The municipality contains part of the 230,296 hectares (569,070 acres) Caminhos Ecológicos da Boa Esperança Environmental Protection Area, created in 2003.

Valença offers rich historical patrimony that lives in harmony with the picturesque boats on the Una River that divides the city.

It is also known for its natural resources, including the 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) of beaches in Guaibim, the Candengo waterfalls, the Ponta do Curral and the Una River with its mangroves.

This violent tempered yet honest man, who was accustomed to wars and fighting and disdained anyone who would contradict or offend him, had taken sides against the indigenous people.

At around 1573, a peddler arrived in the sugar mill dared to offend of Sebastião de Pontes, who immediately ordered the intruder be whipped and marked with a hot iron.

After the bloody retaliations of the bandeirantes of João Amaro Maciel Parente, the location was finally able to progress, justifying the proposal for the creation of a village in the populace of Una.

At this time, the extraction of wood began used for the building of royal army ships and the deforested area was then occupied by farm activities, mostly cassava (mandioca), rice, coffee, black pepper and cinnamon.

Determined, peaceful and friendly, Valença currently has the main shipyards of Bahia, where ships, barges, sailboats, schooners and even caravels are built, like the copy of the Niña, from the fleet of Christopher Columbus for the film: 1492: Conquest of Paradise, by Ridley Scott.