Metrovalencia Line 8
Four tram stops between Marítim and Neptú: the port’s link with the rest of the network.
About Line 8
L8 is the shortest line on Metrovalencia: a tram line with four stops (Marítim, Francesc Cubells, Grau – La Marina and Neptú) along the edge of the port. Its job is simple: to connect the Marina de València and the Grau with the interchange at Marítim, where you can change to metro lines L5 and L7 and to tram line L6.
Three of its four stops are shared with L6, which covers the same stretch on its way to the Cabanyal; the only one of its own is NeptúES, its terminus by the Marina. The whole ride takes about six minutes according to the timetable.
Stops on Line 8
4 stops, 3 of them with an interchange to another line (marked with a ring and the colours of the other lines).
Line 8 timetable
| Day | First – last |
|---|---|
| Monday to Thursday | 07:37 – 22:07 |
| Friday | 07:37 – 02:13 |
| Saturday | 08:56 – 02:13 |
| Sunday and public holidays | 09:18 – 22:11 |
Earliest and latest time at any stop on the line, from the timetable published by FGV. On Fridays and Saturdays service runs on after midnight: that is why the last time is earlier than the first.
Services per hour in each direction
| Day | 07:00 | 08:00 | 12:00 | 18:00 | 22:00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday to Thursday | 1.5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0.5 |
| Friday | 1.5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Saturday | — | 0.5 | 3 | 3 | 2.5 |
| Sunday and public holidays | — | — | 3 | 3 | 1 |
Counted at Francesc Cubells over the full timetable. A value of 4 means one tram every fifteen minutes in each direction.
The beach loop
It is the quirk of this part of the network, and the operator’s list of stops does not show it: it flattens it into a straight list.
The one-way beach loop
Trams always run round this ring in the same direction and come back to where they started; there is no service in the opposite direction.
Cabanyal is served only in the direction Dr. Lluch → La Cadena. Platja Malva-rosa and Platja les Arenes only in the opposite direction, after leaving La Cadena. To get from Cabanyal to either of the two Platja stops you have to go all the way round the loop.
History
It opened on 16 April 2007, but not as a line of its own: it was the tram section of L5 between Marítim and Neptú, built to serve the port in the years of the America’s Cup. For eight years it ran like that, as an appendage to a metro line whose vehicles and route had nothing to do with it.
The reorganisation of 6 March 2015 made it a separate line, number 8, at the same time as the Torrent Avinguda branch became L7. Its two own stops have changed their names since then: Grau Canyamelar is now Grau – La Marina, and Neptú was for a while called Marina Reial Joan Carles I before getting its original name back. Short as it is, it is the piece that connects the Marina de València and the Grau with the metro, a role previously played by the L5 tram branch. In February 2021 the Plan de Mejora de Frecuencias (frequency improvement plan) proposed scrapping the line and having L6 absorb it, a proposal that has not been carried out so far. The 2024 floods interrupted the service from 30 October to 8 November, and the previous frequencies returned on 7 January 2025.
The service
The timetable lists 720 runs and none turns back early: with four stops, every tram covers the whole route. Counted at Francesc Cubells, there are about three trams an hour in each direction, and the figure is the same from Monday to Sunday, so this is one of the few lines whose service is not cut at weekends. What does set it apart is its start: it begins running quite a lot later than the rest of the network, and on Sundays it does not get going until mid-morning. On Friday and Saturday nights, though, it runs on into the early hours like the others.
The trams
These are the same trams that run on L6, because the two lines share track between Marítim and Grau – La Marina: at the two stops in between, check the destination before boarding, as one tram goes to the port and the other to the Cabanyal. The official timetable also includes a few positioning runs round the beach loop; these are not passenger stops on this line but trips to and from the depot. The whole route is at street level, through the streets of the Grau.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, as a proposal. The Plan de Mejora de Frecuencias (frequency improvement plan) presented in February 2021 envisaged scrapping it and having L6 take over its route, since the two already share most of the track. It has not happened: the line is still published and run separately.
Because they share the section between Marítim and Grau – La Marina. After that they split: L8 turns towards Neptú, at the edge of the Marina, while L6 carries on towards Canyamelar, the Cabanyal and the beach loop.
About six minutes, adding up the journey times between stops published in the timetable. There are three sections, Marítim – Francesc Cubells, Francesc Cubells – Grau – La Marina and Grau – La Marina – Neptú, all at street level through the streets of the Grau.