The international-school belt: houses, gardens, and a car in the driveway.
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.
If your children are going to Caxton, the British School or one of the other international schools, this is the belt most of their classmates live in. Detached houses, pools, quiet roads and space. It is suburban life, not city life.
Paterna is a grouped entry, and the halves are different places. Paterna town is dense and ordinary with good transport; La Canyada and Mas Camarena are separate low-density chalet developments built around the international schools, where a car is not optional.
The catch: A chalet market, not a flat market. Effectively unlivable without a car, and far from anything resembling a night out.
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 | You will need a car |
|---|---|
| How central it is | A long way from the centre |
| 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 | Built around families |
| English and the international crowd | A sizeable international crowd |
| Space for your money | Far more space for your money |
| Parking | Parking outside your door |
| What you would be renting | Villas and chalets with gardens |
| The buildings | Later blocks with lifts and balconies |
Asking prices in Paterna run around 15 EUR per square metre a month. On the benchmarks we use for all nineteen areas:
That is the 15th 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.
A different measurement does exist for Paterna. The Spanish government's SERPAVI data, which records signed contracts rather than advertisements, put the median for the town at 640 EUR a month for reference year 2024.
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.
The asking sample for Paterna is thin, so treat the band above as a rough guide rather than a market rate.
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.
The belt northwest of the city where the international schools are, and where a house with a garden is the normal product rather than a flat. Godella and Rocafort are the closest in and the only ones here that work without a car. L'Eliana has a real town centre on the metro. Paterna and Bétera give you the most house for the money and assume a driveway.
Each sentence below is computed from the same data as the quiz rather than written by hand for the pair.
Green, spacious and family-first, on the metro line out to the northwest.
Choose L'Eliana instead and you get: Slightly easier without a car and suburban houses rather than houses with gardens. A little less of the old town about it and a few more visitors about.
no comparable rent data
Leafy, affluent commuter towns on the metro, popular with international families.
Choose Godella instead and you get: A bit more character and you can live here without a car. Noticeably more tourists and foreign residents and slightly less space for the money.
much the same rent
Space, golf and international schools at the far end of the metro line.
Choose Bétera instead and you get: New build with lifts and terraces rather than later blocks with lifts and balconies. A few more visitors about and further from the universities.
no comparable rent data
We publish Valencia's news in English every morning. The stories that named Paterna 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 Paterna run around 15 EUR per square metre a month, so roughly 810 to 990 EUR for a 60 square metre one-bedroom and 1,350 to 1,650 EUR for a 100 square metre three-bedroom. That is the 15th 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.
Yes. Paterna is effectively unlivable without a car. That single fact rules it in or out for most people before anything else on this page matters.
Yes. Paterna is one of the areas families actually pick: parks and gardens on every side, properly quiet, and in the international school belt.
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.
Mostly. Paterna has a sizeable international community, so you will find English speakers without looking hard, but everyday services still run in Spanish and Valencian.
They are the same kind of place with different answers. Choose L'Eliana instead and you get this: slightly easier without a car and suburban houses rather than houses with gardens. A little less of the old town about it and a few more visitors about.
No. This is editorial guidance from a local newsletter, not legal, financial or relocation advice. Rent figures are market data and move constantly. Check anything that matters before you sign.
Every morning: what happened in Valencia, what is on, and the deadlines and openings that actually affect you. Paterna included.
