With more than 95,000 pieces on display and over a million in total, L’Iber, set in a historic palace, claims to be the world’s largest collection of toy soldiers. The huge 4.7m x 2.8m set piece of the Battle of Almansa (1707), a key encounter from the War of the Spanish Succession, has 9000 combatants, while other dioramas and cases teem with battalions and regiments from antiquity to modern times and even a little science fiction.

There's also an impressively detailed portrayal of Valencia's Corpus Christi procession.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Iglesia de San Nicolás

0.03 MILES

Recently reopened to the public after a magnificent restoration, this single-naved church down a passageway is a striking sight. Over the original Gothic…

2. Palau de la Generalitat

0.11 MILES

This handsome 15th-century Gothic palace, much amended over the years, is the seat of government for the Valencia region. Its symmetry is recent: the…

3. Refugio de la Guerra Civil

0.14 MILES

One of several Republican air-raid shelters from the civil war around town, some of which can be visited, this was being rehabilitated as a cultural…

4. La Lonja

0.16 MILES

This splendid building, a Unesco World Heritage Site, was originally Valencia’s silk and commodity exchange, built in the late 15th century when the city…

5. Plaza de la Virgen

0.16 MILES

Busy Plaza de la Virgen, ringed by cafes and imposing public buildings, was once the forum of Roman Valencia. The reclining figure in its central fountain…

6. El Miguelete

0.17 MILES

Turn left as you enter the main portal of the cathedral for the climb up to El Miguelete, the emblematic octagonal tower. It's apparently 51m high,…

7. Museo del Corpus

0.17 MILES

Behind tall doors rest Las Rocas, giant carts that are wheeled out to celebrate Valencia’s Corpus Christi festival. With their paintwork darkened with age…

8. Catedral de Valencia

0.18 MILES

Valencia’s cathedral was built over a mosque after the 1238 reconquest. Its low, wide, brick-vaulted triple nave is mostly Gothic, with neoclassical side…