Platja de Port Saplaya, Mediterranean beach in Alboraia, Spain
Playa de Port Saplaya is a sandy beach in Alboraia, a coastal town just north of Valencia, with calm, shallow water and fine sand. It sits right next to the Port Saplaya marina, a small residential area built around a network of narrow canals.
Before the 1970s, this stretch of coast was largely undeveloped farmland at the edge of the sea. The construction of the marina and the surrounding residential complex transformed it into a small coastal town.
The nearby marina district is lined with pastel-colored buildings that locals and visitors alike enjoy walking past on warm evenings. Small restaurants along the waterfront serve horchata, a cold drink made from tiger nuts grown in the fields just inland.
The beach is easy to reach by road and has restrooms and lifeguard coverage during the warmer months. Parking nearby fills up quickly on hot days, so coming in the morning gives you a better chance of finding a spot.
Port Saplaya is sometimes called the Little Venice of Valencia because its canals and pastel buildings recall the Italian city. The nickname has made the area more widely known, even though the whole complex was built from scratch in the 1970s.
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