The front desk at Office Maritim is my phone. There's no counter at the door and nobody sitting behind one. Tours, trial days, bookings and invoices all go through WhatsApp or email, and I'm the one who answers.

I mention it first because it's the detail that matters most to people who've never tried coworking. You live in El Cabanyal, El Grau or somewhere else in the Poblats Marítims. You work for yourself, or remotely for a company based somewhere else. And the picture in your head is a big open floor full of strangers, with someone at reception asking who you've come to see.

It's a lot smaller than that.

How small changes a first day

We have twelve desks. That's the whole office. Each one is named after a Mediterranean plant, so on your first day you might sit at Romero, or Granado, or Tomillo, and by lunchtime you'll have a rough idea where Olivo and Lavanda are too.

I think size is what people underestimate when they decide coworking isn't for them. In a room of twelve, you don't have to work at fitting in. You sit down and get on with your day, and faces become familiar without anyone making a point of it. Nobody asks you to explain yourself at a counter, because there isn't one.

You also don't have to decide in advance what kind of coworker you are. Coming in once a week just to get out of the flat is a perfectly good reason to be here. So is wanting the same desk every single morning.

Fitting a trial day into your own week

If you already live nearby, a trial day doesn't need much planning. You walk over and work, and the rest of the day stays in the barrio. The esmorzaret (that mid-morning snack València takes very seriously) can happen round the corner instead of at your own fridge. If a long call has left your head full, Malvarrosa is a short walk away.

If you're further along the coast or inland, we're next to Marítim-Serrería, where both the metro and the tram stop, so it's easy enough to come and have a look.

Either way, my advice for that first day is to bring the work you'd normally do. Not a special project, not the thing you've been putting off. An ordinary day is the only fair test of whether a shared office suits you.

What it costs to find out

Nothing, the first time. The first day is a free trial day, one per person. If it turns out a shared office isn't for you, you've lost nothing but the walk.

If you'd like to come back, these are the prices (all plus 21% IVA):

• Day Pass: €15

• Week Pass, Monday to Friday: €60

• 10-Day Bundle: €120, valid for a year

• Fixed Desk: €280 a month, €240 with a six-month commitment, €200 with twelve

For someone who's never coworked, I'd point you to the 10-Day Bundle. Ten days, used whenever you like over a year, is enough to find out whether this turns into a habit, without signing up to anything bigger. If it does, and you want a desk of your own every day, the Fixed Desk gets cheaper the longer you commit.

With only twelve desks it's worth asking before you turn up, so I can tell you what's free that week. Message me on WhatsApp at +34 960 39 73 82, or write to niu@officemaritim.com, and we'll pick a day for your trial.