We are planning a trip to Spain next month March 11-April 2nd. I have now figured out that fortunately or unfortunately, our last week will be during Semana Santa. I am not a fan of huge crowds but would be open to being in a smaller town or village for part to experience it. Because of this, I have shifted my thoughts a bit to get to the places I want to see before the pilgrimage begins. I'm now thinking that flying into Barcelona, spending a few days there, and flying to Seville makes sense. I would love to see that area before it gets crazy. Maybe wander Seville for a few days and rent a car to drive to Ronda, Andalusia, Cordoba, and Granada. Maybe drop the car in Granada and take the train to Madrid. Use Madrid as a base for day trips and fly home from Madrid. Does any of this make sense? I should mention that I love to drive. I am a tour guide in the SF Bay Area by trade having said that navigating big European cities by car like Paris, Florence, or Rome in a car can be terrifying. What are the cities you would suggest to avoid driving in? I don't mind a train from point A to B if it is faster but figuring out local buses and schedules frustrates me to no end. Having said that, I for sure don't want to spend a ton of time driving if there isn't much to see in between.
Thank you again for any thoughts on this.
Posted by
Bilbao
651 posts
Not really sure what you think Semana Santa really is. To start with, it´s not a pilgrimage. And it´s celebrated in a different way (but also similar) in every town, province or region. There are processions, very colourful, some of them happy, some of them sad (depending on what day of the Passion of Christ it is), some are silent, some are very noisy, all of them very moving. And all with different meanings and significance. It does not get crazy, you can totally ignore the processions just by not staying near the itinerary. Those in Seville are the more popular for visitors, but there are thousands of Holy Week celebrations. And in many places, there is also a live reenaction of the Passion, with locals playing the different roles (soldiers, samaritan, Christ, María,...), something really worth watching. I´m not religious at all (like most Spaniards), but we do love our traditions and Holy Week processions are something I do not miss in my city every year (Bilbao).
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
6579 posts
Mikel provided a good summary of Semana Santa. Decades ago we avoided the crowds of Sevilla and went to the local (near where we lived) celebrations in Jerez de la Frontera. They were just as special.
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
6414 posts
I spent some incredible days in Spain during Semana Santa. We were in Cáceres for several days for the first few processions of Easter Week. It was beautiful and moving and an experience I will always treasure (and I am not religious).
We saw more processions in other places during Easter week, then the Easter Sunday procession in Valladolid. I would not have missed these for the world, and would strongly suggest that you not miss it either. I found that it is not terribly crowded except where the procession is flowing, so other parts of town should have normal traffic.
Posted by
778 posts
This is about the third or fourth post on the Forum I've seen in recent weeks where the gist is "Unfortunately we'll be in Spain during Holy Week, so how do we avoid the crowds/processions/traditions/noise/etc."
Look, I can be about as curmudgeonly as they come when dealing with overcrowded tourist situations and destinations. Semana Santa is not that. Our experience was Zaragoza and Pamplona rather than Seville, but I feel confident saying this is something to lean into, not something to avoid. It is beautiful. It is strange. It is boisterous. It is reverent. It is all of these things and it is a privilege to observe. I'm glad you are open to experiencing the traditions of a smaller town. I think that would be great too. But overall, I'd suggest a shift from playing defense around the week. Go into it knowing it is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime window into traditions that go back hundreds of years.
Posted by
Barcelona ☀️ Sweden ❄️
3909 posts
Barcelona and Madrid are not so impacted by the Semana Santa festivities.
However if you're looking for a smaller town that you can day trip to to get a taste of Semana Santa, from Barcelona I suggest Girona who have excellent Passion processions and reenactments with Roman legionaries in full kit, very cool. From Madrid you can visit Cuenca, which has typical Semana Santa processions you would see in in Andalucia but in a more compact and manageable scale. I was actually once part of the processions in Cuenca when I was much younger as a hooded penitent. Both towns are reachable via the AVE train.
You can read more here:
https://www.moventis.es/es/blog/girona-semana-santa
https://www.juntacofradiascuenca.es/semana-santa-2024/procesiones