What is not to love about Spain? Tapas, wine, the warmth and the many beautiful towns and cities. Seville is no exception and has so many stunning buildings you wont mind getting lost in the streets (like we did). Where to sightsee, eat & drink in beautiful Seville? Let me tell you!
Spending three nights based right in the heart of the City (literally opposite from the Cathedral) we had a blast. I Am terrible at map reading in foreign countries so much so that Mr C has banned me from being the navigator! I thought I’d try again and armed with not only a physical paper map but also Google & Apple ones, I still got us very lost. However it was great getting lost as we saw some lovely sights along the way we definitely would have missed. Here are my tops picks for what to see in Seville.
How To Get There?
Use Europes amazing railway network. Not only are the prices more than reasonable, the trains actually run on time!
Setas de Seville
This was the destination I was in charge of navigating to, I had us going in completely the wrong direction from the start. However after asking a nice local in a bar we were back on track……me now minus the map! This structure reminds me of a big floating wooden mushroom. At the top you have lush views of the City in all directions, beautiful at sunset.
Alfalfa
Walking around the streets of this neighbourhood you will come across amazing shops and cafes where you can taste their wares. We got stuck in to some of this Iberico ham from this charcuterie. Take your time, there is so much to see, smell and taste in this pretty quarter of the City.
La Giralda
The tower within the Cathedral is a must see, almost compulsory to go up it too. Even if you are scared of heights as Mr C is its very safe and most of the way up the floor is a ramp so it’s not too terrible on your knees. The final part is stairs through a narrow entrance. Once again you are treated to stunning 360 views across the city. Top tip, pre-book your tickets as the queues can be horrendous at peak times.
The Cathedral
Dominating the centre of the City is the huge Cathedral of Seville. You will need to purchase a ticket in advance for this too as the queues get quite long. With huge arches, alcoves and one of the biggest organs I’ve ever seen on the inside, there is also an orange grove in the courtyard. Very pretty and a lovely place to relax, people watch and just spend a few quiet moments. Pre-book your tickets to skip the huge queues using the link above.
Real Alcazar
This old Palace was simply stunning, once again though order your ticket on line before you go to avoid the crowds. This was easily my favourite place in Seville, I could have spent hours here as there is so much to see. It has a unique design Throughout and has lovely gardens to wander around. Used in the set of Game of Thrones this Palace attracts a lot more tourists than it used to. It really is beautiful, you cant fail to take lovely photographs here.
Gold Tower
Translating as the “Gold Tower’, this building is right on the rivers edge, not far from the City centre. For a few Euros you can go inside where there is a little museum about its history. Climb further up the stairs and you will discover lovely views of the river each way. Looking back towards the City you will see the Cathedral rising up.
Plaza de Espana
This Plaza reminded me of Venice as it has a little canal with gondolas on it around the edge. The lovely curved building is used for Government departments but you can go up to a balcony for a different view.
Parque Maria Luisa
A very pleasant park to wander around which is right next to the Plaza. It was very hot when we were there so to sit under a tree and cool off for a bit was a welcome find.
Ride in a Horse & Cart
After a long hot walk around the gardens and the Plaza we were feeling a bit lazy I’ll be honest. Mr C loves horses, I dont but I was more than happy to be taken back to the centre in a cart! It’s very touristy and therefore very pricey but he seemed to enjoy himself and my feet were spared for a few minutes.
Try the Sangria
Before I came to Seville my only experience of Sangria was with red wine and I thought it ruined a good (maybe bad) bottle of wine. However I spotted a white wine version when we were wandering around Arenal and thought we would try it. It was very refreshing and in my opinion much nicer than the red. The location was really pretty too, maybe that helped!
Try the local food
Whether its the iberico ham or a churro you must get stuck in to the local cuisine. The cheese is to die for and everywhere seems to do lovely frozen deserts ‘Postres’ in many flavours!
Triana
Cross over the river from the main area in Seville and find yourself in Triana. Wander the pretty streets, sit yourself down at a cafe for a drink or try and find the market you marked on your map! (See below). There is a lovely church in the centre and we whiled away an hour in the square above eating tapas.
Triana Market
Having given the map to Mr C we found the market and it was so cute! Everything you could possibly want to eat is sold here from fruit to meat to cheese & fish! We settled down at a little bar to people watch and enjoyed a lovely glass of red with meats and cheese! It does sound as if we just wandered around Seville eating and drinking! Well thats because we did! Just outside the market was an ice cream shop, but it didn’t sell ordinary ice cream. It was just amazing and there were so many flavours to choose from! If you enjoy walking around Cities eating then read all about how tasty Lisbon is here.
Bull Ring
Controversial for some is the traditional ‘entertainment’ of bullfighting. Seville still has the original bullring which has been very well maintained. I believe they still occasionally hold events here. Bull fighting still occurs in parts of Spain but has mostly come to an end. We found it interesting to learn about what occurs here and regardless of your opinion, the building is very pretty.
River Cruise
Possibly the worst decision we made in Seville was to go on a river cruise. Not because the cruise was awful, it was very relaxing. It was poor financial planning on our last day as we wanted to do something before we left. We decided to spend the very money we had saved to exit the city on this tour. Thinking we could easily pay by card for the bus we spent our last notes to board the boat. However we would later find our assumption to be very wrong!! Worst exit of a city ensued! I probably wouldn’t do this trip again as most of the sights seemed to be too high to see or behind a wall. However it whiled away an hour on our last day…….which we literally paid for later!
Take a Bird
Oh this was such funny zooming up and down the river side….until we got to the bus station and our rubbish exit of the City began. This was not the Birds fault. The Bird was very easy to use if you have the app and you can cover some ground with it on the amazing cycle paths! I tried to do this in wedges and quickly realised flip flops were a better idea. My balance isn’t amazing! When you are done you just leave them in a safe location, take a picture to show you have done so and off you go! Thank you Bird Scooter!