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QS Best Student Cities ranking: =74th

Spain’s third-largest city, located about 350km south of Barcelona on the east coast, Valencia is probably best known for being the spiritual home of the delicious rice-based dish paella. It is also home of the massive Les Falles festival, when hundreds of giant puppets are paraded and then burned, and the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim, one of the biggest music festivals in Europe. The ‘La Tomatina’ annual tomato fight also draws huge crowds to the city.

Aside from these events, Valencia is a major tourist magnet through much of the year, due to its beautiful beaches, attractive city center, museums and interest-packed “Ciutat Vella” (Old Town) – full of both historic buildings and bustling bars.

The city is also home to the futuristic Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències (City of Arts and Sciences), which boasts the largest oceanographic aquarium in Europe, among many other attractions.

Rising an incredible 16 places this year, Valencia is ranked joint 74th in the world in the Best Student Cities 2019 ranking, helped by increases in its scores for desirability, employer activity and student view.

Valencia has quite a large student population, with notable universities in Valencia including the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia and the Universitat de Valencia, both of which make the top 600 of the QS World University Rankings® 2020.

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Internationally ranked universities in Valencia

More about Valencia

To find out how each of the above categories is calculated, view the methodology.