I've been to Seville four times now, across different seasons, and I keep discovering reasons to return. This is the city that invented flamenco, perfected tapas, and somehow makes 40°C feel like a lifestyle choice rather than a weather hazard. Here's what you can't miss.
1. Get Lost in the Real Alcazar
I'm putting this first because it's the single best thing I've done in Spain. The Real Alcazar isn't just a palace — it's 11 centuries of architectural madness layered on top of each other. Moorish arches next to Gothic vaulting next to Renaissance gardens. The Ambassadors' Hall has a golden half-dome ceiling that took artisans 20 years to complete. The gardens feel like they go on forever — and if you watched Game of Thrones, the Baths of Maria de Padilla doubled as Dorne's Water Gardens.
Entry: 14.50 EUR. Free on Mondays 4-5PM (limited spots, register online). Book your ticket at alcazarsevilla.org at least a week ahead — walk-up queues exceed one hour in any season. Open 9:30AM-5PM (winter), 9:30AM-7PM (summer). Allow 2-3 hours and don't rush the gardens.
Pro tip: The upper royal apartments (Cuarto Real Alto) require a separate ticket (6 EUR extra) and guided tour. It's worth it — these rooms are still used by the Spanish royal family when they visit Seville.
2. Climb the Giralda Tower
The Giralda is the bell tower of Seville Cathedral — but it was originally the minaret of a 12th-century Almohad mosque, and the Islamic geometry is still visible in the brickwork. Here's the brilliant part: instead of stairs, it has 35 sloped ramps. The muezzin used to ride a horse to the top to call the faithful to prayer.
This means the climb is easy. No thigh-burning spiral staircases. Just a gentle uphill walk to the best panoramic view in Seville. On a clear day, you can see across the Guadalquivir river valley.
Entry: 12 EUR (includes the cathedral, which is the world's largest Gothic cathedral — don't skip it). Free Mon 4:30-6PM. Open 10:45AM-5PM.
Go at sunset. The light turns Seville's rooftops golden, and the shadow of the Giralda stretches across the cathedral nave below.
3. Do a Free Tapas Crawl in Triana
Seville is one of the last Spanish cities where many bars still serve a free tapa with every drink. Not everywhere — but enough that you can eat a full meal for the price of a few beers.
Cross the Puente de Isabel II to Triana, the historic working-class quarter across the river. Start at Mercado de Triana (tapas stalls from 3 EUR if you want to supplement the freebies), then walk along Calle Betis. Order a cana (small draft beer, 1.50-2.50 EUR) at each bar and ask "que tapas hay?" The bartender will either tell you or just bring something — a croqueta, some olives, a small plate of stewed chickpeas.
Four bars, four beers, four free tapas = a full meal for 8-10 EUR. Triana at night, with the river reflecting the Giralda across the water, is Seville at its most romantic.
The paid tapas at Eslava (book ahead — it's tiny and always full) are worth the splurge too: innovative dishes like slow-cooked egg with mushroom foam (4.50 EUR) that won them a "best tapa" award.
4. See Flamenco Where Flamenco Was Born
Triana is the birthplace of flamenco, and seeing it here isn't a tourist experience — it's a pilgrimage.
Casa de la Memoria (18 EUR) is my top pick: an intimate 100-seat courtyard venue where the performers are so close you can hear the dancer breathing between footwork bursts. Shows at 8:30PM and 10PM. Book 2-3 days ahead on their website.
La Carboneria is the budget option — free entry, buy drinks (beer 3 EUR). The space is a converted coal yard and the shows are less polished but rawer. The audience sits on wooden benches and nobody's phone comes out.
For the real deep cut: ask locals about penas — private flamenco clubs where aficionados perform for each other. They're not advertised to tourists. If you can get into one (ask your hotel, ask at flamenco shops in Triana), you'll see the most authentic flamenco of your life.
5. Walk Through Barrio Santa Cruz After Dark
The former Jewish quarter is a labyrinth of whitewashed alleys, jasmine-draped balconies, and hidden plazas. During the day, it's busy with tour groups. But after 9PM, when the tours have ended and the restaurant terraces fill with locals, Santa Cruz becomes something magical.
The route: enter through the Juderia gateway near the cathedral, find the Plaza de Dona Elvira (tiny, orange trees, a fountain), continue to Plaza de los Venerables, and wind through to Plaza de la Alianza. Free, obviously.
Eat at Bodega Santa Cruz (also called Las Columnas) — it's on a corner and always packed. Montaditos (small open sandwiches) start at 2.50 EUR. Order the pringa (slow-braised pork on bread) and a fino sherry (2 EUR). Stand at the bar. This is how Seville eats.
