Valencia (Venezuela)

Introduction

Valencia is the capital and largest city of Carabobo State and the third largest city of Venezuela.

Neighbourhoods

Valencia, Libertador, Los Guayos, Naguanagua and San Diego.

Getting There

By Plane

Arturo Michelena International Airport VLN is the airport of Valencia.

By Car

Valencia is connected to other main cities through a series of well-kept highways.

By Bus

There are bus connections from Caracas, Barquisimeto, Mérida and Maracaibo. The main bus terminal is located in the Big Low Centre, a popular shopping center to the Northeast of Valencia and close to the San Diego region. Travelers need to take another bus or taxi to go from there to the city of Valencia.

Getting Around

Buses, taxis. Bus routes can be confusing, and stops are not announced. Taxis can be taken anywhere. Underground Metro is under construction and there are some stations already opened.

Eat

Most restaurants are located in the renown calle de los Cafes in la Viña neighborhood. There are differing opinions about how safe it is to walk around especially at night. Several options available.

Drink

Polarcita, Solera. This are the most popular beers. Frescolita is a unique soda to this country.

Sleep

Intercontinental Hotel, Hotel Guaparo, Hotel Stauffer. Many other smaller hotels are found throughout the city.

Keep Connected

Internet

Internet cafes, often incorporated in the above-mentioned 'communication centers' are increasingly common, and even small towns usually have at least one spot with more or less decent connections.

Phone

See also International Telephone Calls

Venezuela has international country telephone code 58 and three-digit area codes (plus an initial '0'), and phone numbers are seven digits long.
Area codes beginning with '04' - e.g. 0412, 0414, 0416 - are mobile phones, while area codes beginning '02' - e.g. 0212 (Caracas), 0261 (Maracaibo) are land lines. A single emergency number 171 is used in most of the country for police, ambulance and firefighters.

Public payphones use prepaid cards which cannot be recharged but are easily available in shopping centers, gas stations, kiosks, etc. Phone boxes are common in the cities and do not accept coins. The vast majority are operated by the former state monopoly, CANTV, although some boxes operated by Digitel or Movistar do exist, particularly in remote areas. CANTV prepaid cards can be used only in their booths.

More popular today are the ubiquitous 'communication centers' or clusters of phone booths located inside metro stations, malls, or like a normal store in the street. Most of these communication centers are operated either by CANTV or Movistar, and offer generally cheap phone calls from a normal phone in comfortable booths equipped with a seat. A log is made of all your calls and you pay when exiting the store.

Mobiles operated by Movilnet, a division of CANTV, start with the 0416/0426 code and use the CDMA 800 MHz system and GSM/HSDPA 850 MHz. Rival Telefónica Movistar, formerly Telcel, start with 0414/0424 and use both CDMA & GSM/HSDPA (GSM/HSDPA 850 MHz). Digitel is another operator with a GSM/HSDPA (GSM/HSDPA 900 MHz) network and its numbers start with 0412. It is possible to buy a pay-as-you-go SIM card for Digitel's GSM phones, but make sure your phone is unlocked. A pay-as-you-go Digitel card is working straightaway when bought from any official retailer. The cost of the card is around 20 VEF (new bolivares). Top up vouchers from 10 VEF. The cost of a text message abroad is 0.3 VEF. Please note that from Movilnet phone you are not able to send a text message almost to any European network. A Digitel phone allows to send a text message to almost any European network (tested) and Movistar may let you send a text message to any european network but is not reliable as Digitel for this purpose.

You may use your phone with a foreign SIM card in roaming. Check: www.gsmworld.com or call to your operator for roaming information to Venezuela. Movilnet and Movistar will require quad-band phones for European users, Digitel will work with any European phone. Tourists from other than European countries should check their phones if the phone will work with the above bands.

Post

Venezuela's state-owned postal is slow, unpredictable and not widely used. Postal offices are few and far between, although they are still probably your best bet for sending postcards back home. For mailing within Venezuela, courier services such as MRW, Domesa and Zoom are the most popular. These usually guarantee next day delivery.

External Links