slowly recovering the will to fight. It was shown at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes, with music by Ennio Morricone, and moves Sophocles' tragedy to a political dystopia. It is shown in the original version with Spanish subtitles, 95 minutes. A film introduced by its programmer is easy to attend alone. «Presentación de la película y del ciclo «Memoria y utopía» a cargo de Javier H. Estrada.» Starts 18:00, ends about 19:55. Source: Institut Valencià de Cultura, Generalitat Valenciana, open data (CC BY 4.0). The listing gives no end time, so the end shown here is estimated. The listing gives a duration of 95 minutes. The listing gives no ticket price; the Filmoteca's official admission page gives general entry as 2.50 euros.

Official page →See who's going in Meet & Mint

Thu19Nov

CultureValencia

19:30–21:45

Goya, Konrad Wolf's 1971 East German painter biopic, at the Rialto

Edificio Rialto

On Thursday 19 November 2026 at 19:30 the Filmoteca de València shows Goya, oder der arge Weg der Erkenntnis, Goya, or the Hard Road to Knowledge, a 1971 film by Konrad Wolf, in the cycle Memoria y utopía of the Seminci festival. The listing says that before looking into the darkness, Goya wanted to approach the light of power. Wolf presents him as an ambitious painter, eager to please the nobility and find his place at court, until another Spain begins to open before his eyes. Beyond the salons appear poverty and a violence that also change the way he looks. The film follows that awakening as a physical experience: the early splendour gives way to ever harsher images, until the artist begins to paint what used to stay outside the canvas. It runs 134 minutes in German, with Spanish subtitles, and is based on the novel by Lion Feuchtwanger. A film about an artist is easy to attend alone. «Antes de mirar hacia la oscuridad, Goya quiso acercarse a la luz del poder.» Starts 19:30, ends about 21:45. Source: Institut Valencià de Cultura, Generalitat Valenciana, open data (CC BY 4.0). The listing gives no end time, so the end shown here is estimated. The listing gives a duration of 134 minutes. The listing gives no ticket price; the Filmoteca's official admission page gives general entry as 2.50 euros.

Official page →See who's going in Meet & Mint

Fri20Nov

CultureValencia

20:15–22:05

Queen Kelly, Stroheim's 1928 silent with a new score, at the Rialto

Edificio Rialto

On Friday 20 November 2026 at 20:15 the Filmoteca de València shows La reina Kelly, Queen Kelly, Erich von Stroheim's 1928 silent film, at the Edificio Rialto in its Filmoteca premieres. The listing tells of the cruel Queen Regina V, obsessed with her frivolous fiancé Prince Wolfram. When he meets a naive but flirtatious young woman at a convent, Patricia Kelly, he falls in love, and desperate to see her before his wedding he carries her to the palace. When the queen finds them she whips the girl and throws her out, with sad consequences for both. This is a new 4K restoration of the unfinished masterpiece starring and produced by Gloria Swanson, with unseen materials used to recreate the ending from the original script and a new soundtrack composed by Eli Denson. The film runs 105 minutes with Castilian intertitles. A silent film with a modern score is easy to attend alone. «Nueva versión restaurada en 4K de la obra maestra inacabada de Erich von Stroheim.» Starts 20:15, ends about 22:05. Source: Institut Valencià de Cultura, Generalitat Valenciana, open data (CC BY 4.0). The listing gives no end time, so the end shown here is estimated. The listing gives a duration of 105 minutes. The listing gives no ticket price; the Filmoteca's official admission page gives general entry as 2.50 euros.

Official page →See who's going in Meet & Mint

Sat21Nov

CultureValencia

20:30–22:05

Los girasoles ciegos, film at La Filmoteca, Valencia

La Filmoteca, Edificio Rialto

On Saturday 21 November 2026 at 20:30 La Filmoteca of the Institut Valencià de Cultura shows Los girasoles ciegos by José Luis Cuerda at the Edificio Rialto in Valencia, in its cycle for the Rafael Azcona centenary. The 2008 Spanish drama, based on the book by Alberto Méndez with a script by Azcona and Cuerda, is set in Galicia in the 1940s. The listing says that while the family copes with the hardships of the post-war years, Elena and her son keep up appearances to hide the family's secrets, among them a father who lives hidden in a hollow in the bedroom, and the arrival of a deacon with doubts about his priesthood complicates things. The film runs 95 minutes and stars Maribel Verdú, Javier Cámara and Raúl Arévalo. The page prints no ticket price. A film screening like this is easy to enjoy alone, since everyone watches the same film in the dark. «Elena y su hijo mantienen las apariencias para ocultar los secretos de la familia» Starts 20:30, ends about 22:05. Source: La Filmoteca (Institut Valencià de Cultura) official event page (ivc.gva.es). The listing gives a start at 20:30 and a film length of 95 minutes, with no ticket price printed on the page.

Official page →See who's going in Meet & Mint

Sun22Nov

MusicValencia

19:00–20:30

Cambra al Palau 3, tribute to Rodrigo, Palau de la Música, Valencia

Palau de la Música, Sala Rodrigo

On Sunday 22 November 2026 at 19:00 the Palau de la Música in Valencia presents the third concert of its Cambra al Palau chamber series in the Sala Rodrigo, for International Music Day. The mezzo-soprano Sandra Ferrández and the pianist Miquel Estelrich pay tribute to Joaquín Rodrigo on the 125th anniversary of his birth. The programme lists Rodrigo's Cuatro madrigales amatorios, Canço del grumet, Villancicos and Doce canciones españolas, Enrique Granados's Tonadillas en estilo antiguo, and works by Manuel de Falla including songs on texts by María Lejárraga and the Siete canciones populares españolas. The page prints no end time and no price, so about an hour and a half is assumed for the end and the price is shown as unknown. A song recital like this is easy to enjoy alone, since two musicians carry the evening and you sit and listen. «Homenaje a J. Rodrigo en el 125 aniversario de su nacimiento» Starts 19:00, ends about 20:30. Source: Palau de la Música de València official event page (palauvalencia.com). The listing gives a start at 19:00, no end time and no printed price, so the end shown is estimated.

