The eastern Spanish city of Valencia continues its fight against overtourism, rolling out a new measure to keep the peace between locals and holidaymakers on bikes or e-scooters.
Valencia City Council has announced it will cap the size of tourist groups travelling through the city by bicycle or electric scooter at a maximum of 10 people.
Valencia Councillor for Tourism Paula Llobet announced the new regulations during the Tourism Dialogue Roundtable, as part of the initiatives the local government is promoting to move toward safer mobility.
The rule will now be included in the Mobility Ordinance and will state that groups exceeding 10 people must be split into subgroups, with a minimum distance of 50 metres maintained between them. The previous limit was set at 15 people.
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“We want Valencia to be a city where tourist mobility is compatible with the daily lives of those who live here,” stated Llobet, adding that the goal is not to limit tourism, but to manage it in a better way.
As well as limiting the number of cyclists in tour groups, Valencia City Council is also launching a “responsible cyclist” campaign, which will include a list of the ten best practices for cyclists in the city.
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It includes recommendations for ensuring safe travel, respecting pedestrians, correctly using spaces designated for different means of transport, and exercising individual responsibility.
The initiative aims to promote appropriate behaviour while cycling and improve safety for all on the public roads.
In addition to these measures, Valencia has recently included a new ordinance on Civility and Coexistence, which includes a ban on walking tour groups of more than 25 people – reduced to 20 people in the Old Town or Ciutat Vella. The regulations also prohibit the use of loudspeakers or megaphones.
Earlier this year, Valencia brought in some of its most restrictive tourist accommodation rules yet. Under the new regulations, only two percent of homes in each neighbourhood may be used as tourist apartments, whilst the remaining 98 percent must be residential.
READ ALSO: Valencia rolls out Spain’s ‘most restrictive’ holiday let limits
Other cities have also taken similar steps to try and limit the number of large tour groups in their historic centres.
In 2025, Toledo introduced a ban on advertising free tours with flashy signs, brightly-coloured umbrellas and high-vis clothing. It also limited tour group sizes to 30 people on three streets in the historic centre and banned megaphones.
READ ALSO: Spain’s Toledo gets tough on mass tourism
Barcelona has had similar limits in place since 2022, when they introduced regulations to limit tour group sizes to a maximum of 20 people in the historic centre and to 15 in certain streets or squares.
