Any recommendations for Seville? Hidden gems for tapas or places to visit, nice areas to walk around?

[0livetree]

Going in October but want to start getting excited!

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Triana was cool. It’s the original centre for flamenco dancing and if you wonder off the main road it’s nice to see ‘normal people’. A walk round by the cathedral was really nice, and again, going off down little streets was the most interesting. We did a boat cruise along the river. If you’re short of time or Euros Don’t bother with it.

We did a food tour which took us to interesting restaurants and bars we would never have found.

Be wary of tapas that come unasked for with a drink.
They're not free.

We didn’t enjoy any meals we had in Seville. Our fault for not researching I guess but it felt like every tapas restaurant in the centre just had the exact same menu and the food was churned out. Definitely do some research in advance.

Book well in advance for the cathedral, limited availability !

Seville is beautiful, you can walk along the river and there are many bridges you can cross to explore both sides. Many little tapas bars.
I’d recommend wondering off the main streets to find more local restaurants.
You should go to a sherry bar and try some local sherry.
We did a hop on hop off bus tour which was worth it as it’s quite a sprawled out city, worth getting out at a few of the stops and having a mooch around

You will find tapas everywhere, depends on where and when you want to sit down!

One thing I really enjoyed was the busking (maybe rehearsing I dunno) flamenco group dancers at the Plaza d'Espana. Such an amazing atmosphere and all free. It's fabulous there, flamenco or not anyway.

Wandering through the university district was great too, with lovely little cafes and bars/restaurants, full of life with the students, and the prices - well we just couldn't spend our money!

I didn't bother going to the Cathedral or any of the places that had queues or tickets, just me, but I hate wasting time in a line in the heat to see the inside of something that actually looks like every other flipping cathedral in Spain. Sorry for being such a Philistine, but there are so many other places to wander around at your own pace with no queues. I echo Triana and the waterfront area too.

Enjoy, it's a super city and you are going at a great time of year heat wise.

La Bartola has great and slightly unusual tapas. It's walk in only but if you go early you should get a table.

Pelayo Bar is a bit touristy but food is ok - and you can prebook. Bar Alfalfa good too but it's very small.

There are also some good places in Triana market.

For something a bit different and away from the tourist areas, across the river by Puente de S Telmo there are a couple of restaurants with outdoor seating that looked nice when we walked past - and seemed to be frequented by
locals rather than tourists. Eg Rio Grande Sevilla

Triana and the market - lots of food choices
I preferred Casa de Pilatos to the Alcazar really, but both are definitely worth seeing. For the Alcazar and cathedral you need to book well in advance.
Sunset from Las Setas - the mushrooms where you can walk across the top.
Roof top cocktail bar at Hotel Eme Catedral with fab view of Giralda.
The wonderful tiles at Patio San Eloy (Calle San Eloy) and huge tapas selection.
Do a free walking tour of the jewish quarter/Barrio Santa Cruz
Plaza de Espana - and in the gardens behind it (Jardines del Prado de San Sebastian) there is the wonderful open air Premier Garden cocktail bar - lovely spot under the trees.

Terrace at El Rincon de Murillo. Bar Pelayo for tapas.
Best food we had was at Bendala at end of Murillo Gardens - La Maia Brunch was favourite breakfast spot. We stayed near there last time.

There is an old pottery complete with bottle ovens which was built by a potter from Stoke on Trent in an old monastery on an island and reached by a footbridge. The pottery is no longer operative but part of a modeern art museum. I'm sorry but I cant remember the name. There are some examples of the pottery in the museum in the big park. We found the art gallergy to be undeerwhelming and not worth a visit.

Hope you have a lovely time.

Another tecommendation for bar Alfalfa. El Rinconcillo is worth going to as well.

Fatouch was lovely for Lebanese food

We didn't get tickets for the cathedral but partner got in the queue at 9 for the Alcazar and picked up tickets for that day. Was in October as well.

As a rule: if there is an English translation of the menu, the food won’t be great.

Wander off and find a local restaurant where it’s hard to communicate in English. Ask the waiter for their recommendations. Go at lunch and try the “menú del día” - lunch is our main meal and for 10-15€ you get a three course meal with items not featured on the regular menu.

Petra for tapas

Maestro marcelino - fantastic authentic tapas and sherry highly recommend. Calle hernando colon (very close to cathedral but not a touristy street)

Loved Casa de Pilatos - wonderful gorgeous tiles. Also book in advance for cathedral and alcazar - both also great.
We weren’t going to bother paying to go up on top of the setas but my teen really wanted to so we did at sunset and it was brilliant. Even enjoyed the cheesy video thing too!
We had tons of excellent food - I would take a quick picture every time we walked past anywhere that looked nice and log them on Google maps then we had a list of options for when we were ready to eat.
A few places we liked - bodega gongora in alfalfa (garlic prawns, sherry), taberna coloniales, bar el comercio churros. But we dipped into lots of other places too.

We did a day trip to cordoba on the fast train and visited the mosque cathedral which was amazing. Like nowhere else really. Definitely a highlight. And looked around lots of the little patio gardens.

It was last October we were there too - lovely weather, apart from a dramatic rain storm on the last day which brought the whole of the old town centre to a halt from flash flooding down some roads; our taxi couldn’t get anywhere near to us at all and gave up, and two hours after we were supposed to leave for the airport we were stuck trying to get any bus or taxi on a main outer road to get us to the airport - just made it! It was all fine a few hours later but just a warning if there are sudden heavy storms - it can cause short lived chaos on the roads! All fine in the end though!

Oh and if you are taking kids and need “somewhere to fill the time doing something different” and you’re all full of food, pop into the museum of illusions - it’s right in the centre and a lot of fun for 45 mins. Slotted in the gap after churros, before Setas and before dinner, sheltering from a random rain storm!

Definitely a tapas tour, we booked one via Viator and got both the history of the city as well as tapas and pairing wines at four restaurants. The tour guide also gave us a list of other hidden gems to visit which also had great food.

I hope you have a great time in Seville.

If you're looking for off-the-beaten-track gems, Verde Flojito in Mairena de Aljarafe does a traditional and very good value menu del día. Alquimista Coffee Lab in the same area, round the back of an unpromising-looking block of shops, is also worth a visit. In and near the centre, the narrow streets of the old town are fascinating just to wander in, and the Parque María Luisa and the Plaza de España will occupy a morning without any need to book tickets or spend money. If you like strolling and taking in the atmosphere, there are miles of good paths along the side of the river. La Canasta opposite the cathedral is our go-to touristy restaurant and has really good cakes. If you're interested in Ancient Roman ruins, take the bus to Italica (or walk, but it's around 10km each way and not all of the route is scenic). The Santa Clara convent, in the city centre but quite tucked away, is interesting and is free to wander round.

I agree with the recommendation to take a trip to Córdoba if you're there for long enough. Seville was my favourite city until I went to Córdoba.

Royal alcazar is definitely worth a trip.

If you have time, visit Italica (easy bus ride). It’s a huge ruined Roman city- including the Game of Thrones amphitheatre - and all of it is fascinating and beautiful. We got in free despite Brexit.

La Carboneria - it's fairly central but tricky to find.

Cash only flamenco bar (not a show), a bit of a dive but the dancers/musicians are passionate amateurs/semi pros, some touring from different areas. We ended up going several nights, sometimes catching the tail end of a political/community meeting.

Another vote for the food market in Triana.

Casa de La memoria for flamenco is fantastic.