It’s no secret that southern Spain is a beautiful place to visit, but I’d only ever been to the coast for a beach holiday before. Now, after spending 48 hours in Seville, I know that it's also the best place to visit if you want a culture packed city break.
This was my first time in Seville, and I was wowed by how the city instantly comes alive in spring with fragrant flowers, busy tapas bars and warm sunshine. The scent of orange blossom fills the air and drifts through the narrow streets. With its historic architecture and tree-lined avenues, Seville invites you to wander, the delicate white flowers of the bitter orange trees contrasting beautifully with the vibrant colours of the buildings.
But Seville isn’t just a feast for the eyes and nose – it is a place where your tastebuds tingle, too, whether you're perched at a bar enjoying a glass of crisp sherry or dining alfresco in a charming plaza. Here's my top tips of what to see, do and eat!
Where to stay
Radisson Collection Hotel, Magdalena Plaza Sevilla, from £200 per night
One of the main highlights of Seville is how walkable the city is. I stayed in the Radisson Collection Hotel, which sits on the buzzy Magdalena Plaza, right in the city centre. Within a 10-minute walk is the stunning Gothic cathedral, one of the largest in the world, and the stunning Plaza de Espana in Maria Luisa Park is a longer 30 minute stroll away.
After all this walking I enjoyed nothing more than relaxing in the hotel’s rooftop pool, looking over the city’s grand skyline, before heading to their restaurant, Eneko Basque, for a well-deserved meal. The restaurant, set up by Michelin Star Chef Eneko Atxa, blends traditional Basque cooking with local ingredients to create seasonal tasting menus, highlighting the best the region has to offer.
Where to eat
Tapas is said to have originated in Andalusia and is one of the things Seville is best known for. Legend has it that when King Alfonso XIII ordered a glass of sherry on a windy day, the waiter presented it to him with a slice of jamon on top to stop any dirt blowing in. The monarch loved the idea and continued to order his wine 'con tapa' (with a lid), and tapas was born.
My favourite run of tapas bars (known in Spanish as Taberna) was on Calle Mateos Gago. Here, even on a Monday night, people were spilling out onto the street. The vibrant bars come in all shapes and sizes, some with seating, others just standing and even simple holes-in-the-wall. With a thousand tapas options to choose from, the highlights for me were chicharrones de Cadiz (cold cuts of fatty pork), mojama (salt-cured tuna slices) and, of course, traditional jamon Iberico and tortilla (Spanish omelette).
Often people gravitate towards sherry to accompany their tapas but in Seville try vino de Naranja - Sevillian orange wine. This is not like regular orange wine (where white wine grapes are fermented with their skin and seeds, giving the wine an amber colour) but made from sweet white wine from the nearby province of Huelva, which is mixed in oak barrels with the peel of Seville’s famous bitter oranges. It is a totally unique aperitif with a sweet, honeyed flavour and perfumed orange aroma. Salud!
Where to shop
If you don’t fancy eating out, head over the Guadalquivir river to Triana market. Here, most of the shop owners have had their stalls for over a decade, if not generations. With traditionally cured meats, seasonal vegetables and fish brought in each morning from Huelva, I felt just like a local shopping here. The market even has a cookery school in case you’re lacking in inspiration for what to do with your goods! Even though I wasn’t cooking this time, I couldn’t resist grabbing some mojama (salt-cured tuna loin) to take home with me. And of course, if all that shopping has made you hungry, there’s a few tapas bars you can stop at in the market itself!
When to visit
If you want to see the beautiful orange trees in full bloom, visit in Spring (from early march). The temperature is often around 20oC making it ideal to explore on foot. If you’re looking for a little more heat, the weather in the autumn ranges from 26-30oC and the sun is almost always shining. Seville is cleverly designed with tall buildings and narrow streets to provide lots of shade, so walking is a pleasant experience, even in the summer heat. In such a walkable city, it's easy to plan a route that covers all the main places of interest. I found it simple to explore in just 48 hours, making it the perfect weekend city break.
