Valencia · Calle Turia
Dancers, singers and a guitarist close enough to see every step, a drink in your hand, and a room that has staged flamenco since 1998.
Likely to sell out. A small room where the artists are close, with one drink included.
The room in four facts
Why this café
Café del Duende is a small flamenco room on Calle Turia in central Valencia. The house dates itself to 1998 on its own site, and it set out to show flamenco permanently in a city with no regular place for it. The format is the one called a tablao: a stage with a bar and tables around it. English Wikipedia dates the rise of the tablao to the 1960s, when it replaced the older cafés cantantes, so a café with a stage is flamenco's own kind of room.
Duende is the flamenco word for the moment a performance takes hold. Federico García Lorca made the idea famous in a lecture in Buenos Aires in 1933, calling it a power rather than a work. The café took the word as its name and describes it as an ineffable pinch felt in the soul. Nobody can promise it, and the venue's own site says it shows itself only at very special moments.
UNESCO gives flamenco a southern heartland, Andalusia, with older links to Murcia and Extremadura, and listed the art form in 2010. Valencia faces the Mediterranean, far from that heartland, so a night here shows the art away from home. It is song, dance and guitar working together, in a room small enough to watch all three at once.
A listening menu
Flamenco styles are called palos, and Wikipedia counts over fifty of them. Six that come up often in writing about the art are below; the venue's own site names several.
The artists pick the programme and it differs from date to date. Use the six as a way of listening, not as a promise of what will be played.
Doors, a drink, an hour
The evening is short and simple: you arrive, you settle in with a drink, and the show runs through once.
Doors open before each show, and the venue's site advises being at the door when they open. Seats go in order of arrival and tables are shared, so an early arrival is the nearest thing to choosing where you sit.
One drink comes with the GetYourGuide ticket, and the bar is in the room. Further drinks and food are not part of the ticket.
Dancers, singers and a guitarist perform for about an hour with no interval. Your confirmation shows the session, and the line-up changes from one run of dates to the next.
The ticket, line by line
Six points worth reading before you pay.
A flamenco show of about an hour by professional dancers, singers and a guitarist. The venue says there is no interval.
One drink comes with the GetYourGuide ticket. Further drinks and food are not part of it.
The ticket guarantees a seat but not its position. Tables are shared, and the venue gives seats in order of arrival.
The programme changes regularly, and the venue's calendar lists the artists for each run of dates.
The show is marked wheelchair accessible. Guests with reduced mobility are asked to warn the venue beforehand so that space can be kept.
Cancelling on GetYourGuide a day or more ahead returns the whole fare. A direct reservation made with the venue is not refunded, its own site says.
The stage, the turn and the old gates
The pictures here are a flamenco stage, a dancer mid-turn and two of Valencia's old city gates near the venue. No picture is of the venue's own room.
Choosing a flamenco night
| Format | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| A café room with a drink (this ticket) | An hour or so of dancing, singing and guitar in a small café room, with one drink and tables you share. | Anyone who wants flamenco close up and a drink in hand |
| A small bar room by Plaza de la Reina | A show of about fifty minutes in a bar room in the city centre, with a short interval in the middle. | A shorter evening with a break in the middle |
| A historic theatre | A one-hour show on a large stage in the old town, with theatre seating in place of café tables. | Anyone who prefers a theatre seat to a café table |
Pick your evening
Card one is the café show described on this page. Cards two and three are other flamenco rooms in Valencia, for a different sort of evening. Pick a date to see which sessions are open.
An hour or so of dancing, singing and guitar in a small café room, with one drink included and tables you share.
A show of about fifty minutes in a bar room in the city centre, with a short interval in the middle.
A one-hour show on a large stage in Valencia's old town, with theatre seating in place of café tables.
What else Valencia offers
Before you go
Café del Duende is at Calle Turia 62, 46008 Valencia, in the centre of the city. The venue says it is about five minutes on foot from the Torres de Quart and ten from the Torres de Serranos, and its site names a Metro stop called Turia.
Doors open before each show, and the venue advises being at the door when they open. Your confirmation shows the session, and start times differ between days, so check it for your date.
Seats go in order of arrival and tables are shared. The ticket guarantees you a seat but not its position, so arriving early is the best chance of a good view.
One drink is included. Further drinks and food are not part of the ticket, so plan to eat before or after the show.
A child without a paid ticket gets no seat of their own and sits with a parent, says the venue. Wheelchair users are catered for; anyone with reduced mobility should tell the venue ahead of the visit.
Free cancellation applies to a GetYourGuide booking up to 24 hours ahead. A reservation made directly with the venue is not refunded, so check which kind you hold before you write.
Guides to Café del Duende and flamenco in Valencia
FAQ
About an hour, without an interval. The venue and the booking page agree. Your confirmation gives the start time for the session you pick.
Yes. One drink comes with the GetYourGuide ticket. Further drinks and food are not part of it.
No. The ticket guarantees a seat but not its position, and tables are shared. The venue gives seats in order of arrival, so arrive when doors open.
The venue's site says Thursday to Sunday. The booking calendar shows exact dates and sessions.
A heightened moment in a performance, in flamenco. Lorca made the idea famous in a 1933 lecture, and the café took the word as its name.
Yes, with GetYourGuide, at least a day ahead and for a full refund. A direct reservation with the venue is not refunded, according to its site.
A child needs a paid ticket to have a seat, and the venue says unpaid children sit with a parent. The show is an hour of listening.
Yes, it is marked accessible. Guests with reduced mobility should tell the venue beforehand so that space can be set aside.
Fares move with the date and with seats left. Choose a night and the fare is shown in your own currency.