La Barraca del Palmar hosts company outings, incentive days, intimate weddings and private celebrations for up to 150 seated guests or 200 at a cocktail, indoors or in its outdoor areas. The restored barraca stands in El Palmar, a village inside the Albufera Natural Park, a few kilometers south of the city of Valencia, Spain. It is one of the venues run by Grupo El Alto, a Valencian events and catering company.
Seminars and company events
For companies, the barraca builds a day around Valencian food. The signature activity is a hands-on paella showcooking: the team learns to cook a Valencian paella with chicken and rabbit over an orange-wood fire, using Albufera rice of the Senia and Bomba varieties, then sits down to eat what it has cooked. Groups also learn to prepare some traditional drinks. The visit can start with a crossing of the lagoon on a traditional wooden boat with a lateen sail, and guests are collected from the venue's own jetty. Grupo El Alto supplies audiovisual equipment such as projectors and LED screens for corporate events, which helps when a short presentation comes before lunch. The group also works with congresses in Valencia, so the barraca can serve as an outing for a larger program.
Weddings and receptions
The barraca is offered for smaller weddings, first communions and family celebrations. The outdoor areas take up to 200 guests, and an orange grove surrounds part of the site. Wedding sales are handled by the group's office at Masía Aldamar, in Chiva.
Rooms and capacities
The venue seats up to 150 guests for a meal and holds 200 for a standing cocktail. Its outdoor spaces also take 200. The kitchen is a traditional room decorated with local ceramics, where the showcooking takes place. There is parking on site.
Catering
Catering comes from Grupo El Alto, whose central kitchens are in Rafelbunyol, north of Valencia. Menus at the barraca start with Albufera dishes such as all i pebre, an eel stew with garlic and paprika, and esgarraet, a salad of roasted red pepper and salt cod, before the paella. The group offers vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free menus on request.
History and setting
A barraca is the traditional farmhouse of the Valencian huerta and the Albufera, where fishermen and farmers cooked paella and rested. This one has been carefully restored in that tradition. It served as a filming location for Cañas y barro, the television series based on the novel by Vicente Blasco Ibáñez set among the rice fields and canals of the lagoon. The Albufera is separated from the sea by dunes and the pine forest of the Devesa del Saler, and the natural park around it is known for its rice paddies and birdlife.
Getting there
El Palmar lies about 20 km south of central Valencia, reached by the coast road through El Saler. Valencia Airport is around 30 minutes away by car, and the city's main stations, Joaquín Sorolla for high-speed trains and Estació del Nord, are in the center.
