We will be in Seville the last weekend in September. We are looking for suggestions on tours of the Alcazar and the Seville Cathedral
that you might recommend. Also please let us know if you have any recommendations for ways other than tours to enjoy these sites.
Thank you.
If you don't do a tour, I strongly suggest purchasing the Alcazar tickets in advance to avoid long lines. Use the official website. You can reduce your wait time for the Sevilla cathedral by purchasing the ticket at Church of the Savior since its a combined ticket. We got to Church of the Savior about 15 minutes before opening to avoid the line there (which in any case, is shorter than the cathedral line)This is described in the RS Spain guide. The RS guide does have suggestions for guides in Sevilla. One that people seem to like is Concepcion. We did both the Alcazar and the cathedral on our own.
I would have liked to have visited the upper floor apartments, but they were sold out for 3 weeks when I visited last November.
Thank you so much for your response.
Thank you, Ashley, for both of your replies. They are very helpful!
I am trying to purchase Alcazar tickets (general tour + curato real alto) for next month and the 1st available date shows for October 4th. Am I looking at the right site?
Seema, it's sometimes tricky to know if you are on the official site. My impression is that your link is 3rd party, but I don't know for sure. I usually check the Rick Steves' guide to get the official website. I don't have a Spanish guide right now or I'd look it up for you.
This appears to be the official website https://www.alcazarsevilla.org/en/ I didn't continue to links to buy tickets, but if that's how you got there, I would trust it.
Thank you all just tried above link and first available shows for general tour+Cuarto Real Alto+ audio guideOctober 4th. Didn’t expect to sell out this soon.
Seema, sorry to hear that. I think the situation at the Alcazar has been changing dramatically. I had been advised by folks on the forum that I would not need to prepurchase tickets for November and found it to be very busy there when we arrived.
I suspect Ashley is searching for single tickets - where there are a few slots left. But you want 2 or more tickets where nothing is available until October. Unless the royal quarters are a must-see, I would buy the general ticket, where some are still available for most of September.
The Cuarto Real Alto are not the most interesting part of the Alcazar anyway, so you're not missing too much. If visiting it is "non-negotiable", however, you may need to purchase a tour company ticket. Personally, I wouldn't worry about it and just see the better parts of the Alcazar on a general ticket. But do book that ticket soon since the queues for those buying on the day can be horrendous.
Ashley, I agree with Nick on the apartments tho I didn't get to see them. We loved our visit to the Alcazar and spent a lot of time. I, too, was disappointed to not see the royal apartments so I went to the gift shop and looked for photos of the rooms. I might have found one picture. If the apartments were so interesting I think they'd be in some of the souvenir books???
Thanks so much to all! I really appreciate your comments and suggestions.
If you can book a rooftop tour of the Seville Cathedral, I would highly recommend it. Views of the city are spectacular as are the views inside the cathedral.
I'm trying to book tickets to the Cathedral as well but it's not showing any availability in October and beyond for the Cathedral and Giralda Tower. If i try and buy roof tour it works but the regular one doesn't. has anyone else experienced this?
and if we book the roof tour visit, how do we get into Cathedral? the website says " If you wish to visit the Cathedral and Giralda prior to The Roofs, you can go to Puerta de San Cristóbal on the same day, during the cultural visits (see the official website www.catedraldesevilla.es)" Does that mean we need separate tickets at the Cathedral?
We did the Roof tour in the afternoon and because of the limited time to tour the interior of the Cathedral, we were able to go back the next day. In order to do that, we let our Rooftop tour guide know and he had a sign-up sheet for our return visit. (When going to the afternoon visit, we met at a completely different entrance from the regular Cathedral entrance). As far as visiting on the same day, prior to the scheduled Rooftop tour, I think it's a matter of entering in the normal entrance. Having said that, I wouldn't want to mislead you so you should make further inquiries as to same day visits. Hope that helps.
I forgot to add that you won't have to purchase a separate ticket. The Rooftop ticket includes entrance into the Cathedral.
Check to see if the Archivo General de Indias (Indian Archives) will be open by the end of September. When we were there in 2017, it was free and well-worth a short visit. It's very close to the Cathedral.
https://www.lonelyplanet.com/spain/seville/attractions/archivo-de-indias/a/poi-sig/411806/360736
