I have reserved rooms at two separate hotels in Sevilla, and I will need to cancel one soon. One is in the Barrio Santa Cruz (Hotel El Rey Moro) and the other is in The Arenal (the brand new Hotel Lobby Room--close to the Isabel II bridge to Triana). I understand the Barrio is THE CENTER of the action; Arenal is a bit apart. My question: shall I opt for the "quiet and sanity" of Arenal (assuming it's within a short walk of everything anyway) or dive into the craziness of the Barrio (and wear earplugs at night) ?
Posted by
northern CA
2452 posts
The Arenal area seems, to me, to be even more disneyfied than the Barrio.
Get a good live guide and guidebook to give you the tools you need to be
able to tell the recreated heritage decor from the actually preserved architecture.
I'll start you off: once you start noticing Santa Barbara items (statues, relics, talaveras), you'll soon see her cult woven into everything. That's what was really going on.
Whatever you decide to do, unless you're pretty fluent and limber, I recommend letting your hotelier arrange your tickets for the Tablao Arenal performance, and go for the full dinner and show so you get your own table for four even if you're less than four. (You don't want to be crammed together with the Germans on holiday.)
Posted by
San Franciso Bay Area, USA
951 posts
We stayed at the Hotel El Rey Moro last October and really liked the hotel and I would stay there again. They have a lovely outdoor atrium, nice bar, and we rented a junior suite that was spacious. The service is good for things they want to do, like booking the Alcazar or helping with walking tours. They did not want to help me book by train tickets with Renfre (can’t really blame them), but did after I told them that every other hotel I stayed at helped. The Bario is central to everything (few minute walk to the Cathedral, the Alcazar, with good local restaurants. Note: we did not need ear plugs.
Hope this helps,
Sandy
Posted by
OP
39 posts
It does help, Sandy. Being in the thick of things is probably more fun ultimately as well as your high praise for El Rey. One thing I didn't mention: due to availability we will have to change rooms/and back (total 4 nights). That's why I double booked hotels. I check every day hoping our room style becomes available for the entire stay. The other Hotel is brand new so it won't have that old world charm that I imagine the El Rey Moro has in spades. But the Puente Isabel II to Traina--where it is located--is probably a very short walk to the Barrio/sights etc?
Posted by
Twin Cities of MN
5581 posts
Ronnie, I have booked El Rey Moro for November, so if you stay there and have any issues, let me know, please. I will tell you that I've been researching restaurants and sights and places that seem far when I look at a map are actually quite close. I'm not finding much that is more than 20 minutes on foot and most things are closer. I'm going to do RS's walking tour of the Barrio area.