Seville during April Feria

I'd suggest booking a cancellable room in Seville right now and continuing to explore, options. I know for Holy Week 2019 things were really picked-over and expensive by December, and it seems more people are traveling this year.

Carmona is a nice day trip from Seville by bus. You could leave that up in the air and make the decision while you're in Spain. There's a lot more to see in Cordoba, which is deserving of a couple of nights if you're willing to change hotels.

There's money to be saved by buying the Seville-Cordoba tickets early, and those trains do sometimes sell out. I wouldn't plan to wing the trip to Cordoba, much as I dislike pinning down side trips without a solid weather forecast in hand. (Not that there's a reason to expect bad weather in Andalucia in April.)

The Feria is awesome. Try to plan your trip to be there. It is something you will always remember. It runs about a week. First Friday it opens at midnight. The spanish stay out all night that night. Closing night has great fireworks show visible across the city.
The fair is held across the river on the southwest side. The crowds are only bad at the fairground itself and generally not bad even during the fair (except opening night). In town, you will see carriages in the streets which are great. There really is no reason to fear overcrowding in the city center itself.
The fair has 100's of tents (forgot the name). 90% are private. You can find about 10-20 which are public. Or if you meet someone they may invite you to a private one. They are all very similar. Music, food, drink, and flamenco dancing. Do not miss the fair (it is spectacular) but I think 1 day is enough at the actual fairground.
For where to stay, I stayed in Triana right next to Restaurante Casa Cuesta in a airbnb or vrbo. It was one of the nicest places we stayed in our 3 month trip. If you want the link to the actual listing, let me know.
It may be hot in Seville even in April. Plan to be Spanish and eat dinner at 9 or 10pm. You will be the only one in a restaurant between 6-8pm. Main meal is at 1-2pm. Tour around int he morning, eat the main meal at 2, take a break, and then go out ay 9 to tapas and entertainment.
Cordoba is about 45 minutes northeast by train. Get a tour guide to see the Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba. It is a world class site. It will help if you have someone who knows the history explain what you're seeing. I would focus your time there on the Mezquita.
Book early. The hotels/airbnb's will be booked up. Book your train to Cordoba at least a few weeks before getting there.
If I had 6 days there, I personally would book them to coincide with the full week of Faria.

Mark O, I would love info on the Airbnb. Thank you for the info. Sounds like it would be fun!

Hello travel4fun

I spend a lot of time in Seville and have been there during Feria. I stay in Seville a month every year and always stay in various airbnbs. We find the airbnbs in Seville some of the best in Spain and excellent value. We prefer airbnbs where we are met in person, although many now have remote check in.

A suggestion in Seville if want to cover some ground without walking, is a horse and carriage ride. This is about 40minutes and goes via Parque de María Luisa. Its a special way to see parts of Seville the carriages usually gather around the cathedral the cost is approximately 40 euro per person.

My suggestion is stay as central as possible i.e. Alameda, Santa Cruz areas. Its can be very hot in April, hence being close to the major sites means less walking in the midday heat. We are usually in Seville in January, February. It doesn't matter what time of year we are in Seville its always packed.

In regards to Cordoba its a stunning city, we spend 10 nights there and its never enough.

If you prefer a hotel, I suggest Hotel Amadeus Sevilla, it unique and located in a stunning street in the Santa Cruz district.

I hope this helps and am sure you are going to love Seville.

Sent airbnb via PM.

I would say it depends on how much you like walking as to where you want to stay. If you like walking 5-10 miles a day, then stay on the edges like Triana. Cheaper, quieter at night. Some fantastic apartments.

A few comments on the fair itself. The first night is opening night. At midnight they light it up. We were there and thought that was the time to go home. At about 12:30am we started to leave, There were easily 100,000 thousand people arriving. The streets leading to the fairgrounds were packed in all directions with Spanish people all going one way... to the fair. It was actually a little difficult to go the other way, lol.

The entrance to the fairgrounds is right about here. We had a hard time figuring out where it was at first. There is another fairground well outside the city with a similar name.
Ihttps://www.google.com/maps/place/37%C2%B022'17.7%22N+6%C2%B000'17.4%22W/@37.3715755,-6.0057471,18z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!1m8!3m7!1s0xc42e3783261bc8b:0xa6ec2c940768a3ec!2sSpain!3b1!8m2!3d40.463667!4d-3.74922!16zL20vMDZta2o!3m3!8m2!3d37.371574!4d-6.004831?entry=ttu

If you go Friday night, try to be near this at midnight. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Calle+del+Infierno+Feria+Abril+Sevilla/@37.371653,-6.0064755,17.16z/data=!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0xc42e3783261bc8b:0xa6ec2c940768a3ec!2sSpain!3b1!8m2!3d40.463667!4d-3.74922!16zL20vMDZta2o!3m5!1s0xd126de5fd8d7af5:0xe9d3604ce29a9089!8m2!3d37.3704892!4d-6.0052833!16s%2Fg%2F11k4w1pdnp?entry=ttu

I would suggest going to the fairground during the day at least once. The processions of the carriages and the traditional dress is a sight. At night its mainly people dancing and drinking in the casetas (tents). Not as much for an outsider to see or do.
Here is a link explaining to casetas. https://www.andalucia.com/festival/seville-feria-public-casetas

You will see the carriages and people dressed up all over the city that week.

Book early

We were there this year during the Feria. We just loved seeing everyone walking around in their beautiful Flamenco dresses, even some little ones who were adorable, We also saw quite a few ladies riding around in horse drawn carriages., We stayed at Basic Hotel Doña Manuela located between the historic center and Placa de España. The location was great, we were able to walk to both areas and saw so many locals in their beautiful clothes. As others have said, it was hot! I guess it was a heatwave because it was at least 100 degrees out. It was pretty awful but we managed. We happened upon a big crowd of people in their finery dancing at Placa de España and we couldn't believe our luck! We saw tons of people walking in and out so we decided to go and see what was going on. There was live music with hundreds of people dancing. We didn't feel the need to go to the fairgrounds. To be honest, we were so wilted from the heat that we were so happy to have run into that crowd. In the historic city center, we didn't really see anyone walking around in their outfits I guess because the area was mostly filled with tourists. Don't miss Las Setas (the Mushroom) the large wooden structure built over a plaza and try to go at dusk so you can see the sunset and the light show from the top of the structure. I think it was 15 euro to go up to the top.

I do recommend staying in Cordoba for 2 nights if you haven't been. At that time of the year, the locals are gearing up for the Festival of the Patios. Patios are filled with beautiful flowers and are quite a sight to see. Even the walls of the patios were lined with tons of pots with flowers. It was so beautiful. And of course, you cannot miss the Mezquita., the Mosque-Cathedral. We stayed at Eurostars Conquistador which is right across the Mezquita.

We've also stayed in Sevilla during the feria, and I agree with Mark O that the crowds are primarily at the fairgrounds themselves in the late evenings/nights, and you shouldn't see much impact around the central areas of Sevilla. Our only impact as tourists was that taxis could be hard to find, so plan ahead and allow extra time if you need to catch one to the train station, for example.

Do plan to spend at least some time at the feria itself -- it's unique, beautiful, and fun.

A suggestion for a day trip outside of Sevilla would be either Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, or both. They are an easy, direct, short train ride from Sevilla and would offer some different activities/scenery. Personally, I liked both of them much more than Sevilla -- they felt less crowded, more open spaces, slower pace -- but I am not a bustling-city person, so take that for what it's worth.

Enjoy your trip!