Tell me about Seville

[soupyspoon]

Always been attracted to Seville, Grenada, Cordoba, Jerez, Cadiz

From what I can see Seville seems to be the easiest to get to from an airport and I'd rather go from Gatwick if possible

London City would have been ideal (moreso than Gatwick) but they dont go to Seville. They go to Malaga but not direct in winter but then we would have to get from Malaga to one of those cities above

Has anyone done this?

Yes all booked now, the other cities we will do in due course in time.

Im not scathing about day trips, but this is my holiday, why on earth would I only want to spend a couple of days or a day at the place. I spend a week in each place I go to, to absorb it, really get to know it (as best you can in a week), places are different in the morning, to the day, to the night, we're massive foodies so looking at different places to eat in different areas is exciting to us, we love architecture and history so we want to look at different districts and histories of a city, the layers of it.

If someone is not into that and just wants to 'sight see', they wont understand why I wouldnt get bored in a week. Or even 2 weeks. You can spend all that time somewhere and still have more to see.

In any case that wasnt my query at the start of the thread. Im not asking for advice about how long to stay.

I have done both Seville and Granada. My personal favourite is Granada. Flew direct from Gatwick to Granada and caught the bus from airport to city. There's only one bus and the driver helped the tourists by asking where we were staying telling tourists when to get off for each hotel. The airport is about the size of a Lidl supermarket. Impossible to get lost and often only one arrival or departure a day. Couldn't have been easier.

We went to Seville in May and it was absolutely perfect, temperature wise and every other way. Do make sure you book the palace and cathedral beforehand though as they sell out. Both are well worth it and right next to each other. The city is very walkable and every corner has Another amazing chapel – we used to run in for a rest and some shade! Otherwise there are great cafés and tapas places everywhere too. Enjoy, we will definitely go back.

I'm surprised by the poster who said they did it all in two days. There is SO much to see and do if you're into culture. We had four days and left with. List of things we still wanted to do.

See a good flamenco show (Google properly to get a really good one), see all the sights, go shopping - it's a total joy of a city. My absolute favourite place for a city break. And the locals are lovely. Go in Feb or Oct/Nov.

I envy you not having been yet!

Our Spanish DIL laughs her head off at us going to flameco shows, we have been to quite a few but we really love them so I cant wait to go again down there.

We have a week in Nice coming up and Im already over that because Im so excited about Seville!!!

What time of year was the flight? When I was looking I could only find non direct from Gatwick which is why we didnt go.

I believe there are no longer flights from the uk to Granada

Ah that would be why then! I would go into Malaga then and just get public transport from there. A faff but it is somewhere I want to go, next year perhaps.

Easter is my very favourite time to go to Seville because of the Easter parades

We drove into Seville plenty of times.
There are a few excellent underground car parks very close to The City Centre and if you are happy to walk 15 minutes into The Centre you can park more cheaply over the river opposite the Giralda
I know OP doesn't want to drive and its not necessary BUT for anyone who does want to drive its not too hard, although I don't advise trying to drive around some of the narrow streets in the centre

We went to Seville in April. We flew to Madrid, had a night there, took the train to Seville, had 4 nights there then back to Madrid for two nights then home. We also did a day trip to Cordoba while in Seville. We were there during the power outage which changed our plans a bit but managed to do nearly everything we had wanted.

The food was fantastic . We stayed in a hotel overlooking Las Setas which was a perfect location, slightly outside the main centre but everything is walkable in Seville.

We had a fabulous dinner at Recoveco (tasting menu, rooftop restaurant watching the sunset and then buildings lit up) and another at Vinoteca Lama La Uva (wine shop that also does cheese/meat plates and other tapas- no wine list, they ask what you like and pair you up with what they think you will like, wine by glass all reasonably priced, limited outdoor seating, book in advance). We were in Mokambo when the power went out and spent our last 10 euros on pink lemonade 😂 and went back later in the week- extensive menu, really enjoyed it.

The cathedral does a rooftop tour which I really enjoyed- DH is not great with heights but managed it. Needs booked in advance. We only did one of the smaller palaces - Casa de Pilatos- but if I were going back, I’d do Palacio de las Duenas and Palacio de La Condesa de Lebrija (we were a bit palaced our by the end of our stay)

OP, it is just that your tone has been rather unpleasant to people who choose to or have to do things differently on their holidays. For us, where we visit is a springboard to other places nearby. For example, we went to Petra on a day trip; it was that or never see it. We too would love to explore for as long as we wanted and re-visit an area many times but for some it is just not possible.

