Getting here
The train is the easiest option. The C-1 commuter line links València Nord with Gandia in just under an hour, with departures roughly every thirty minutes. There are also direct Intercity services from Madrid.
By car, Gandia sits on the AP-7 motorway (exit 60) and the coastal N-332. The nearest airport is València (Manises), about 80 km away by motorway.
The town centre and the beach are around four kilometres apart, linked by the local bus and a flat cycle lane. The routes that start in the city need no car; the Mondúver one does.
What to see
The Palau Ducal dels Borja is the essential visit: the Gothic-Renaissance palace of the family that gave history two popes. Beside it, the Colegiata de Santa María —the Seu— presides over the old town, with the Plaça Major and the town hall a few steps away.
Gandia's beach is fine sand and a Blue Flag, with a long seafront promenade. To the south, the Marenys de Rafalcaid keep their dunes and pine woodland. Inland, the marshland is a wetland of rice paddies and birds, and on the outskirts waits the Monastery of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba, one of the best-preserved medieval sites in the region.
Food
Fideuà was born here, in the Grau de Gandia: the same dish as arròs a banda but with noodles instead of rice. It is served with allioli and it is the dish the town is known for.
Beyond fideuà, the cooking of La Safor is built on rice —arròs amb fesols i naps in winter— and on produce from the market gardens and the sea. In the market and the bars of the centre you will find figatells, putxero stew and local pastries. The La Safor orange adds the sweet note.