Traveling to Seville, Spain for Fiesta Abril in 2011

The first trick is to figure out when it is. As far as I can tell, the dates have not "officially" been established yet. It is traditionally held 2 weeks after Easter, which points to May 10-15, but with Easter so late, many are saying it will be held earlier, May 3 to 8. Hotel prices take a jump on May 3, and inquires on other travel boards (Tripadvisor) also weigh in toward the May 3 date. Apparently it will be decided in November. . . . As far as advice, we haven't been yet so I don't speak from experience. But I have done the research as we are going in 2011 ourselves. It is easy to fly into Madrid and take the fast AVE train to Seville. There may well be flights that work well too, but someone else will have to advise you on that. . . . Hotels are booking up, but there are still many rooms available in nice, well-located hotels. (At least there were a week ago). You can use one of the sites like venere.com or expedia, etc. to find rooms for your dates, and check prices. I would then book directly with the hotel.

i was in seville a few years ago before the festival, so was able to get a relatively cheap place right around the church. i also flew from seattle to madrid first, then took a high speed train to seville. the taxi from train station is pretty cheap, but the area is walking only, so good location means you'll have to drag you bags around and/or park somewhere else if you rent a car. Seville is not very big but it's hot this time, so you can combine walking with bus. it's a great place with all the orange trees blooming, streets smells so good and throwing down sangria is really cool. not a lot of people speak english, and people are really serious about religion, so just be respectful with their traditions.

David, were you there for Semana Santa (Holy Week), the week before Easter, or Feria de Abril (April Fair), which is two week after Easter? The latter is not a religious festival; it is a huge celebration of Andalusian culture. . . . The orange-scented streets sound wonderful. But was it really hot already?