Best Neighbourhoods in Valencia for Families (2026)

Campanar and El Pla del Real have the highest shares of children among the districts, at 15.43% and 15.17%. Sant Pau, in Campanar, has 19.31%. Your address also decides school points: living in the school's catchment area earns 10 points.

By Settle Valencia editorial team

Also in: Deutsch

Where the children are, district by district

Campanar and El Pla del Real have the highest shares of children among Valencia’s districts. Children are 15.43% of Campanar’s residents and 15.17% of El Pla del Real’s. Households with a child are 24.9% of Campanar’s family households.

At the other end, Algirós has 10.03% children and 14.5% households with a child. Ciutat Vella has 11.16% children.

The Padrón of 1 January 2025 is the source for every figure. Children means the youngest age band of the Padrón. Compare barrios too, because the spread inside a district is wide.

The barrios with the most family households

Sant Pau, in Campanar district, has the highest child share in the table below: 19.31% of its 19,098 residents. Penya-roja and Sant Llorenç follow.

A small barrio can top the list on few households. La Punta has 18.75% children, but just 4,177 residents.

School places follow your address

Does it matter where you rent? Yes: your home or your workplace address decides school points in Valencia.

Living in the school’s catchment area earns 10 points. An address in a bordering area earns 5 points. A sibling already enrolled in the requested school earns 15 points each.

Once you know the area, apply online through the Adminova portal. For the 2026-2027 course, Infantil and Primaria applications ran from 7 to 18 May, and ESO and Bachillerato applications from 21 May to 1 June. Infantil and Primaria enrolment followed from 18 June to 2 July.

Enrolment in Infantil, Primaria or ESO had no fee on the 2025-2026 procedure page. The admission decree covers public and publicly funded schools, not private schools outside it. Valencian admission follows Decreto 48/2024. The public school enrolment guide has the full steps.

Children arriving after the application windows closed still have a right to school: foreign children under sixteen have the right and duty to education.

Los extranjeros menores de dieciséis años tienen el derecho y el deber a la educación, que incluye el acceso a una enseñanza básica, gratuita y obligatoria.

Foreign minors under sixteen have the right and the duty to education, which includes access to basic, free and compulsory teaching.

BOE · Ley Orgánica 4/2000, art. 9.1

A pupil who arrives late is guaranteed a place at compulsory school age.

Moving to Valencia with children puts the address, padrón and school steps in order.

Sant Pau and Campanar: the west-end family belt

Campanar district has the highest child share in the city. It has 41,713 residents, and foreign nationals are 19.3% of them.

Sant Pau has an average age of 41.1, against 44.8 for the city. Campanar barrio is older, at 48.2, so check which side of the district you view.

• Suits: families who want a young barrio next to a large park.
• Check: foreign nationals are 19.3% of the district, close to the city’s 19.7%.

Parc de Capçalera, Av. Pío Baroja, Campanar, 46015 València. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

El Pla del Real: Exposició and Jaume Roig

El Pla del Real combines park access along the old river with a low foreign share. The district has 31,206 residents, and foreign nationals are 12.6%.

Jaume Roig has 16.65% children, and Exposició has 16.42%. The district’s median rent is about €850 a month, the top of the range in the rent table below.

• Suits: families who want the Jardí del Túria on the doorstep.
• Check: Hospital Clínic Universitari de València is on Av. de Blasco Ibáñez, 17, in El Pla del Real.

Jardí del Túria, Calles Pintor López, C/ de Sant Pius V, 46003 València. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Hospital Clínic Universitari de València, Av. de Blasco Ibáñez, 17, El Pla del Real, 46010 València. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Quatre Carreres: the Ciutat de les Arts and La Punta

Quatre Carreres is a large, young district. It has 83,333 residents, the most of the 19 districts. The Ciutat de les Arts barrio has 16.4% children, and an average age of 40.8.

Malilla is the big barrio, with 26,253 residents and 23.04% households with a child.

• Suits: families who want a large, young district.
• Check: compare barrios one by one, because the district’s average age is 44.2.

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Av. del Professor López Piñero 7, 46013 València. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe, Avinguda de Fernando Abril Martorell, 106, Quatre Carreres, 46026 València. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Camins al Grau, Benicalap and Rascanya

These three districts are the large family belts away from the centre. Camins al Grau has 67,939 residents, and Penya-roja holds the family core with 17.75% children.

