Where to Stay in Seville

Expecting Seville to be HOT, we opted for a hotel in Seville slightly further out of the city so that we could have a pool. We decided to stay at EXE Hotel Sevilla Macarena, reachable from the bus station in 5 minutes on the 1110 or 1150 Bus. The hotel had a rooftop pool that was open until 8 pm, which meant we could spend the morning and afternoon exploring the city and the early evening relaxing by the pool.

I used TopCashback when booking the hotel to get a % of the money back from our booking. If you’re not already signed up for TopCashback, you can get a £10 sign-up bonus to TopCashback using my referral link.

Situated approximately 30 minutes walk from the Bus station to our hotel we decided we would walk to check in and stop off for lunch en route. From our hotel, it would be super easy to get to the key sights by bus for a couple of €€ each way, but we opted to explore the city on foot, without the need to use public transport (except for getting back to the bus station on our last day).

Everything is easily reachable by walking, and what we found with Seville was that it was a much flatter city, compared to Granada. 

Sights and Attractions in Seville - Our 3 Days in Seville

When in Seville, there are a number of both free and paid attractions you can visit. Simply walking around the city, there's a great range of architecture to marvel at, or parks to relax in. 

With 2 full days of sightseeing in Seville, we jotted down the sites we wanted to see, whilst also allowing time to relax by the pool to rest our legs!

Must see Attractions in Seville: 

• Real Alcazar
• Seville Cathedral (& La Giralda)
• Plaza de Espana & Torre Norte
• Parque de Maria Luisa
• Setas de Seville

Others to consider: Plaza de America, Museum of Popular Arts & Traditions, Torre del Oro

Day 1 in Seville [Half Day] 

On the afternoon that we arrived in Seville, we opted to walk to our hotel via a Tapas Bar (Puente Triana) and Setas de Sevilla. Setas de Sevilla is a wooden structure located at La Encarnación square and claims to be the largest wooden structure in the world. Although you can pay (€5) to walk along the structure, as we had our suitcases with us, we opted against this. Although we had left ourselves plenty of time on our first day to explore, we instead opted to spend the majority of our first day by the pool at our hotel to rest ahead for our next two days of sightseeing.

Day 2 in Seville - Real Alcazar

For our first full day in Seville, we based our itinerary around our pre-booked tickets to the Royal Alcazar of Seville. We managed to secure tickets for 3 pm, so we spent the morning and lunchtime exploring the surrounding sites.

We headed first to the Plaza de Espana and Torre Norte, approximately 30 minutes walk from our hotel. We hadn’t realised that whilst we were in Seville that the Plaza was going to be shut off for a Dior Fashion show. This was super disappointing as for me, this was one of the most iconic sites in Seville and one that I was most looking forward to seeing. Nevertheless, there wasn’t much we could do about this, so instead focused our attention on the neighbouring park. 

Parque de Maria Luisa, the most famous park in Seville, provided some much-needed shade from the harsh temperatures we were experiencing with the Spanish heat wave. The park is host to many horse and cart vendors, footpaths, fountains (including Monte Gurugu) and beautiful trees and colourful flowers. 

We then walked to the edge of the park to Plaza de America, where we visited the Museum of Popular Arts & Traditions. We didn’t pay any admission due to the Corpus Christi bank holiday. The museum was a perfect introduction to the daily life of Andalusian people in the last three centuries but wasn’t one I’d rush to recommend.

The next stop was to the Archivo de Indias, a lovely spacious archive focusing on Spanish colonialism in Latin America. The architecture is impressive, however, the inside is quite bare and a lot more could be done to show off more of the rich history that the archives hold. I’d say if you’re in the area it’s worth popping in, but I wouldn’t travel out of your way to visit unless you have a particular interest in the field - my boyfriend found it more fascinating than I did!

   

Having booked our tickets online in advance (€14,50 each), we headed to the Royal Alcazar of Seville for our 3 pm slot and managed to walk straight in. The Real Alcazar de Sevilla is a real gem in the historic centre of Seville with staggering history. With QR codes available throughout the Alcazar, it’s well worth taking your headphones and downloading the audio guide to help you to understand the context behind the Moorish architecture. I was taken aback by the colourful tiles and extensive gardens. I’d urge you to book a slot earlier than 3 pm if you can as the palace closes at 5 pm and you could easily spend a couple of hours relaxing in the gardens.

After finishing at the Alcazar, we headed back to our hotel for another evening by the pool, before heading out later that evening for dinner.

Day 3 in Seville - Catedral de Sevilla

For our second full day in Seville, we focused our day on visiting Seville Cathedral and La Giralda. 

The Cathedral website wouldn’t let us book a ticket online, so we arrived at the Cathedral fifteen minutes before opening, so we were queued up at the opening time (10 am) to buy tickets at the door (€11 each).

Before heading to the cathedral, we set off a bit earlier so that we could visit Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold). The tower was built in the 12th century and was part of the Moorish city wall, which ran between the Alcazar Palace and the rest of Seville. Today, a maritime museum (suggested donation of €3) is located on the top floor of the Torre del Oro (Museo Naval de Sevilla). We’d picked out this site to make the most of the view over the Guadalquivir.

Everything about the Cathedral is colossal and embodies beauty at scale. The main altarpiece is outstanding and the Cathedral is host to the tomb and remains of Christopher Columbus. 

The Giralda of Seville is a tower that for a long time was the tallest building in the world. The Giralda is a tower that begins by being a minaret and ends up being a bell tower. The highlight of the climb (done by ramps and not stairs) had to be the panoramic views of the city of Seville. 

With our spare time after some lunch, we went for a late afternoon visit to the Seville Museum of Fine Art to observe the collection of art from medieval times through to the early 20th century.