In Valencia, the tiger mosquito bites by day on the patio. The Albufera bites at dusk.

Yes, but most visitors to central Valencia see few of them. The bites on this coast come from two directions. The tiger mosquito bites by day in gardens, on patios and on balconies from Valencia to Benidorm and Alicante, and wetland mosquitoes come out at dusk around the Albufera lagoon south of the city. The Valencian Community has never recorded a locally acquired dengue case.

Patios by day, the Albufera at dusk

By the end of 2021, the regional control program counted 464 of the Valencian Community's 542 municipalities as affected by the tiger mosquito. It bites in daylight, with peaks in the morning and late afternoon, and it breeds in small pools of standing water. A 2022 study of 60 residential gardens in El Vedat de Torrent, near Valencia, found the saucers under plant pots the most common breeding spot. That makes a villa patio, a hotel garden or a balcony full of geraniums the likeliest places for bites. Put repellent on at breakfast, over sunscreen, and again in the late afternoon. Our daytime mosquito routine has the full schedule.

The Albufera is the exception to Valencia's light reputation. The lagoon, the rice paddies around it and the flooded dune slacks of the Devesa del Saler breed wetland mosquitoes, and evenings there tend to be buggy. The sunset boat rides from El Palmar and a paella dinner in the village both fall in the dusk biting hour, so go with repellent on and long, light clothing.

At night, house mosquitoes come in through open windows. Close them, or run a plug-in vaporizer if the apartment has no screens. CDC's Spain page also lists leishmaniasis, spread by sand flies that bite from dusk to dawn, and the same evening repellent and closed room cover them.

Dengue and West Nile

The tiger mosquito can spread dengue, and Spain has had small local clusters in 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). None was in the Valencian Community. The nearest, in 2018, was linked to a holiday home in the Region of Murcia, which borders Alicante province. Spain had no local dengue, chikungunya or Zika in 2025, or in 2026 as of October 21.

West Nile, spread by Culex mosquitoes in the evening and at night, is rare here. Spain's health ministry counted 1 locally acquired case with probable exposure in Alicante province in 2025, and Valencia province had 1 in 2023. In 2026, ECDC listed no human case and no animal outbreak in the region's three provinces, while Spain's cases were in the southwest. There is no CDC travel notice for Spain, CDC lists no malaria medicine, and the yellow fever vaccine is neither recommended nor required.

For a spring or fall trip, the tiger mosquito tends to be around from about April to November, so a May or October visit still calls for daytime repellent, with fewer bites.

Where you're going

How the main stops compare for a June–September trip.

The Spain briefing covers Seville's West Nile country and the Canary Islands. Heading north or out to the islands? Our Barcelona and Mallorca briefings cover the next stop.

What travelers report

Paraphrased from TripAdvisor forum threads, newest first, and linked so you can read them in full. Two are undated, and bites here depend a lot on whether you're in the city, by a garden or out at the Albufera.

• Benidorm · 2026

  A traveler who gets bitten heavily asked whether to over-prepare. Replies said daytime tiger mosquitoes are the main nuisance and recommended Autan, a repellent popular with locals, and plug-in devices for the room. TripAdvisor ↗

• Valencia and the Albufera · late May to early June · 2018

  In a thread about a late May and early June 2018 trip, a poster said mosquitoes may be more of a problem near the Albufera, and another recommended a plug-in device for the room plus a DEET spray. TripAdvisor ↗

• Valencia · May

  In a thread about four years old, replies described the tiger mosquito as a daytime biter that is quiet and slow, so easy to swat, and linked it to damp soil and foliage. Posters recommended DEET and Autan sprays; one said the species is found across southern Spain and the Balearics from about April to November. TripAdvisor ↗

• Valencia

  Asked whether there is a better or worse time to visit Valencia to avoid mosquitoes, one reply said they are around as in most Mediterranean countries but had never been a real problem in Valencia; another poster had visited many times without being bothered, and a third had never seen one in the city. TripAdvisor ↗

One rule outlasts the trip. Any fever during or within two weeks after the trip means a doctor visit, especially with a rash or joint pain, and you tell the doctor you were bitten in Spain.

Traveler questions