Official page →See who's going in Meet & Mint

Sun22Nov

CultureValencia

20:00–22:05

The Fortune Cookie, Billy Wilder film at La Filmoteca, Valencia

La Filmoteca, Edificio Rialto

On Sunday 22 November 2026 at 20:00 La Filmoteca of the Institut Valencià de Cultura screens The Fortune Cookie by Billy Wilder at the Edificio Rialto in Valencia, in its Billy Wilder cycle. The 1966 American comedy follows a television reporter who has a work accident, while his brother-in-law, an unscrupulous lawyer, tries to claim a fraudulent compensation. The page notes that it brought Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon together on screen, a pair who made seven more films, and calls it one of Wilder's sharpest comedies, about the triumph of hypocrisy and deceit. The screening is in the original version with Valencian subtitles and the film runs 125 minutes. The page prints no ticket price. A film screening like this is easy to enjoy alone, since you watch from your seat. «una de las comedias más corrosivas y ácidas de Billy Wilder» Starts 20:00, ends about 22:05. Source: La Filmoteca (Institut Valencià de Cultura) official event page (ivc.gva.es). The listing gives a start at 20:00 and a film length of 125 minutes, with no ticket price printed on the page.

Official page →See who's going in Meet & Mint

Tue24Nov

CultureValencia

20:00–21:27

El pisito, the 1958 Ferreri and Azcona comedy, at the Rialto

Edificio Rialto

On Tuesday 24 November 2026 at 20:00 the Filmoteca de València screens El pisito at the Edificio Rialto in Valencia, a Spanish film of 1958 directed by Marco Ferreri and Isidoro Martínez Ferri, with a script by Marco Ferreri and Rafael Azcona. The listing tells of Rodolfo and Petrita, who have been engaged for twelve years. They want to marry but cannot afford to buy a flat, and some friends advise Rodolfo to marry Doña Martina, the old woman from whom he rents a room, and wait for her to die so as to inherit the tenancy. The listing quotes the critic José Luis Castro de Paz, who calls it an extraordinary document of working-class Madrid at the end of the 1950s, a tragicomic dissection of everyday lives. The film lasts 87 minutes. The official admission page of the Filmoteca gives general entry as 2.50 euros. A classic film in a small public cinema is an easy evening to spend alone. «Rodolfo y Petrita llevan doce años de noviazgo.» Starts 20:00, ends about 21:27. Source: Institut Valencià de Cultura, Generalitat Valenciana, open data (CC BY 4.0). The listing gives no end time, so the end shown here is estimated. The listing gives a duration of 87 minutes. The listing gives no ticket price; the Filmoteca's official admission page gives general entry as 2.50 euros.

Official page →See who's going in Meet & Mint

Wed25Nov

Free

LearningValencia

19:00–20:30

IVAM + Diseño: Izaskun Chinchilla talk, IVAM, Valencia

IVAM Centre Julio González, Auditorio

On Wednesday 25 November 2026 at 19:00 the IVAM in Valencia holds the opening session of IVAM + Diseño, a series of talks called New methodologies for a changing world, in the Auditorio of the IVAM Centre Julio González. The architect Izaskun Chinchilla, founder of Izaskun Chinchilla Architects, opens the series with a conversation about how to rethink architecture and design through ecology, care and collective participation, and about new relations between nature, materials and everyday life. The series is curated by Estudio Savage with the support of the Fundación Banco Sabadell and is aimed at the general public. Entry is free until the room is full. The page gives a start at 19:00 and no end time, so about an hour and a half is assumed. A talk like this is easy to enjoy alone, since you listen and take part as much as you like. «¿Cómo podemos diseñar espacios y objetos que respondan mejor a las personas y al planeta?» Starts 19:00, ends about 20:30. Source: IVAM (Institut Valencià d’Art Modern) official event page (ivam.es). The listing gives free entry until the room is full, a start at 19:00 and no end time, so the end shown is estimated.

Official page →See who's going in Meet & Mint

Thu26Nov

MusicValencia

19:30–21:00

Ritual of the Swan, Berklee a Les Arts, Palau de les Arts, Valencia

Palau de les Arts, Teatre Martín i Soler

On Thursday 26 November 2026 at 19:30 the Teatre Martín i Soler of the Palau de les Arts in Valencia hosts Ritual of the Swan, a concert inspired by Richard Wagner's opera Lohengrin, with a repeat the next evening. The page says the project explores the evocative and introspective atmosphere of northern European jazz and its link with myths and legends, with repertoire by artists such as Jan Garbarek and the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, plus influences from Maeve Gilchrist. The musical director is Albert Palau and the artistic director Magdalini Giannikou. It belongs to Berklee a Les Arts, a collaboration between Berklee Valencia and Les Arts that offers new views of the classic operas shown at the house. The page prints no end time and no price, so about an hour and a half is assumed and the price is shown as unknown. A concert like this is easy to enjoy alone, since you sit and listen. «explora la atmósfera evocadora e introspectiva del jazz del norte de Europa» Starts 19:30, ends about 21:00. Source: Les Arts (Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía) official event page (lesarts.com). The listing gives a start at 19:30, no end time and no printed price, so the end shown is estimated.

Official page →See who's going in Meet & Mint

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