All I’m saying is it isn’t like Rome, New York or any other cities I’ve been to where I’ve spent 5 days there and could’ve had double the time there. Seville isn’t a huge city. If you’re happy to spend days on end sat outside cafes then great because you’ll likely spend half of your week doing that. We’re quite happy sat on a table outside a bar/restaurant eating tapas for a couple of hours then moving on to something else.
I stated my opinion as in the past when Seville has come up in conversation people that haven’t been before think it will compare to a city like Rome/Barcelona in terms of size and things to do there which it isn’t. I’m not slating Seville, despite being there for less time than other city breaks it was my favourite. It didn’t feel overly touristy, there wasn’t a great deal of locals who spoke English, it just felt authentic. I don’t really understand why you’re being snipy to other posters though

Something else that I noticed was how safe it felt at night. There were families out and mixed groups of younger people. Didn't notice any excessive drinking or rowdy behaviour. People were very well dressed.

Easyjet did them for a short while a few years ago, but sadly didn't continue.

I get you about wanting to spend a week there. We've been to various parts of Andalusia probably nearly 50 times and we're still discovering new places of interest and still have a list of things we've not yet seen.

Also @soupyspoon book on the official site if you do book the Alcazar. Very simple. Of course, the gardens are more spectacular in the warmer months but the buildings are just unbelievable. I’d go back in a heartbeat.

Yes I noticed those things too
I never once felt threatened or uneasy whilst there and many middle aged and especially older men wore lovely suits and ties

And I was pleasantly surprised at the prices. DH and I had walked a long way to a particular store near the railway station. In desperate need of refreshment, we went to a cafe and cafe con leche and a small beer was less than €3.

On a pedestrian street with orange trees and a view down to the cathedral/alcazar, the traditional orange wine was €2.60. It's was so nice we had another. I wouldn't be able to buy a bottle of water at the NT for that price!

If I didn’t have my 80 year old mother with me I would agree. 👍 she thought it an adventure but I was worried with her and the crowds etc

@soupyspoonif you book tickets for the Alcazar, then I highly recommend adding on the tour of the upstairs private royal apartments. It’s a timed ticket, and you go straight to the designated area for that part (before walking around the rest of the alcazar). The tour is in small groups, and you have to put your phones and any cameras in a locker beforehand. All very strict and organised, but It was fascinating to see the rooms, and you get a wonderful view of the areas that are downstairs.

OMG just checked - there were flights last year albeit summertime only byt none this year. Gutted. We were planning to go again in August. :-( What I would recommend is the blabla cars site/app too. It's where drivers, usually taxi drivers doing a drop off and returning empty post their trips. A carpool/carshare thing. I have used it to get from Malaga to Granada before and also in France (Geneva airport to Annecy). The drivers post about a week or two before the trip with the fee and availability. They tend to pick up from set sites such as an airport or petrol station on outskirts of a town then drop to similar rather your specific hotel. It's super cheap, much cheaper than public transport, and you can book up to 3 passengers at a time. I found it great way to get around. Sorry about the flights though. My bad. I love Granada.

Is it? I cant help how you interpret something. I couldnt care less what someone does on their holiday yet Ive had people here telling me that my holiday 'will struggle to spend longer than x time' etc etc.

If people want to do something their way thats fine, what isnt fine is someone telling me how to do things their way.

We've been to lots of Spanish cities which are about the size of my local town, there are plenty of things to do that can fill a week, not sure why this keeps needing to be explained, I personally dont choose to do short trips (unless over Easter as we have in the past) and thats all I said, its not how I holiday and thats ok.

Rome, Segovia, Toledo, Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Prague, Comillas, Bruges, Venice, Alghero, Florence, Palma, all week long holidays, all of them have tons more I could go back and see. Plenty to do that doesnt involve sitting in a cafe all day, that was a tongue in cheek example.

Yes this is common to a lot of Spanish places, we tend to do most of our roaming at night and of course they dont settle down till the early hours which is what we like.