6. Sunset at Plaza de Espana
Plaza de Espana is preposterous. A semicircular plaza 170 meters in diameter, built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition, with a canal, rowboats, 48 tiled alcoves (one for each Spanish province), and bridges decorated in Art Deco ceramic.
It was in Star Wars Episode II. It looks like a Star Wars set. It's free.
Rent a rowboat on the canal (6 EUR for 35 minutes). Find your home province's tile alcove if you're Spanish, or pick one you've visited. Take the obligatory photos. But do all of this at sunset, when the western light hits the plaza's warm ochre brickwork and the whole thing turns to gold.
I've been here four times and the sunset still makes me stop walking.
7. Stand Under Las Setas (Metropol Parasol)
The world's largest wooden structure looks like a cluster of giant mushrooms growing from Plaza de la Encarnacion. It's polarizing — some people hate it, calling it an eyesore in a historic city. I think it's brilliant.
The rooftop walkway (5 EUR, includes a free drink redeemable at the bar below) is a curving path through the mushroom caps with views across Seville's skyline. Open 9:30AM-11PM. Best at sunset (yes, everything in Seville is best at sunset).
The basement holds a Roman archaeological museum (free with rooftop ticket) where you can see the excavated foundations of a Roman neighborhood discovered during construction.
8. Have a Rebujito at Feria de Abril (If You Time It Right)
Feria de Abril (the April Fair, usually two weeks after Easter) is Seville's biggest party and one of the most extraordinary festivals I've ever witnessed. For six days, a temporary city of casetas (striped tents) appears south of the center. Women wear flamenco dresses. Horses parade. And everyone drinks rebujito — fino sherry mixed with 7-Up, served ice cold. It sounds terrible. It's addictive.
Most casetas are private (you need an invitation), but some are public, and the atmosphere on the fair streets is open to everyone. Book accommodation 3-6 months ahead — hotels triple in price.
If you can't make Feria, Semana Santa (Holy Week, March/April) is the other essential Seville experience. Religious processions with massive floats carried by dozens of porters through narrow streets for seven days. Solemn, powerful, and free to watch from the sidewalks.
9. Eat Your Weight in Tapas at the Best Spots
Beyond the free tapas crawl, Seville has serious paid tapas worth every euro:
Eslava: Modern tapas, award-winning. The slow-cooked egg with truffle (4.50 EUR) is famous for a reason. Book ahead.
Bodega Dos de Mayo: Traditional, on the river side. Their pavia de bacalao (fried cod, 3.50 EUR) is perfect.
El Rinconcillo: Claims to be the oldest bar in Seville (since 1670). Dark wood, hanging hams, chalk-tallied bills. Espinacas con garbanzos (spinach with chickpeas, 4 EUR) — Seville's signature dish.
Mercado de Triana: Market stalls with fresh seafood tapas. Fried fish by weight (from 5 EUR) at the bar inside the market.
Golden rule: eat between 2-4PM and after 9:30PM. Anything outside those hours and you're in tourist-schedule territory.
10. Take a River Walk from Triana to the Torre del Oro
The Guadalquivir River splits Seville, and walking its banks is one of the city's great free pleasures. Start in Triana, cross the Puente de Isabel II, and walk south along the Seville side toward the Torre del Oro (Tower of Gold, 3 EUR entry, small maritime museum).
The walk takes about 25 minutes and passes the bullfighting ring (Real Maestranza, the most beautiful in Spain — tours 10 EUR), outdoor cafe terraces, and some of the city's best people-watching. In the evening, the river reflects the Triana neighborhood's lights and the silhouette of the Giralda.
Continue past the Torre del Oro to the Parque de Maria Luisa and you'll reach Plaza de Espana. The whole loop from Triana to Plaza de Espana and back takes about 1.5 hours and costs nothing.
Pro Tips
Siesta is survival: Between 2-5PM in summer (40°C+), retreat indoors. Museums, your hotel, or any bar with air conditioning. Sightseeing during siesta hours in July is genuinely dangerous.
Orange trees are everywhere: Seville's 40,000+ orange trees produce bitter oranges used for marmalade — don't eat them off the tree. British Seville marmalade tradition originated here.
The Seville Card (35 EUR/48 hours) covers transit and entry to Alcazar, Cathedral, and several museums. Worth it if you're doing all three in two days.
Water: Carry it always. Even in spring, the sun is strong and dehydration sneaks up on you.
Siesta schedule: Smaller shops close 2-5PM. Major attractions stay open but with reduced hours.
Seville doesn't try to impress you with grandeur. For Spain's other essential cities, explore Madrid and Barcelona. — it seduces you with warmth, beauty, and the relentless pleasure of eating well, drinking sherry, and staying out until the small hours while orange-blossom air drifts through narrow streets. Read our spring seasonal guide and our narrative exploration for more.
