My husband and I are trying to put together an itinerary for 6-7 weeks in Spain and Portugal. Our timeframe (mid February -early April) puts us in Spain during Holy week. We should be out of country in time for Feria. We were to be in Sevilla for 3-4 weeks but the cost during holy week is really high.
Question? Has anyone experienced Sevilla and/or other Spain locations during holy week? Is it worth the crowds etc.? Would we be better off planning to be in Portugal that week?
Thanks for any sharing
Posted by
Whittington
984 posts
'Has anyone experienced Sevilla and/or other Spain locations during holy week?' - Yes thanks, a number of times in forty years in Seville, Malaga (and smaller towns and villages where you would not notice there was such a thing, unless you went looking hard).
'Is it worth the crowds etc.?'- Is this a concern about you being crowded, as you can easily avoid the routes? Or see a little, with a tourist office map and schedules, if necessary, in Seville. If it is just a money concern I cannot weigh that against such, possibly, once in a lifetime sights.
Not what you asked, but '3-4 weeks' is an extraordinary amount of time in Seville!
Posted by
Florida, USA
12172 posts
Holy Thursday in Zaragosa ranks as one of my all time favorite travel experiences; very local. The costumed marchers were carrying crosses, floats, candles or pounding on their drums, the bigger groups had hundreds, the whole thing was exciting - almost surreal.
As I recall Zaragosa has 26 fraternal organizations who dress up and put on processions. On Holy Thursday every group marches. I believe most days there are a smaller number marching. The Holy Thursday activity starts in early afternoon and lasts nearly all night. We stayed in a very nice hotel with a balcony overlooking one of the procession routes for 95 euro. The crowds were all Spanish from the area so hotel prices weren't outrageous at all. We were only there one day so I can't speak for the other days.
We were in Pamplona for a Good Friday procession, it was very sedate in comparison to what we experienced in Zaragosa.
The place I'd avoid is Barcelona. We made a mistake by spending most of the week there. It's the least religious city in the least religious part of the country so it makes sense not much would be going on. They have one Good Friday procession that is put on by Seville expats who felt there should be something, the procession has no connection to the church.
Another choice I've heard great things about is Valladolid. I've seen depictions and it looks a lot like what we saw in Zaragosa. Valladolid would be another non-touristy place, so the hotel rates shouldn't skyrocket. We visited Valladolid after Easter Week but it's a great city, more to see than Zaragosa, and has several monster castles within a short drive.