Accommodation

Apartamentos Murillos, Seville

We stayed at the Apartamentos Murillos when we were in Seville. They are in a perfect location, on a narrow street in the Barrio Santa Cruz, walkable to everywhere and only 5 minutes walk from the Cathedral and Alcazar. We had a very nice modern, clean apartment with a nice comfortable lounge area, kitchen facilities including full size fridge and microwave, small bedroom (note: some of their double rooms are actually just two twin beds stuck together, but with individual sheets on each bed - if you want a double bed make sure you're given one when you check in) and bathroom. Our room was a one bedroom apartment, but they also have two bedroom apartments which would be idea for families. The apartment block is just round the corner from the Hotel Murillo where we had to go for breakfast. It was a cold breakfast buffet, with fruit, yoghurt, cereal, rolls, toast, croissants, cheese, ham, etc and we thought it was good value at just €5.10 per person. Visit Apartamentos Murillos website . If you book a room at Apartamentos Murillos after reading this review, we'd appreciate if you'd let them know that you found them on TravelJimmy.com - thanks! Click here to make a reservation at Aparatamentos Murillos.

Hover over the thumbnails to change the large picture
	Pretty Seville street with Hosteria del Laurel	Apartamentos Murillos bedroom	Apartamentos Murillos lounge area
	Hotel Murillo	Seville Cathedral & Giralda Bell Tower	Giralda Bell Tower night view
	Plaza Virgen de los Reyes	Plaza Virgen de los Reyes	Seville Bullring
	Avenida de la Constitucion	Flamenco Show at Casa de la Memoria	Gaudalquivir River looking over to Triana
	Semanta Santa Procession	Semanta Santa Procession	Another impressive Seville building

Things to see and do in Seville

A must see is the incredible Seville Cathedral, the largest of all Roman Catholic cathedrals and lavishly decorated with sparkling gold and multi-coloured stained glass windows. It also contains the tomb of Christopher Columbus. Climb up the 35 floors of the Giralda bell tower for great views over the city. There aren't steps, apart from a few as you enter the bell tower, just a winding ramp with several places to stop for a breather and enjoy the views along the way. Opening hours are Monday-Saturday 11am- 5pm, Sundays 2.30pm - 6pm. Entry is €7.50* - well worth it.

Seville Cathedral	Stained Glass Window at Seville Cathedral	Seville Cathedral	Seville Church
	Royal Acazar	Gardens at Royal Alcazar
Another impressive building			Seville Cathedral from side street
	Seville Church	Seville orange trees
	Click on photos above to open larger ones in new window
Colourful side street leading to Cathedral			Seville narrow street

Just opposite the Cathedral is the Royal Alcazar, the Palace which is the residence of Juán Carlos 1, King of Spain, when he visits Seville. There is some interesting Moorish, Gothic and Islamic architecture, fancy ceilings and beautiful gardens and courtyards. Entry is €7*. Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday 9.30am to 5pm, Sundays and holidays: from 9.30am to 1.30pm, closed Mondays.

We would recommend the Flamenco show at Casa de la Memoria, Calle Ximenez de Encisco (a narrow pedestrianised street in Barrio Santa Cruz just north east of the Alcazar). The show lasts for an hour and the one we went to started with a guitarist and singer who are joined later in the show by a male and a female dancer. Different artists perform on different days, but we would imagine the standard would be good every night. We went on a Saturday and the performers were Vicente Gelo (a Flamenco singer with a very strong voice and a very emotive style), Juan Campallo (an impressive Flamenco guitarist) and Marta Arias and Juan Carlos Cardoso (excellent Flamenco dancers). It is a very passionate performance and excellent value at just €13*. It is a small, intimate setting so make sure you buy your tickets early in the day or the day before, as they usually sell out. Also, make sure you turn up at least half an hour before the performance starts to get a good seat.

If you are going to be in Seville in April you may be lucky enough to experience Semanta Santa (Holy Week), with its many religious processions and Feria de Abril festival two weeks later, when the city becomes one big party of food, drink and flamenco. Note that rooms can be hard to find at this time and prices increased.

There is a bullring in Seville, where you can go and see a bullfight if there's one on when you're there, or take a tour and visit the bullfighting museum. It's an impressive building, even from the outside.

 

 

 

Bars and Restaurants in Seville

 

There is a huge selection of places to eat and drink in Seville. In the Barrio Santa Cruz area you can hardly turn a corner without seeing a tapas bar or restaurant. The other popular place is across the river where Calle Betis has a lot of bars and a few restaurants. Please note however that Calle Betis does not get going till later in the evening - some of the restaurants and bars don't even open till after 9pm.

 

When we were researching Seville before our trip, we read many glowing reviews of the italian restaurant Pizzeria San Marco with several branches in the city. Meson del Moro, built in an old Arab bathhouse, was close to our hotel so we ate there the first night. What a huge disappointment it proved to be. We just ordered two pasta dishes and some garlic bread. The bread looked disgusting but tasted OK, but the pasta was incredibly tasteless and one dish was luke warm so we had to send it back to be heated up. We usually order a pizza and a pasta - maybe the pizzas were better. The main area of the restaurant looks very nice but if it is full you will be sent to a bright room upstairs which lacks the atmosphere of the downstairs area. That wouldn't have bothered us if the food had been good. Huge letdown.

 

We had a better meal at Antigua Taberna, Los Escobas in Centro. The scrambled eggs with prawns , mushroom and spring onions was delicious and the veal steak tender and served with a nice selection of vegetables and potatoes.

 

A nice bar to have a drink is the popular T de Triana Cafe Bar on Calle Betis 20. You can sit inside or out. The tapas was very nice, especially the tender chicken with bacon and cheese ( €3 per portion*) and they have a very good selection.

 

Also on Calle Betis Mama Mia has nice Pizza Diavola (with mozzarella, tomato, garlic & chilli) and reasonable prices.

Calle Mateus Gago is a street with several popular tapas bar very near the Cathedral. We had a nice glass of Sangria and some tapas at Alcazaba. A great place to people watch too! Bodego Belmonte is best avoided if you want to get served - it was quiet when we went in but one member of staff was looking at his friend's laptop and the other chatting to a friend. We waited for a while, but finally gave up and went across the road to Patanchon where the staff were friendly and the beers cold! Bodego Santa Cruz , just round the corner on Calle Rodrigo Caro is a very popular place, always busy.

Some useful sites about Seville:

Explore Seville - Lots of useful information about Seville here
Time Out Seville - Lots of stuff about Seville, including shopping, restaurants and bars and tourist information
Trip Advisor - Reviews from other travellers and a useful forum

Hotels in Seville - Book hotels in Seville, read travellers reviews of those hotels and earn rewards worth 5% of your booking to use against other reservations.

*Note: Prices quoted above were accurate in 2007