Valencia is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 792,492 inhabitants (2022). It is the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area comprising the neighbouring municipalities has a population of around 1.6 million, constituting one of the major urban areas on the European side of the Mediterranean Sea. It is located on the banks of the Turia, on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula at the Gulf of Valencia, north of the Albufera lagoon.