Seville Travel Guide

Seville is the Andalusia of the imagination — the home of flamenco, the scent of orange blossom, and the long, golden light of southern Spain. Its monuments carry eight centuries of Moorish and Christian history layered together: the Real Alcázar, a fairytale of Mudéjar courtyards and gardens (and a Game of Thrones location); the vast Gothic Cathedral with the Giralda, a former minaret, as its bell tower; and the sweeping, tiled curve of the Plaza de España.

But the city is at its best in the everyday — tapas and cold sherry in the tangled lanes of Santa Cruz, the drama of a flamenco tablao after dark, the slow ritual of evenings outdoors once the heat lifts. It comes spectacularly alive for Semana Santa and the spring Feria. Hot in high summer and intoxicating the rest of the year, Seville is the easy highlight of any southern Spain trip, with Córdoba and Granada close by.