Crowd-free Seville Itinerary
- Lucy and the lens
- Mar 4, 2019
- 6 min read
Updated: Mar 5, 2019
Last month I took a solo trip to Cordoba and Seville, in Andalusia. I flew into Malaga airport and took the train to Cordoba, spent two nights there, and then another train to Seville, where I spent one night. I wanted to focus on photographing both cities without the crowds, and even though some areas were extremely busy, I was still pretty successful! So here's my crowd-free-Seville itinerary - and if you want to see my crowd-free Cordoba itinerary, click here!
Day 1
I took the train from Cordoba to Seville at around midday, arriving in Seville at about1pm, and checked into my hotel in the historic old town. I chose a hotel that was about 10 minutes from the Cathedral and the Real Alcazar - there are plenty of options available in this area for all budgets. Mine was definitely a low-budget option, but I can imagine even that would cost more in peak season.
3pm: Seville Cathedral and Giralda Tower
I would strongly recommend booking a rooftop tour of the cathedral: it costs only a couple of euros more than entry to the cathedral and tower, yet also includes entry to both of these. I booked the 4:30pm rooftop tour, and since the cathedral closes for public entry at 5pm, I decided to check it out before my tour began. The cathedral is stunning and obviously worth a visit, and the climb to the top of the Giralda Tower not only offers amazing 360 degree views over Seville, but also the chance to climb a tower with no stairs: instead, a spiralling stone ramp takes you up, originally so that horses could be ridden to the top!
4:30pm Seville Cathedral rooftop tour
When you book the rooftop tour, you are given instructions to meet at a separate entrance to the standard entry one, so if you explore the cathedral interior first you will need to exit and head to the correct side entrance. There, a small group of us were met by our guide, who took us first to a viewing platform high above the ground, where we got a view of the cathedral's interior from a different perspective.
We then headed out onto the roof itself, and learned how the cathedral was built in a surprisingly short 70 years. I won't give anything away, but there's plenty of Gothic gargoyles and flying buttresses and awesome views to make the 90 minutes tour fly by.
My favourite part of the tour was an up-close-and-personal encounter with the Giralda Tower: seeing it from such a high vantage point was fascinating, as we could see how the original Islamic tower was damaged in an earthquake and replaced with Christian features instead.
By the time the tour had finished, the main cathedral was empty, so it might be a good chance to grab a couple of crowd-free photos before being booted out!
Day 2
7am: wake up
I got ready as quickly as I could and grabbed a cereal bar for breakfast to save time. I was out of the hotel by 7:40am because I'd pre-booked tickets to the Real Alcazar and wanted to check out Plaza de Espana beforehand!
8am: Plaza de Espana
I wanted to visit Plaza de Espana in the morning, because when I visited it in the evening the night before, it was too crowded for me! I don't think it's vital to go as early as I went, but I had a ticket for the Real Alcazar at 9:30am (the earliest possible time slot) and I didn't want to risk waiting until after that to see the Plaza.
When I arrived at 8am the only other people there were heading to work. I spent about 45 minutes wandering around taking photos to my heart's content! Plaza de Espana was built for the World's Fair in 1929, but looks much older. Its curved design, pillars, towers, bridges and tiles make it one of the most fun places to photograph! It's completely over-the-top but I love it!
I should probably note that I visited the Plaza de Espana at sunset (7pm in February) the night before, and I was immediately put off by how busy it was: crowds of tour groups, a whole bunch of buskers and people having messy picnics kind of ruined the mood. But I stuck around for sunset anyway, and managed to grab a decent shot before deciding to return the next morning! Just know that the photo below makes the scene look a lot more romantic than it actually was!
9:30am: Real Alcazar
I went for the first time slot of the day, and pre-booked online, hoping that earlier would mean less crowds. When I arrived at the entrance at 9:20am, there were already two queues: one for those with pre-booked tickets and one for those buying tickets at the door. I would strongly recommend pre-booking tickets, as although both lines were admitted at the same time, the pre-booked one went so much faster! Even though I was maybe the 20th or even 30th in the pre-booked tickets line, those ahead of me seemed to be taking guided tours, and congregated in the entrance courtyard. I scooted on past them and found myself in the famous Courtyard of the Maidens, discovering it completely empty! I actually had this courtyard and the elaborately tiled inner rooms to myself for about 20 minutes before groups started coming through: it was so, so peaceful and I don't regret the early start one bit!
One of my favourite rooms was the old bath house, an underground cave with a long bath running its whole length. The reflections of the arched ceiling on the water were captivating, and I was happy to have this one all to myself!
11am: churros!
I revisited a local's favourite churro and tapas bar, Bar el Comercio. Their churros are thick and puffy with the right amount of crunch, and you should watch how they're made behind the bar! They're so, so cheap and come with rich dipping chocolate. I'd also recommend the freshly squeezed orange juice. You won't find many tourists here, but plenty of locals having a catch-up.
12 midday: Casa de Pilatos
This historic casa is a quiet but equally beautiful alternative to the Real Alcazar. You can go any time of the day and find only a small number of other visitors. The basic ticket gets you access to the courtyard you see below and a few basically-furnished rooms, but for an extra 2 euros you get a guided tour of the fascinating and historic upper floor: I'd recommend this, as I'm not sure the basic ticket is worth it on its own. After the tour, I spent a good half an hour just sitting in the casa's gorgeous garden terrace, partly because it was so peaceful and partly because my feet were killing me!
1pm: explore Barrio de Santa Cruz
The Santa Cruz quarter is one of Seville's oldest areas,and although there a couple of main streets (near the cathedral) that are busy with tourists eating at tapas restaurants, if you start heading down any of the many side streets, you'll find the noise fades away and you have it to yourself a lot of the time. Despite my aching feet, I couldn't stop walking around this quarter, getting myself utterly lost and stumbling on little squares as I went.
3pm: early meal at Mercado Lonja del Barranco
I had to catch a train back to the airport later, so I went for an early dinner at Seville's covered gourmet market, Lonja del Barranco. This market is made up of different kiosks serving ready-to-eat dishes, which you eat at any of the tables found throughout the building. They serve a wide range of dishes, from traditional pulpo (octopus) dishes and paella to Japanese and Mexican food. I wanted to keep it classic and went for a tortilla with salmorejo (Andalusian cold tomato soup) on the side. It was the best I've ever tried!
I also discovered a croqueta stall, which happens to be my favourite tapas item, and since they offered so many different varieties I had to try six different ones, including jamon, pulpo, chicharron, bacon with date, and two types of cheese. All freshly made and delicious in their own way. The cheese was the winner, though.
Obviously, if you visit the market at peak times (2-3pm or later than 8pm), it will be more bustling, but if you want a quiet experience at the market, just go before the locals usually eat!
That's all I had time for during my short visit to Seville, but if you're looking for more quiet places, there are endless casas and museums that can be visited, and since most of the crowds tend to stick around the Alcazar and the cathedral, you're pretty much guaranteed a quiet visit! I'm not sure how much my going in February rather than in the summer affected crowd sizes, but I'd probably recommend off-peak times of the year for a visit, too...plus, I didn't fancy trying to sightsee in the scorching hot Spanish summer, either.
If you want to see how I explored Cordoba virtually crowd-free too, click here!
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