The Andalusian city of Seville in the far south eastern corner of Spain basks in glorious sunshine for much of the year and as such it’s a great place to visit, or take a holiday, and to go sight-seeing around this historic place.
We have put together five suggested things that we thought were quite cool to do for most times of the year, however the weather in Seville has quite dramatic changes throughout the year and it is best to check a good weather guide for Spain before planning your trip.
A good example would be comparing a trip in August, with a trip in April.
Coming to the city in August the traveler is knocked sideways with the intensity of the heat during that time, which can reach in excess of 95 to 100 degrees and hot at night too.
If you are planning a sight seeing tour of the city, it can be quite tough to do it in those temperatures and like many cities in Spain, August is the time when the mostly family-run businesses close down completely and go on holiday, if only to escape the heat of the city.
Compare this to a cooler month such as April, average temperatures in the city settle conformably around 75 degrees which is still hot compared to the UK and this time of the year could be an ideal time to visit, plus the air fares would probably be cheaper too.
As far as rain, well, that is a big factor as to deciding when to visit because April is certainly the regions wetter month, and the city can expect up to 7 days of rain, or around 60mm. This is compared to August with zero days of rain!
So after carefully planning when you want to visit Seville, how about some suggestions on what to see or do when you get here? We put five together for starters
Real Alcázar de Sevilla
The Real Alcázar de Sevilla is an old royal palace, originally a Moorish fortress and is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe. It’s well worth a visit and reminds you of a scaled down version of the amazing Alhambra in Granada.
It is a mixture of different architectural styles which reflect the occupants and Spain in general through a historical period, and the gardens that inside and around and stunning and a great place to relax. It’s very cheap to get in and you can wander around as much as you like.
Seville Cathedral
Cathedral of Seville by Night
Situated nearby to the palace is Seville’s famous cathedral, known as Catedral de Santa María de la Sede in Spanish, and is not only the largest gothic cathedral in the world, it is also the fourth largest cathedral anywhere in the world too! It dates from the 16th century and in 1987 it was awarded world heritage status by UNESCO, and even more interesting, the famous sailor Christopher Columbus is actually buried here!
If you are lucky enough to visit this amazing place, then a climb up the Giralda, which is the large tower, is essential if possible. One of the oldest parts of this amazing place, it was actually first built around a 1000 years ago as a minaret for a mosque.
This was back when the whole of this region was essentially an enclave of North Africa and was rules for centuries by Muslim rulers known as “moors”, all of whom were expelled and deported after the Spanish inquisition of 1492.
Santa Cruz, the old town
No visit to Seville is complete without visiting the old town and most tourists also have the same idea so this area although quant, can get quite busy during holiday times. It is the old Jewish quarter of the medieval city and is somewhere that one will find many old synagogues that were turned into churches.
When the Moors were expelled, the Jewish population was herded into this area, until such time as Spain decided to expel the Sephardic Jews from Spain too.
The narrow, winding streets are built to provide an amount of shade from the hot Sevillan sun and one will find random plazas through pointed and ancient archways, and it’s definitely somewhere you can wander around all day, it is certainly an interesting place!
Plaza de España
In 1929, Seville hosted the Ibero-American Exposition, or World’s fair, which was held in the Parque de María Luisa and saw a large part of the south of the city redeveloped with parks, various grand buildings and gardens.
The plaza buildings now host various government departments and museums, art galleries etc and if you are visiting Seville, this is surely one of THE must see destinations, even just for the architecture which displays the very best that Andalucia has to offer, rain or shine!
Tapas!
And finally, if you are enjoying all the sights and sounds that Seville has to offer, surely you are going to be hungry at some point?
The city is awash with authentic tapas bars, in fact most bars, even the sort of “old men’s” spit ‘n sawdust ones, will have fresh tapas on the counter, often in a chilled display cabinet due to the heat, and will have been made fresh that day, often by the grandmother of the owner as much of Spain’s business is family-run, and this is reflected in the sheer quality of what is on offer, all at reasonable prices too.
Wash this down with a cold Spanish beer or three (!) or if you are visiting in winter time, temperatures are cool enough at around 15 degrees in January or February so why not try a strong Spanish coffee and one of the local sweet pastries? Tasty!
See you in Seville soon!
For further reading on Seville please Click Here