Anyone done the Alone in the Alcazar tour in Seville? So expensive...but mostly private access

I've been to all the places you mentioned but don't remember crowds at Peles Castle. I probably just hit that one on a lucky day; it was during the summer of 2015, so quite a long time ago.

With the caveat that there can be some day-to-day variation in visitor flow, even within the same week, I'd say the Alcazar wasn't as crowded as either Casa Batllo or the Vatican Museums. I believe Casa Batllo and the Picasso Museum were the most consistently crowded tourist sites I've ever visited--not that I have visited all the super-popular places in Europe. I strongly suspect both those spots regularly sell out totally. Casa Batllo seemed to be metering people in only as an equivalent number of earlier visitors departed. I remember thinking while I was in Casa Batllo (summer 2016) that it was surprising the local fire marshall allowed such overcrowding, and the Picasso Museum was better only in that no one except me was interested in the area where the artist's ceramics were displayed. Elsewhere it was extremely difficult to get close enough to the wall to read the labels for the paintings.

In March of this year, parts of the Vatican Museums (most definitely including the Sistine Chapel) were very crowded, but other areas (Pinacoteca and Contemporary Religious Art among them) were nearly empty. I can well imagine that conditions are significantly worse at busier times of the year.

I don't remember finding the Alcazar unpleasantly crowded. It's not a tiny place. (I looked for but did not find a size comparison to the Nasrid Palaces at the Alhambra.) The Alcazar definitely wasn't as packed as the Nasrid Palaces were at night, which were worse then than in the daytime since all the nighttime entries are set for the exact same time. I do not claim the Alcazar was a back-door sort of experience, but I've felt no need to warn people about crowding inside, based on my experience there. I visited Seville in April 2019, and part of my visit overlapped with Holy Week. The sidewalks in central Seville were crowded and hotel rates were at least double the usual cost, but it's possible a lot of those folks were visiting Spaniards who didn't go to the Alcazar that week.

I'll be interested to see what other folks say about conditions at the Alcazar.

Hi Valerie,

We were at the Alcazar in early May of this year. We had tickets to the Apartments tour at 11:00 and with those we were allowed to enter at 10:00 or later.

I just looked at my photos and for me it wasn't too crowded. Other folks in our group who hate crowds didn't have a problem either. There are a lot of people next to some of the popular areas in my pictures, but then there is a HUGE area that is empty, if that gives you an idea.

The fairly private evening Rooftop Tour (available at the Alcazar website, includes entrance during the day) is where I'd spend my money. It was the favorite evening of our trip and several other folks have said they really enjoyed it too.

Oh, thank you both - these were exactly the tips I was hoping for!!

The Vatican was unbelievable the day we were there. It pretty much did us in. Casa Batllo was just as bad - it was okay though as we had been there before and were on our way to some less-popular Gaudi sites that I like better.

I will just pre-buy our entry tickets!

Yeah, my daughter still has PTSD from the Vatican museums.....and we were there in 2011. :)

Hi Valerie,
We were just at the Alcazar in Sevilla last month. I bought 9:30 a.m. tickets and got there at 9:15 a.m. to join the line waiting patiently outside. Once the doors opened at 9:30 a.m. the line moved quickly and I didn't find the Alcazar to be crowded inside. Perhaps if you arrive at 9:00 a.m. you we be at the front of the line?

We loved Sevilla and our visit to the Alcazar.

Thank you - so helpful!!!!!!

Here’s hoping it’s not crowded for your visit. I will want to hear about it because we are following in your footsteps with a visit to Andalusia in February of 2025.