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Seville festival in April

Posted by (USA) on

Hi travelers,

If you have been to the festival in Seville in April, aka “La Feria de Abril” , can you share your experience?
I am on the verge of changing my plan (e.g., train, forgo Toledo) after finding out the colorful and lively festival starts the day after our family planned to take a trip to Madrid. I would love to get your opinions on:

  1. If you attended the festival before, was it worth it? I read several venues are invitation only and a few places are open to public. Even with that, would you recommend going for the experience for a half day?
  2. This can be controversial but I heard Madrid isn’t as impressive as Seville. With that being said and considering the festival as above, would you shorten the visit in Madrid to stay in Seville for an extra day?

Thanks in advance for sharing your thoughts. Cheers!

Posted by
16287 posts

We spent 3 nights in Seville during the Feria and absolutely loved it. We arrived before it started, and had fun wandering the grounds watching the preparations and set-up. Then we returned in the afternoon on opening day to see the festivities. I happen to love horses so it was especially meaningful for me, but my husband enjoyed it as much as I did. We did not go into any of the tents; it was enough just to see the parades, and the people having such a good time in their finery. Then we would enjoy a quiet dinner at a restaurant in town; no crowds because most people are out at the fairgrounds.

We spent very little time in Madrid on our trip—-only the afternoon and evening before our flight home. That was enough for a 2-hour visit to the Prado, a walk through Retiro Park, and a light dinner of tapas. I had been there before and did not feel a need to see the city again. We preferred to allot our time to Barcelona (3 nights), Toledo (2 nights), Sevilla (3 nights), Granada (3 nights), and Cordoba (1 night).

Posted by
59 posts

Thanks so much for sharing! It sounds so exciting and I can’t wait!
A couple of questions-
1. Do you recall when the festival approximately begins? The website says the date but not time; since we are going to check out and catch train in the afternoon around 2pm, we have to be mindful of the time…

  1. I see on the pictures of the past festival many beautiful attires. A silly question as a tourist but is there any general recommended dress code in the festival?

  2. Is there any food vendor in the festival or did you have to dine elsewhere?

Thanks again!

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