🇮🇹
Padova
Italy
Historic university town, just 30 minutes from Venice.
🇪🇸
Valencia
Spain
Beach, paella and a relaxed Mediterranean pace.
Estimated monthly student budget
🇮🇹 Padova
€800–1,100 / month
Estimated monthly student budget
🇪🇸 Valencia
€850–1,100 / month
Best for
🇮🇹 Padova
- Students who want a real university-town atmosphere
- Those who plan to travel around northern Italy frequently
- People who value academic prestige
Best for
🇪🇸 Valencia
- Students who want to live near the sea
- Those looking for balance between studies and social life
- People who enjoy outdoor activities
Category profile
How each city tends to feel across the things students care about — different, not better or worse.
🇮🇹 Padova
🇪🇸 Valencia
Moderate
Cost of Living
Moderate
Moderate
Nightlife
High
Good
Weather
Very Good
Excellent
Travel Opportunities
High
Outstanding
Student Life
Very Active
Manageable
Housing
Manageable
Top-Tier
University Reputation
Strong
Student insights
🇮🇹 Padova
- One of Italy's oldest and most prestigious universities
- Just 30 minutes by train to Venice
- Strong sense of student community
Student insights
🇪🇸 Valencia
- Excellent balance between leisure, studies and quality of life
- Access to an urban beach
- Good climate during most of the year
Student voice — 🇮🇹 Padova
“Padova surprised me — I'd choose it again over Milan.”
Student voice — 🇪🇸 Valencia
“Living and studying here has been great. I wouldn't choose any other city.”
🇮🇹 Padova
Pros
- One of Italy's oldest and most prestigious universities
- Just 30 minutes by train to Venice
- Strong sense of student community
- Compact, walkable historic centre
- Reasonable cost of living for northern Italy
Cons
- Smaller international community than Bologna
- Less famous than Florence or Rome
- Cold and foggy winters
- Limited big-city nightlife
- Housing tightens up at the start of the academic year
🇪🇸 Valencia
Pros
- Excellent balance between leisure, studies and quality of life
- Access to an urban beach
- Good climate during most of the year
- Large international community
- Good national and international connections
Cons
- Increasingly high rental prices
- Less intense Erasmus vibe than Seville or Granada
- Some areas can feel quite touristy
- Cost of living higher than many Spanish student destinations
- Less sense of a traditional university city
Have you studied in one of these cities?
Share your experience and help future students make better Erasmus decisions.