Benicalap has 50,967 residents, and children are 14.31% of them. Rascanya has 58,079 residents and 23.39% households with a child.

Sant Llorenç, in Rascanya, has 17.04% children. Orriols, in the same district, has 35.4% foreign nationals.

Beach life with children: Malva-rosa and Natzaret

Pick the beach for the sea, not for the school catchment. La Malva-rosa has 11.09% children, and 17.29% households with a child. That is below Sant Pau’s 33.04%.

Natzaret is younger: 14.67% children and an average age of 42.4.

Platja de la Malva-rosa, Platja de la Malva-rosa, 46011 València. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

International and foreign schools

Foreign schools must be entered in the public register of the education administration to operate. The Generalitat registry includes these foreign private schools in València city:

• British School of Valencia, on Avinguda de Peris y Valero 55-59.
• British School of Valencia Nexus, on Avinguda de Peris i Valero 99.
• Colegio Alemán de Valencia, on Carrer Jaime Roig 14-16.
• Imagine Montessori School, on Carrer Meliana 5.

Outside the city boundary, the registry shows British College La Cañada, Escuela La Travesía, Imagine Montessori School in Paterna and Shackleton International School in Burjassot.

Schools that teach only a foreign system may not admit Spanish nationals, unless they also hold that system’s nationality. Studies at a foreign school outside the Royal Decree rules get no recognition for convalidation or homologation. The international schools guide compares them.

British College La Cañada, Carrer 299, 25, 46182 La Cañada. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Escuela La Travesía, Carrer 577, 23, 46182 La Canyada. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Imagine Montessori School, C. Melissa, 46, 46980 Paterna. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Shackleton International School, Carrer Benieu, 9, 46100 Burjassot. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Health: hospitals and health centres near each area

Your assigned health centre and doctor follow your padrón address, and the SIP card records them. The SIP card guide and the GP registration guide cover the steps.

Hospitals sit across the family districts. Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe is in Quatre Carreres. Hospital Universitari Doctor Peset is in Patraix. Hospital General Universitari de València is in L’Olivereta.

Hospital Universitari Doctor Peset, Av. de Gaspar Aguilar, 90, Patraix, 46017 València. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Hospital General Universitari de València, Av. de les Tres Creus, 2, L’Olivereta, 46014 València. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Centre de Salut Benimaclet, Carrer de la Guàrdia Civil, 13, Benimaclet, 46020 València. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

Paediatric care is explained in the children’s healthcare guide.

What rent to expect in the family districts

Median rent in the districts below runs from €597 a month in Rascanya to €850 in El Pla del Real. Campanar, the district with the most children, sits at €736.

The figures are the Ministry of Housing’s SERPAVI index for 2024: rents declared in tax returns for collective housing (flats in multi-home buildings) let as a main residence. The median is the middle rent; the last column shows the range that holds the middle half of rents.

Tip: compare these with current listings before you set a budget. For the other districts, use the rent table in the neighbourhoods guide.

Lease terms that matter for a family

A school catchment depends on where you live, so the lease term matters. The parties agree the term freely. A shorter term extends in annual terms until it reaches five years, or seven with a company landlord.

The deposit is one month’s rent. Royal Decree-law 29/2026 took effect on 8 October 2026. On your request, it extends a lease in force on that date by up to two more years, if its compulsory extension ends before 31 December 2028. You must be up to date with rent, and have paid monthly for the previous eight months.

Royal Decree-law 28/2026 takes effect on 15 November 2026. From then, a lease renews in successive five-year terms, or seven with a company landlord, unless the landlord gave six months’ notice or the tenant two.

València is not on the latest quarterly list of tensioned zones. The renting guide covers the full process. The neighbourhood overview compares all districts.

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Not confirmed: Advertised rents are often higher than the official medians: check current listings before you budget. Catchment-area boundaries for individual schools are open: confirm the school's area for your address before you sign a lease.

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General information checked against the sources listed above, not legal advice for your situation. Rules and office practice change; confirm with the immigration office or a licensed adviser before you act. See how guides are checked.

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