What to see in Seville: what justifies the trip, what does not, and how Holy Week changes everything

The list of what to see in Seville is the same in every guide: the Alcázar, the cathedral and Giralda, Plaza de España, Santa Cruz, Triana, the Torre del Oro and Las Setas. What changes from one guide to another is what is almost never said: how long each thing really takes, what is overrated and what happens to all of it when the city fills with processions.

This page answers those three questions with the published data, which often contradicts itself. For entry prices with their year and ticket reselling, the guide to things to do in Seville is the reference; here we use just enough to compare.

The three visits that justify the trip

The Real Alcázar. A fortified palace with Mudéjar courtyards and gardens that make up half the visit. Inside, it takes 1 h 30 to 2 h; with the queue, security and gardens, a good deal longer. A standard ticket costs between €14.50 and €15.50 according to 2025 and 2026 guides, and ABC's 2024 guide gave between €14 and €16.

The cathedral and the Giralda. The largest Gothic cathedral in Europe and the former minaret turned bell tower, with the best view of the city. Allow 1 h 30 to 2 h 30 inside. The combined ticket costs between €12 and €15 according to 2026 guides, against between €11 and €13 in ABC's 2024 guide. Both ranges are given because no source explains the difference.

Plaza de España and María Luisa Park. The ensemble built for the 1929 Exhibition, with its tiled benches for each province and its canal. It is free, and the park is the only place in the centre where you can breathe during Holy Week. Guides talk of half a day without putting a number on it.

The three together add up to 5 to 7 hours of visiting, not counting processions. That is why no serious itinerary puts them on the same day, as the three-day itinerary explains.

When do you need to book, and how far ahead?

For the Alcázar, booking online is almost compulsory in high season: the guides talk of booking from several days to a week ahead, because of the quota system by time slot. For the cathedral it is not essential, but it saves you the ticket office queue, which no source measures.

The reduced cathedral ticket costs between €6 and €7 according to 2026 guides, while ABC's 2024 guide put it at between €4 and €6. Under-14s, residents and some other groups get in free depending on the year, on terms the guides do not spell out.

The Alcázar has a free slot on Mondays late in the afternoon, often from 18:00 to 19:30. Here the sources flatly contradict each other: some say the first Monday of the month, others every Monday, and none publishes the 2026 rule. Check the official website the same week.

Nobody documents a free first Sunday for Seville's monuments, even though one exists for state museums. Nor is there an official pass combining the Alcázar, the cathedral and the Giralda: the passes on sale are commercial guided-tour products, with different content and a different price.

The two districts you can see for free, and how

Santa Cruz, the old Jewish quarter, is a maze of alleys, courtyards and small squares hard by the cathedral. It is saturated with tourists and tapas bars, and it is still worth it first thing in the morning or at dusk. You can wander it in one or two hours.

Triana, across the Isabel II bridge, is more local: the market, Calle Betis along the river, the ceramics workshops. Several guides single out the Triana brotherhoods crossing the bridge as one of the high points of Holy Week, and also as a crush point to avoid at peak times.

Neither needs a booking, a ticket or any Spanish. For the distances between them and the rest of the centre, the Seville map gives the real walking minutes.

What the guides list and locals argue about

• The inside of the Torre del Oro. The outside and the riverside walk give you almost everything; the naval museum inside disappoints quite a few visitors according to the blogs, even though the official list keeps it among the must-sees.
• Las Setas. The view is good; the price, €16 according to 2026 guides, is the most debated in the city, and the sources do not even agree on the figure.
• The tourist set menus around the cathedral, especially during Holy Week: worse value than the neighbourhood taverns, according to National Geographic Viajes and local guides.
• Resold chairs on the Carrera Oficial, up to €175 per chair close to the date, with mark-ups of between 30 and 70 % above the official price.
• The wide avenues for watching processions. Locals prefer the narrow streets, where you can hear the capataz (the foreman) and watch the costaleros (the bearers under the float) at work.

On the very touristy flamenco shows, independent reviews talk of standardisation, but there is no published data to say how many are like that. This page does not put a number on it because nobody has.

How does all this change during Holy Week?

In three ways. First, opening hours: the cathedral, the Giralda and the Alcázar restrict visits because of the processions, with no published calendar, and 2026 guides advise booking ahead. Second, access: the centre seizes up from 19:00 onwards and the Carrera Oficial is taken over between 16:30 and 22:30.

Third, priorities. Watching a brotherhood go past at several points on its route takes 2 to 4 hours at a stretch, and it is free. Many visitors find out too late that the best of Seville that week has no ticket, and that the Alcázar can wait until the next morning.

Guides written by locals agree on one plan: monuments in the morning, before 14:00; processions from 16:00 to 20:00 with children, or at night without them; lunch outside the centre. The Holy Week guide details the days, time slots and areas to avoid.

Still unpublished

• The exact free-entry rules for the Alcázar and the cathedral in 2026: days, times and who they apply to.
• The audio guide languages for each monument and their price, which no guide lists.
• Waiting times by monument and by hour: there is only advice along the lines of "book ahead".
• The price of the rowing boats on the Plaza de España canal, which guides describe as modest without giving a figure or a year.
• The calendar of monument restrictions during the processions.

To plan your day, the one-day itinerary applies these visit times to a real day, and the transport guide says when the bus is worth taking.

Sources

• ABC de Sevilla: Holy Week guide for tourists and visitors, monument prices and bookings (20 March 2024).
• Welcometoseville, Tourismattractions, Seville-trip: ticket prices 2025 and 2026.
• Visitar Sevilla: Holy Week in Seville, visiting restrictions and time slots (2026).
• Nomado Travel: guide to Holy Week in Seville, chairs and booking (2026).
• okdiario: official chair prices 2024 and reselling.
• Doyouspain, Kukuchurro, La Voz del Sur: where to watch the brotherhoods, districts and bridges.
• National Geographic Viajes: experiencing Holy Week like a local, where to eat.
• Diario de un Mentiroso, Miruta, Cromacultura, Bar Tapas Sevilla: overcrowding, safety and practical tips.
• Barceló Guía de Turismo, Fortwo: time slots for watching processions.

Prices carry the year of their source. When two guides give different ranges for the same monument, this page publishes both.