6 stops on the Vía Xurra, Valencia's flattest bike day

Today's essentials (5 key points)

• The Valencia neighbourhood of Campanar becomes a large open-air cultural space on 12 and 13 September 2026, blending literature, music, art, gastronomy and street life, according to Valencia Bonita.
• The Soneja fire in Castellón province is still burning after scorching 150 hectares and forcing 500 residents out of their homes, according to Libertad Digital Comunidad Valenciana.
• Castellón airport set a record in August 2026 with 52,337 passengers in a single month and has announced new routes for 2027, reports La Voz de Alzira.
• The 75th anniversary of the Premio Planeta brings Luz Gabás, Javier Sierra and Màxim Huerta to the Salón de Cristal in Valencia on 9 September.
• Open-Meteo forecasts a hot day in Valencia city with a low of 21 and a high of 36 degrees under overcast skies and no rain.

Today's essentials

6 stops on the Vía Xurra, Valencia's flattest bike day. The Vía Xurra is a flat, fully rideable greenway that runs from the Puerto de Catarroja through Valencia up to the Puerto de Sagunto, and it is the star of this week's episode of À Punt's cycling show "Valencians sobre rodes".

The programme, presented by Gema Payá (the channel itself spells her name "Gemma Payà"), airs on the public broadcaster À Punt on Wednesdays at 22:45, according to À Punt and Valencia Plaza. The series runs for 13 weeks with 50-minute episodes, each one tackling a different cycling route across the region. This instalment takes on the Vía Xurra (also written Vía Churra), an old railway line that once linked Valencia to Aragón, closed for good in 1985 and since reborn as a greenway of asphalt and packed earth open to cyclists and walkers alike.

If you want to follow the same trail, the episode maps it out stop by stop, as reported by valencianews.es: Puerto de Catarroja, Valencia, Alboraya, Meliana with its Palauet de Nolla, El Puig de Santa Maria with its monastery, and finally the Puerto de Sagunto. The route is rated "very low difficulty, completely flat", which is exactly why it works for a family outing or a relaxed solo spin rather than a training grind. Along the way you also pass the Ermita de Vera and, at Alboraya, the home turf of horchata and its key ingredient, the chufa tiger nut.

Each stop earns its place. Meliana's Palauet de Nolla is a striking tiled building; El Puig's monastery is presented in the episode as a foundation of Jaume I, the 13th-century king. The grand finale is the Horno Alto n.2 in the Puerto de Sagunto, a former blast furnace now listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural and reopened after restoration on 29 May 2019; the Sagunto tourism office puts its height at 64.20 metres, though the episode's own write-up rounds it down to about 60 metres. If you get hungry on the water's edge, allipebre, the classic fish dish of the Albufera, is the local plate to look for. Handily for longer-distance riders, the Vía Xurra also links up with the pan-European EuroVelo 8 cycle route.

What this changes for you: because the whole thing is flat and paved, you do not need a road bike or any real fitness, a city bike and a couple of free hours will do. Pick it up in Valencia and simply turn back whenever you have had enough, or push on toward Sagunto if you are feeling it. Given today's forecast high of 36 degrees, the smart move is an early start with water on board and a stop in the shade around midday, so the heat never turns a gentle ride into a slog.

Weather today

Hot and overcast, up to 36 degrees in Valencia. Valencia city faces a hot day with a low of 21 and a high of 36 degrees, overcast skies, no rain and light winds up to 13 km/h, according to Open-Meteo.

In the city itself, expect grey but dry conditions all day: humidity will make the 36 degrees feel sticky, so keep water on you and stay out of direct sun between roughly midday and late afternoon. Light clothing and an early or evening outing are the sensible calls.

Inland the heat bites harder. Open-Meteo puts Bunyol at a low of 22 and a high of 39 degrees, also overcast with only a 3 percent chance of rain and gusts to 18 km/h. On the southern coast, Xeraco stays a touch more bearable at 23 to 36 degrees, with a 10 percent chance of a shower and gentle winds of 11 km/h, making the seafront the cooler option if you can get there.

Transport & traffic

• Castellón airport hits record 52,337 passengers in August. Castellón airport recorded an all-time monthly high of 52,337 passengers in August 2026 and has announced new routes for 2027, according to La Voz de Alzira. For anyone in the wider region weighing up how to fly, this matters: a busier Castellón airport, roughly an hour north of Valencia, means more capacity and, with the new 2027 routes flagged by La Voz de Alzira, potentially more direct options that spare you the trip to Valencia's Manises airport. It is a small but real shift in how expats and visitors in this corner of the Mediterranean can get in and out.
• Train fault on line C2 forces rare train-to-train transfer. A mechanical fault on a Media Distancia train bound for Alicante caused major disruption on Tuesday afternoon on the C2 Cercanías line between Manuel-L'Ènova and Xàtiva, forcing an unusual transfer of passengers directly from one train to another, reports Levante-EMV. If you use the C2 line south of Valencia, budget extra time and check before you travel: an on-track transfer between two trains is a last resort that Renfe rarely uses, and it points to knock-on delays across the corridor toward Xàtiva and Alicante. Per Levante-EMV, the breakdown struck in the early afternoon, so evening services may still be recovering.

What's changing for you

• Where to buy fresh, cheap fruit and veg in Valencia. If mornings are out because of work, you can still get fresh, well-priced fruit and vegetables at Valencia's covered markets, which stay open late into the day, a question raised by a newcomer on Reddit's r/valencia. Skip the early street stalls and head instead for the permanent covered halls: the Mercado Central near the cathedral runs through the morning and into midday, while neighbourhood markets such as the Mercado de Ruzafa and the Mercado de Mossén Sorell keep similar hours and often beat supermarket prices on seasonal produce. For a genuinely late shop after work, chains like Consum and Mercadona stay open into the evening, and Ruzafa in particular has a cluster of independent greengrocers worth a look. The trick is simply to buy what is in season, which is where the markets win on both price and freshness.

Local news to know

• Soneja fire still active after 150 hectares and 500 evacuated. Libertad Digital Comunidad Valenciana reports that the wildfire at Soneja, in Castellón province, remains active after burning 150 hectares and forcing 500 residents to leave their homes, with more than 220 ground crew and drones battling the blaze.
• Gandia names the speakers for its top falleras. Gandia has announced its mantenedores: Laura Soler Aparisi will deliver the address for the junior fallera mayor Valentina Jordà Micó, while Diego Rufat Melo will speak for the senior fallera mayor, per Levante-EMV.
• Campanar turns into an open cultural space this weekend. According to Valencia Bonita, the Valencia neighbourhood of Campanar becomes a large open-air cultural space on 12 and 13 September 2026, blending literature, music, art, gastronomy and street life.
• Visigothic palace of Pla de Nadal opens its doors. Valencia Bonita notes that the Visigothic-era site of Pla de Nadal, in the municipality of Riba-roja de Túria, revives its more-than-thousand-year history with a special open day.

See the full agenda, tonight and tomorrow