Café del Duende

Café del Duende is the venue most often recommended for seeing serious flamenco in Valencia. It has been staging performances since 1998 and describes itself as the city's pioneering venue for promoting flamenco, which it treats as an art form rather than a tourist spectacle. The room is small and intimate, so the audience sits close to the guitarist, singer and dancer, and you feel the rhythm of the footwork and the force of the singing at close range.

Flamenco was born in Andalusia rather than Valencia, but the city has a committed scene, and Duende has played a central part in it. Line-ups change, with different artists performing through the week, so each show is different. A typical performance combines guitar, cante (song) and baile (dance), and the emphasis is on authenticity and feeling, the duende of the venue's name, a word flamenco artists use for the moment when a performance becomes truly moving.

Shows take place from Thursday to Sunday. On Thursdays there are performances at 18:00 and 20:00, and from Friday to Sunday at 19:30. Tickets include a drink, and booking in advance costs slightly more than paying at the door but guarantees a seat, which is wise at weekends and in high season. Arrive a little early to settle in. It is polite not to talk or use flash during the performance; enjoy the show and save pictures for the applause.

The venue suits couples, solo travellers and anyone curious about flamenco, including first-timers. Older children who can sit quietly for the length of a show may enjoy it too. The early show times make it easy to fit in before dinner, which in Valencia rarely starts before 21:00. The venue is listed as accessible for people with reduced mobility.

Café del Duende is on Calle Turia, just west of the old town near the university Botanical Garden and the Torres de Quart. Metro lines 1 and 2 serve stations nearby, and buses 28 and 95 stop close by. After the show, walk east through the Torres de Quart into the Barrio del Carmen for dinner or drinks.