Northern, residential and affordable, with more space per euro than the centre.
Valencia Expat Daily is a free English digest of the city's news, plus the events, deadlines and openings worth knowing about. Five minutes, every morning.
Benicalap is unfashionable and cheap, with a big park, newer blocks and families who have been there for generations. If your priority is a second bedroom rather than a good address, it does the job.
The catch: Far enough out to feel it, and short on atmosphere.
A dozen questions about how you want to live, and we tell you which of the nineteen areas fits, what it costs, and what you would end up complaining about.
Take the two-minute quizThe same twelve measures on all nineteen pages, so two can be read side by side. Our own ratings, not official statistics.
| Getting around without a car | Workable without a car |
|---|---|
| How central it is | Outside the centre but connected to it |
| Noise | Properly quiet |
| Going out in the evening | Almost nothing open after dinner |
| Green space | Parks and gardens on every side |
| The sea | No beach |
| With children | Good for children |
| English and the international crowd | Almost no international community |
| Space for your money | Far more space for your money |
| Parking | Parking outside your door |
| What you would be renting | Mixed and newer apartments |
| The buildings | Later blocks with lifts and balconies |
Asking prices in Benicalap run around 17 EUR per square metre a month. On the benchmarks we use for all nineteen areas:
That is the 12th highest of the 17 areas we hold reliable asking data for. Bands rather than exact numbers, because a single figure would imply a precision we do not have.
Portals publish asking prices, what you will be quoted this month. The government publishes signed contracts, which include everyone who moved in years ago on a rent that never caught up. Both are true at once. Arriving now, budget against the asking price, and see why the two figures disagree for the longer version.
Asking prices in Benicalap run around 2,922 EUR per square metre to buy. On the same benchmark sizes the rent figures use:
By the square metre that is the 13th most expensive of the 18 areas we hold sale data for, which is not the same as the cheapest to buy in: what a home costs here also depends on how big the homes are. Bands rather than exact numbers, for the same reason as the rents.
Buying a resale home in the Comunitat Valenciana carries a transfer tax, ITP, plus notary, land registry and legal costs. The general ITP rate has been 9% since 1 June 2026, cut from 10% by Ley 5/2025; above 1,000,000 EUR the excess is taxed at 11%. Reduced rates of 6% and 3% exist for under-35 first-time buyers, large families and buyers with a disability, but all of them cap the property at 180,000 EUR, which is below almost every band on this page. A new build is different again: no ITP, but IVA at 10% plus AJD at 1.4%.
On a 175,000 EUR one-bedroom flat in Benicalap, which is the middle of the band above:
So the costs on top come to roughly 10.3% to 11.9% of the price. Non-resident lenders generally go to 60–70% of value, so plan on finding 30% or more yourself. Since Spain's 2019 mortgage law the bank pays the AJD, the notary and the registry on the mortgage deed itself, and you pay the valuation.
The tax is not due at the notary: it is self-assessed on Modelo 600 within one month of the date of the deed, in calendar days. Most websites quote 30 working days, which is the national default and roughly two weeks too generous here. Rates checked 2026-08-10. This is market information and not tax, legal or financial advice, and the reduced rates in particular turn on personal circumstances we know nothing about. Confirm anything here with a lawyer before you sign.
What happened in Valencia, what is on, and the deadlines and openings that actually affect you. In English, free, and written for people who live here.
This is where your rent goes furthest without leaving the city, and where you will need the most Spanish. Patraix is a proper neighbourhood with its own market and plaza. Benicalap is further out, plainer and cheaper again, with a big park and newer blocks.
Each sentence below is computed from the same data as the quiz rather than written by hand for the pair. Percentages compare a one-bedroom flat.
Quiet, residential and the best value inside the city. A real neighbourhood.
Choose Patraix instead and you get: A little closer to the centre, a bit more character, and about 6% cheaper. A little less green and slightly harder parking.
6% cheaper on a one-bed
We publish Valencia's news in English every morning. The stories that named Benicalap load here, live, so this is never a snapshot of the day the page was written. If nothing appears, read today's edition instead.
Advertised asking prices in Benicalap run around 17 EUR per square metre a month, so roughly 920 to 1,120 EUR for a 60 square metre one-bedroom and 1,530 to 1,870 EUR for a 100 square metre three-bedroom. That is the 12th highest of the 17 Valencia areas we hold reliable asking data for. A room in a shared flat costs about 400 EUR wherever you are.
Asking prices in Benicalap run around 2,922 EUR per square metre, so roughly 157,790 to 192,850 EUR for a 60 square metre one-bedroom and 262,980 to 321,420 EUR for a 100 square metre three-bedroom. That is the 13th most expensive of the 18 Valencia areas we hold sale data for. These are advertised prices, not what properties finally sell for.
On top of the price you pay ITP, the transfer tax on resale homes, which has been 9 per cent in the Comunitat Valenciana since 1 June 2026, plus notary, land registry, gestoría and legal fees. On a 175,000 EUR one-bedroom flat, the middle of the range here, that is about 2,000 to 4,700 EUR in fees on top of roughly 16,000 EUR of tax, so around 193,000 EUR all in if you are buying outright. That is 10.1 to 11.7 per cent on top of the asking price; the cheaper the property, the higher that percentage goes, because a lawyer and a gestoría cost much the same whatever you are buying. If you are borrowing as a non-resident, lenders generally go to 60 to 70 per cent of value, so expect to find at least 30 per cent yourself as well. This is market information, not tax advice.
Not really. Benicalap is workable without a car for everyday life, though you will notice the walk or the ride more than you would in the dead centre.
It works. Benicalap is a reasonable place to raise children without being built around them: parks and gardens on every side, and properly quiet.
No beach. Entirely inland. If the sea is the reason you are moving, the beach barrios and the coastal towns are the honest answer instead.
Rarely. Benicalap has almost no international community, and you will need considerably more Spanish here than in the barrios newcomers usually start in.
They are the same kind of place with different answers. Choose Patraix instead and you get this: a little closer to the centre, a bit more character, and about 6% cheaper. A little less green and slightly harder parking.
No. This is editorial guidance from a local newsletter, not legal, financial, tax or relocation advice. Rent and sale figures are market data and move constantly, and tax rates change: the ITP rate on this page changed in June 2026. Check anything that matters with a professional before you sign.
Every morning: what happened in Valencia, what is on, and the deadlines and openings that actually affect you. Benicalap included.
