Travel to Albufera
Before you leave, make sure you have accurate information from their tourist office, because some buses dont drive with great frequency. We were visiting El Palmar with bicycle in early June. The small town was beautiful but in that time there is'nt much to do. We only found restaurants and restaurants and everywhere restaurants. This area is known for its original Paella (The Paella Valenciana), here you can see where the rice for Paella is cultivated and the paddy fields. If you have time, you can explore many towns and beaches on the route. Cullera is a beautiful town near the sea with plenty of restaurants, lovely beaches and long promenade.
Area of Albufera park lies directly south of Valencia City and is accessible with no problems by a car, from nearly any where. We recommend starting to El Saler if you are west or north of Valencia and than you can go towards south. Its better to start at Cullera, if you are from the south of Valencia and than go to north to El Saler.
Down to Cullera you can find very interesting beaches in El Saler. These beaches are used by Spanis holiday makers. All beaches in El Saler are very clean, and infront of beaches is usually free pretty large parking place. There are two lovely restaurants right near the beach, they are usually open in Spanish Lunch time form 2 pm to 4 pm all year long.
Albufera - birth place of paella
Area is known and famous for fishing and nice freshwater lagoon. The place is also famous for rice fields of Valencia. Here you can enjoy gastronomic feasts in surrounding restaurants which enclude a great supply of seafood.
Area is also known by great restaurants. In the past the village El Palmar was only a simple place with fishermen's huts, but now El Palmar is a place with many great restaurants, with delicious varietys of paella valenciana. If you travel more in the inland of the country, seafood is replaced by adding rabbit or chicken meat. Vegetarians can also enjoy , because a lot of other ingredients are used in so called veggie-paella, this ingredients are peppers, green beans and other season vegetables. Area El paler is known for having the best paella, here we can admire many little fishing villages and enjoy in other traditional dishes like pepper and garlic, dish of baby eels.
Inside Albufera park
Albufera region is a great place for relaxation, in the park are also over 100.000 birds. The park is located south of Valencia and it is one of the larges places of freshwater in Spain, which is attracting to birds of passage.
The laguna is very important wetland. Birds of passage loves that area for its food that, they can find in rice fields. You can come here with your binoculars to watch birds. L'Albufera hydrographics are complex. From Rio Turia and the Acequia de Rey it fills in winter time with freshwater. This is one of the largest places of freshwater in Spain. It has 3 to 8 feet (2,5 metres) in depth, it is pretty shallow. The canal Perello lies at the southern end of the laguna. This canal can be closed and opened, to allow water to flow into the Mediterranean sea. On average the laguna receives eight times more water, without flooding the area.
L'Albufera is rich by its varietys of birds, they are continuing to flock to the area by the tens of thousands. Around 250 species of birds, have been recorded at the ornithological station of L'Albufera. Near Mata del Fang they have noted and counted in their thousands little egrets, mallards, wigeon, red-crested pochards and cattle egrets. The counts of passage birds include around 2.000-14.000 red crested pochard, 1.000-2.000 lapwing, over 6.000 black-tailed godwit, as well as dunlin, snipe, golden plover, redshank and sanderling.
At this time they have noted over 100.000 in the park, because of that number is a park a very special place. People can have great time in The Lake, it offers many different leisure activities, expecially if the day is warm and sunny. If you have free morning you should visitthe rice fields that have just been watered. That can be a gorgeous scene specially for the photographic enthusiast. The park is a place with huge tourist opportunities. Very nice are trips in Rosa, this are a professional boat trips organised by Tones. They include guided tours to the beaches and dunes.
Boat trip to Albufera park
Park of Albufera offers you interesting boat trips, in the boat there are allready field guides for indetifying all the wildlife, there are also baskets of binoculars for admireing nature and birds that you can see along the way.
The captain of the boat usually answers questions and tells excitement stories in the half hour to forty-five minute tour. From the boat you can admire going and coming fish trap stands, narrow channels, reed beds and over 7,000 acres of open lagoon.
Accomodation in Albufera park
After boat trip, there is a nice restaurant you can visit, and eat fried fish, anguila (fresh water eel) and taste traditional paella.
After spanish delicious food it is nice to go on a long walk along the canals and the village, through small streets, just enjoying the day.