Seville Lodging

I would have stayed with Barcelona. Our experience in Seville several years ago was that the town will start closing down at noon on Dec 31, with nothing open on the 1st. They do not have the wild, party celebration similar to the US on New Years eve. Cordoba and the Mezquita would be an easy day trip. Granada is a bit far and the Alhambra can easily consume a day. We used the Hotel Amadeus. It was close to the Cathedral and the Alcazar.

We visited Seville in October 2017, so I have no idea what it's like between Christmas and New Year. BUT, I really loved the Hotel Becquer. We couldn't get into the Amadeus.

https://www.hotelbecquer.com/en/

We took a day trip from Seville to Jerez and Cadiz. Liked Jerez, but loved Cadiz. With that said, you should check to see exactly what sights and services will be open when you're there. Maybe Madrid would be a better choice than Seville for that time period - but I would have stayed with Barcelona.

We stayed at hotel Amadeus last time we were there. It’s about a 5 minutes walk to the cathedral, giralda tower, and Alcazar. The plaza de Espana is about 10 minutes away in one direction, as is the Torre de Oro and the Guadalquivir river.

Bherrington47 - Here are my recommendations for Seville.

Hotels:

https://www.ayrehoteles.com/hoteles/ayre-hotel-sevilla/?utm_source=mybusiness&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=sevilla

Ayre Hotel Sevilla is across Santa Justa AVE train station which can be convenient when planning to do day trips to Cordoba, Granada, Jerez or Malaga.

https://www.hotelposadadellucero.es/

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/761721?irgwc=1&irclid=XphRQ2SOmxyJULwwUx0Mo38TUknz%3A4xHp0Psxk0&ircid=4273&sharedid=&af=49497874&iratid=9627&c=.pi73.pk4273_10078&irparam1=&source_impression_id=p3_1572384536_n%2Be2xpuJjdMK4CgG

http://www.patiosantacruz.com/

https://elreymoro.com/en/

Restaurants:

http://www.espacioeslava.com/es/restaurante?utm_source=tripadvisor&utm_medium=referral

https://www.mariatrifulca.com/

Day trip options from Seville:

Jerez de la Frontera, Cadiz, Cordoba, Málaga or Granada.

Must see places in Seville:

Metropol Parasol

https://setasdesevilla.com/

Royal Alcázar

https://www.alcazarsevilla.org/noticias/english-version/

We had a super stay at the El Rey Moro in Seville. Was close to several restaurants and has a great patio area which might not be useful in winter but still pretty.

Cordoba is an A-1 destination and can be reached in as little as 42 minutes.

I agree that Granada is awfully far for a day-trip from Seville. And the Alhambra's regular tickets are sold out for the period of your time in Spain, though you might be able to pick up tickets from your hotel or by taking a tour. But I wouldn't choose to spend so much time traveling to a city where you you'd really only have time to see one sight (and not necessarily in a leisurely manner), given that you have more-convenient options. There's a lot more to see in Granada than just the Alhambra.

I'd consider Malaga only if I was prepared to take the 8 AM train that arrives at 10 AM. the later trains take longer. However, the Picasso Museum in Malaga is quite nice; it you are big fans, the long trip might be worthwhile for you.

Jerez takes around an hour by train (one-way); it is especially appealing to sherry- and horse-lovers, but I don't know whether the sherry bodegas will be open and the horse shows running over the holiday period. Cadiz is about 1 hr. 45 min. Jerez and Cadiz are interesting enough, but you'll have just 5 full, non-jetlagged days in Seville, and I think Seville and Cordoba can easily fill all your time.

It's worth figuring out what you want to do and checking the Renfe website to see whether any promo tickets are available for potential day-trips.

Thanks everyone for all the great advice. As it turns out we will be renting an apartment for 6 nights in a neighborhood called Casco Antiguo which apparently is in the center of town. Does anyone know anything about that area? ( I can always cancel my reservation if it turns out it's a mistake) We just decided that an apartment made sense for the length of time we would be there. It's supposed to have a grocery store right across the street so we can cook some of our own meals.

The address of our apartment is Calle Mateos Gago 23 Bajo A. That doesn't mean anything to me. Does anyone know if it is in a good area? It would be nice to be able to walk to some fun places nearby.

I also like the Hotel Becquer, I've stayed there 3 times. It's reasonably close walking distance to almost everything, and aif you are driving, it's easy to get to and they have available parking.

I highly recommend visiting Italica. The Roman ruins are magnificent! I'd also recommend seeing a flamenco show. Steve recommends some in his book. We went to Case de la Memoria, partly because it was a 3 minute walk from where we were staying.

The Mezquita in Cordoba was great. There is a horse show (Caballerizas Reales de Córdoba) that looked interesting, but we didn't have time to see it.

I don't know how far you want to travel, but if you're in Sevilla, you're only 1-1/2 hours away from Portugal. You can take a ferry at Ayamonte, Spain into Vila Real de Santo Antonio in Portugal. It's an inexpensive and short ferry ride.

It's one hour from Sevilla to Donana National Park if you like wildlife. Huelva has sites related to Christopher Columbus.

It's only 2 hours to get to Gibraltar. If you've never been there, that would make a great side trip.

As far as day trips go, Cordoba and Jerez are fantastic. My friend and I actually spent a couple nights in Cordoba, but a day trip would definitely be doable. Truthfully, Cordoba was my favorite place we visited on our trip to Spain. The Mezquita is simply too incredible to miss. We did do a day trip to Jerez which was fun. We saw a show at the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art and then had a leisurely lunch and did a sherry tasting.