Valencia to Get Second Gulliver Park Featuring 8-Meter-High Figure. A second Gulliver Park with a central figure standing 8.3 meters tall will be built in Valencia. The project will be located in the Jardín del Turia. Admission will be free, but visitor numbers will be limited.
The authorities of Valencia have announced the construction of a second Gulliver Park in the Jardín del Turia—on the section between Puente de les Arts and Puente de los Glòries Valencianes. The new play complex will cover 6,700 square meters, of which 2,300 will be allocated for children's playgrounds. Its main feature will be an 8.3-meter-tall figure of Gulliver, which visitors will be able to explore both outside and inside. Around it, there will be play structures inspired by Lilliput: giant books, towers, fantastical buildings, and gates.
The park will be fenced with several entrances, while existing pedestrian paths will be preserved. Outside the enclosure, there will be rest and picnic areas. Entry will remain free, but no more than 250 people will be allowed inside at the same time. The park will be closed at night. The new facility will be located near the neighborhoods of Tendetes and Botànic, and its concept will continue the theme of the existing Gulliver Park and the planned Barco de Gulliver play area in Parque de Desembocadura.
The project is being carried out thanks to an agreement between the city hall and Fundación del Instituto Valenciano de Oncología (IVO): the foundation is funding construction as part of the expansion of its medical center and will later hand the park over to the city for ongoing maintenance. According to Mayor María José Catalá, the figure of Gulliver has long been part of the city's identity, and the new park will help expand the network of public spaces for family recreation.
Children will be able to climb on the structure, go through internal tunnels, slide down slides, and cross suspension bridges. The architects promise to preserve all existing trees and landscape features of the Jardín del Turia. The construction will use high-density fiberglass, steel, and valuable types of wood. One month is allotted for project preparation, and the actual work will take about six months. The development involves specialists in urban planning, landscaping, and engineering, while the artistic part is supervised by Miguel Santaeulalia.
At the same time, the project has drawn criticism from the opposition. Compromís representative Papi Robles stated that the creation of the park would result in the loss of nearly 2,000 square meters of green space in the Campanar district. According to her, IVO's expansion could have been carried out without affecting local parks if another site had been chosen.
In recent years, Valencia has been actively investing in the development of public spaces and infrastructure for family recreation. Jardín del Turia, the largest urban park created on the site of a former riverbed, has already become one of the city's main attractions. Issues of balancing new projects and preserving green spaces regularly cause debates among residents and politicians. Amid these discussions, in Spain, urban environment and safety issues remain in focus: recently, for example, police detained a major group of apartment burglars operating across the country — details of the operation are revealed here.
