Valencia Cuina Oberta runs from Thursday 5 to Sunday 15 November 2026. For ten days, 81 restaurants across Valencia city serve special set menus from €28 at lunch and €36 at dinner, including some of the city’s Michelin-starred restaurants. Booking is open now, and the best tables go fast.
It’s one of the favourite ways to try restaurants we’d normally save for a special occasion, at a fraction of the usual price. Here’s everything you need to know, plus a look at some of this year’s menus. If the tapas routes are more your thing, this may not be for you.
What is Valencia Cuina Oberta?
Cuina oberta means “open kitchen” in Valencian. It’s the city’s restaurant week, held twice a year, in spring and autumn. Participating restaurants create a special menu with a starter (often several dishes to share), a main course and a dessert, all for a fixed price.
It’s a brilliant chance to try Valencia’s top chefs without the top prices, and many of the menus are created just for the event. Check the official website, each restaurant taking part has their menu on there to browse.
Dates and prices for autumn 2026
- Dates: Thursday 5 to Sunday 15 November 2026
- Restaurants taking part: 81, across Valencia city
- Extra experiences: around 30 workshops, tastings and visits
| Type of restaurant | Lunch | Dinner |
|---|---|---|
| Standard menu | €28 | €36 |
| Gourmet restaurants | €48 | €56 |
| Michelin-starred restaurants | €80 | €100 |
Prices are per person and include VAT. Drinks are extra.
How to book
- Browse the restaurants and menus on the official website, valenciacuinaoberta.com, and book from there or directly with the restaurant.
- Book ahead. The Michelin-starred restaurants and the weekend dinner slots fill up first.
- Changes and cancellations are handled by the restaurant itself, not the organisers.
- Check each menu’s small print. Some dishes, such as rice dishes, are for a minimum of two people.
A look at some of this year’s menus
Here are six of the menus that caught our eye, from rice and seafood to Michelin stars and a fully vegetarian option.
La Marítima
Menu: Cuina Oberta lunch and dinner
Created by Fran Espí and Tito Zúñiga. The lunch menu (€28) starts with dishes to share: tomato and tuna belly salad, cod fritters, and white shrimp with garlic, suquet and fried egg. Then you choose between blue crab rice and a chicken, mushroom and truffle fideuá (minimum two people), followed by a chocolate and pistachio mille-feuille with pistachio ice cream. The dinner menu (€36) adds an oyster with chilli water foam and grilled squid with citrus emulsion, with a choice of grilled cod or beef rib with demi-glace for the main.
Apicius
Menu: Autumn in the Mediterranean Garden
One of the gourmet menus, at €48 for lunch and €56 for dinner, and a real showcase of Valencian produce. Starters include pickles from the Valencian orchard, a seasonal vegetable cappuccino, titaína del Cabanyal (a traditional tuna and tomato dish from Valencia’s old fishing quarter), and Cullera white prawn with aubergine and butifarrón sausage. Dinner adds an Alginet bobi bean with pomegranate and partridge emulsion. The main is sea bass with Mediterranean pilpil, and dessert is a soft sheep’s cheese cake with almond crumble from Alicante. The menu can be adapted for vegetarians or made allergen-free, with notice when you book.
Arrels (1 Michelin star, 1 Repsol Sun)
Menu: Seeds
One of the Michelin-starred restaurants taking part, at €80 for lunch and €100 for dinner. Arrels keeps its dishes a surprise: you get a snack, three individual starters, a main course and a dessert at lunch, with a second main course added at dinner. If you like the idea of putting yourself in the chef’s hands, this is the one.
Fierro (1 Michelin star, 2 Repsol Suns)
Menu: Prologue, a Cuina Oberta experience
Fierro is doing something different. To mark the start of its next decade, it’s offering a ten-course “prologue” menu for just eight people per sitting, all sharing one table. It’s billed as “Mediterranean Argentinity”: eight courses plus Fierro’s “bread” and desserts, for €100 per person at both lunch and dinner. Aperitifs, extras, drinks and coffee are not included.
It only runs on certain days: dinner only on 5, 10, 11 and 12 November, and both lunch and dinner on 6, 7, 13 and 14 November (lunch at 13:30, dinner at 20:30). With only eight places a sitting, book early. When you book, choose the CUINA OBERTA EXPERIENCE option in the reservations tab.
La Valenciana
Menu: The beach of Valencia in the city centre
Classic Valencian seaside food at the standard price, €28 for lunch and €36 for dinner. Lunch starts with a duo of gildas, olive oil bread with tomato and allioli, and Mediterranean baby squid, then it’s blue crab rice with wild asparagus. At dinner, you start with smoked cod marinera, grilled squid and bread with tomato and aioli, then choose between grilled hake with pan-fried potatoes and half a roast spring chicken with Albal sweet potato. Dessert is cheesecake or chocolate cake.
Portolito Playa Vegetariano
Menu: Vegetable Flavours of Autumn, Mediterranean Soul in Essence
A fully vegetarian menu, and good value at €28 for lunch and €36 for dinner. Lunch starts with dishes to share: dark regaña crackers with pickled pumpkin and citrus mayonnaise, a roasted sweet potato velouté with rouille, and a creamy mushroom and young garlic croquette. Then there’s rice with ceps, fresh peas and courgette spaghetti, and a hazelnut praline coulant with pacharán foam. Dinner is a sharing tasting menu, including cubed bravas, grilled artichokes with hazelnut romesco, vegetable gyozas, Korean-style glazed tofu and a grilled pumpkin tataki, finished with a warm chocolate fondant and gin and tonic sorbet.
Michelin stars for €80
For many people, this is the real draw. Michelin-starred restaurants taking part this autumn include Arrels, Fierro, Fraula, La Salita, Lienzo and Riff, with lunch menus at €80 and dinner at €100. That’s still a treat, but it’s far less than these restaurants usually cost.
Other well-known names on the list include Habitual by Ricard Camarena, Llisa Negra, Vuelve Carolina, Casa Montaña and Bon Aire.
More than just menus: the experiences
Alongside the restaurants, there’s a programme of workshops, tastings and visits. A few that stood out to us:
- Paella and fideuà workshops at Valencia Club Cocina
- Citrus tasting, with a guided visit and mandarin tasting at El Celler de Proava
- Winery visits and tastings, including Pago de Tharsys and Bodegas Nodus
- A children’s huerta visit (ages 5–12) at Villa Indiano
Dates, times and places vary, and they’re booked separately through the experiences section of the official website.
Getting there from the Costa Blanca
From the Vega Baja, Valencia is roughly two hours by car, or you can take the train from Alicante. Lunch is the best value, and it makes a great day out: drive or catch the train up in the morning, have a long lunch, and wander the old town before heading home.
Valencia Cuina Oberta FAQs
When is Valencia Cuina Oberta 2026?
The autumn edition runs from 5 to 15 November 2026. There’s also a spring edition each year.
How much does it cost?
Standard menus are €28 at lunch and €36 at dinner. Gourmet restaurants are €48 and €56, and Michelin-starred restaurants are €80 and €100. Drinks are extra.
Do I need to book?
Yes, it’s strongly recommended, especially for weekends and the Michelin-starred restaurants. Book through valenciacuinaoberta.com or directly with the restaurant.
Are drinks included?
No. The menu price covers the food only.
Are there vegetarian options?
Yes. Portolito Playa Vegetariano has a fully vegetarian menu, and Apicius can adapt its menu for vegetarians if you tell them when you book. Check the individual menus on the official website for others.
