Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 3.0
Valencia Airport to the City Centre
Metro in 25 to 32 minutes for EUR 4.80, a slower EUR 2 bus, or a taxi with a fixed EUR 12.50 minimum. Here is which one to actually take.
Landing at Valencia airport, VLC, officially Manises, with a short trip ahead? The choice usually comes down to three options, and which wins depends on your luggage, your arrival time, and how many of you are travelling.
Flying in for a few days? The metro is cheap and frequent enough for most solo travellers and couples without heavy luggage. Arriving as a family, late at night, or straight into a work day? The taxi's fixed minimum fare removes the guesswork, which is often worth the extra cost.
Living here and using the airport often? The same three options apply every time, so it is worth knowing the metro's zone fare and the bus's much slower but cheaper alternative rather than defaulting to a taxi out of habit.
VLC airport transfer at a glance
Compare the three main options before the detail below.
Metro lines 3 and 5
Both call at the Aeroport station. Single fare EUR 4.80 (three-zone), journey around 25 to 32 minutes to central stations like Xativa or Colon.
Bus, line 150
EUR 2.00 single EMTicket, around 45 minutes, less frequent than the metro and a better fit if the metro is not running yet.
Taxi
Fixed minimum fare of EUR 12.50 from the airport, day or night, regardless of distance or duration.
Cabify and FreeNow
Both offer app-based pickups at the airport. FreeNow adds a small EUR 0.30 sustainability surcharge on Valencia trips.
Uber, a caveat
Uber in Valencia hails a licensed taxi at the same metered taxi rate, not a separate private-hire car, so it will not undercut a street taxi here.
Family with luggage
The taxi's flat EUR 12.50 minimum is often worth it once you account for luggage through metro turnstiles and station interchanges.
Metro: lines 3 and 5, and what they actually cost
Both Metrovalencia line 3, towards Rafelbunyol, and line 5, towards the port, call at the Aeroport station, so whichever one arrives first will do. The airport sits in the outer fare zone, so the single ticket is EUR 4.80 rather than the EUR 1.50 city-centre fare, plus a small charge for a paper ticket if you do not already hold a card.
Journey time to the central interchange stations, Xativa or Colon, runs roughly 25 to 32 minutes depending on the service and time of day, with trains typically every 9 to 15 minutes on weekdays and slightly less often at weekends. It is the cheapest option by a wide margin for anyone travelling light.
Bus: line 150, slower but simple
EMT's Metrobus line 150 runs from the airport into the centre for EUR 2.00 on a single EMTicket, or EUR 5.10 for a 10-trip Bonobus card if you expect to use city buses again during your stay.
The journey takes around 45 minutes, noticeably longer than the metro, and the bus runs less frequently, roughly every 20 to 30 minutes through the day. It mainly makes sense when the metro is not yet running for an early or very late arrival, or when the fare difference genuinely matters.
Taxi: the fixed EUR 12.50 minimum
Airport pickups run under a fixed minimum fare of EUR 12.50, set by the regional government and applied whether you are travelling at 9am or 2am. That minimum has stayed frozen for years even as ordinary city fares rose by around 9 percent in 2026, so it remains one of the more predictable costs of the trip.
For a longer run, out to a suburb well beyond the centre for instance, the metered fare can exceed the EUR 12.50 minimum, but for a typical airport-to-centre trip the fixed rate is what you will pay. The taxi rank sits directly outside arrivals, and no advance booking is needed.
Cabify, FreeNow, and what Uber actually is here
Cabify runs a genuine private-hire fleet at the airport and is the closest thing Valencia has to a conventional ride-hailing app, with fares shown upfront before you confirm. FreeNow also operates here, blending licensed taxis and private-hire cars in one app, and adds a small EUR 0.30 sustainability charge to trips.
Uber is worth a specific mention because it works differently here than in many other cities. Uber withdrew its own private-hire fleet from Valencia in 2019; what runs today under the Uber app is Uber Taxi, which simply hails a licensed taxi at the same official metered rate. Opening the Uber app expecting a separate, potentially cheaper private car will not find one in Valencia.
Which option for a family with luggage, or a late arrival
Two suitcases, a stroller and a tired toddler change the calculation. The taxi's flat EUR 12.50 minimum, door to door with no turnstiles, stairs or platform changes, is usually worth the difference over the metro fare for a family, even though the per-person cost of the metro is lower.
Landing very early or very late? Check the metro's first and last trains before relying on it: services on line 5 run from around 5:45am on weekdays with last trains around 1:40am on Friday and Saturday nights, somewhat earlier the rest of the week. Outside those hours, a taxi is the only reliable option.
Mistakes that cost time or money
Assuming Uber will be cheaper than a taxi
Uber in Valencia dispatches a licensed taxi at the standard metered fare. It will not beat, or differ meaningfully from, hailing a taxi directly.
Not checking the metro's last train before booking a late flight
The metro does not run all night. A flight landing after roughly 1:30am on most nights needs a taxi, not a metro plan.
Carrying heavy luggage through a multi-line metro interchange
Xativa and Colon involve stairs and corridors between platforms. For more than one large case per person, factor in the extra time or choose a taxi instead.
Assuming the taxi fare from the airport is negotiable
The EUR 12.50 minimum, and the metered fare above it, are set by the regional government, not the driver. There is nothing to negotiate.
Resident in Valencia since 2016. Founder of BeTranslated. 25+ years in translation, interpretation and multilingual SEO.
Reviewed 29 August 2026 by Michael Bastin