Who wants to waste valuable sightseeing (and eating!) time stuck in a queue?
Most visitors come to Seville with the aim of seeing two main monuments – the Seville Cathedral and the Royal Alcazar Palace. Any other smaller museums and monuments are a bonus. But there is one big problem, especially in hot weather – the queues! Queuing for an hour in 40-degree temperatures is no one’s idea of a good time, so here are some tips on how to beat the lines in Seville.
Photo credit: Albert, Text overlay: Devour Spain.
Seville Cathedral
The good news is there is a way to beat the lines at Seville’s Cathedral, a little loophole in the system, and one that works. When you buy the ticket to Seville’s Cathedral, the ticket is a combined ticket for both the Cathedral and the Church of El Salvador, Seville’s second largest church which is also worth a look.
The thing is, while beautiful in its own right, the Church of El Salvador is a lot less popular. This means you can visit the Church of El Salvador first, purchase your ticket as a combined ticket for both monuments (make sure you specify you want the combined ticket, as entrance to just the Church is cheaper), then head over to the Cathedral and stroll past the long entrance queue straight to the door with your already purchased ticket. Not a bad trick at all!
Royal Alcazar Palace
It used to be that queues were not so long or frequent at the Seville Alcazar, but nowadays the Royal Alcazar is Seville’s other great monument, with lines to match! Long gone are the days that this spectacular monument was a hidden gem– partially to blame for the series you may have heard of called Game of Thrones — which uses the Alcazar quite a bit in filming!
Especially later in the day, you will often find a queue. Not really surprising, given that from January to June this year, the Alcazar experienced a record number of visitors, nearly 13% more than the same period the previous year.
Luckily, the Alcazar lines are easily skipped– especially if you book tickets in advance on the website, where for a service fee of 1 euro, you can buy your tickets ahead of time. 1 euro well spent, we say! This is especially useful if you wish to visit the Upper Royal Quarters of the Alcazar.
These are the reception rooms and common areas that are still used today by the Spanish Royal family when they visit Seville, and access to this area is only by a strictly limited audio guided, security escorted tour, that operates only during the mornings. We really recommend this additional visit inside the Alcazar as it really adds context to the current use of the building.
This blog post was originally posted on July 23, 2015, and was updated on February 23, 2017.
Ready to skip the line? Enjoy VIP access to the Alcazar – and experience Seville’s most iconic sights – on our Seville in a Day Tour with VIP Access to Alcázar.
Great tip about the Church of El Salvador. Saved us an hour in a hot queue today.
Hi I’ve just come across your post during my research for an upcoming trip in March and this has been one of the more helpful posts! I’m having trouble prebooking Alcazar tickets on their website though. I had similar problems with online booking for the night tour of the Cordoba Mezquita although I’m now told by their staff that they are only open for advanced booking a month in advance. Is there a similar rule for Alcazar, would you know? I would very much like to see the Upper Royal Quarters.
Hi Vivian,
Thanks for your kind words about the post. There is no such policy when it comes to reserving tickets at the Alcázar, you should be able to reserve tickets now for a visit in March. I´ve checked the link to their website in this post (https://oberonsaas.com/realalcazarsevilla) and it seems to be working fine. Could it be a browser issue? Perhaps try it from another browser and see if there are any better results.
Hi, 1 question why when I try to book a Alcazar ticket , it ask for a timing pass ln the GENERAL TOUR . I thought it is only when you book Alcazar tickets + CUARTO REAL ALTO
Hey Mervyn! You actually have to give a time for when you’re going to be at the Palace regardless of the type of tour you want to take.
I’m not wohtry to be in the same forum. ROTFL
I just need the web link please ASAP to book Cathedrahl in Seville on Tuesday 28th March and then Alczar palace Wednesday 29th and then if there is a link for the Mezquita for the Thursday 30th? please let me know soonest
kind regards
jane
Need to book in advance cathedral Seville happy to do the best option to avoid queues..
Then another day Alcazar
Please advise where to book going on 27th March
Hi Jane,
Here are the links to follow to book your tickets in advance,
http://www.catedraldesevilla.es/
https://oberonsaas.com/realalcazarsevilla
Thanks!
Jaimie
We want to buy tickets for the Alcazar in Seville, but we can not print them. what shall we do?
Hi, Martijn, It is not necessary to print your tickets, you can show them on a smart phone or tablet. Jaimie
Thank you so much for your excellent blog post – it is very helpful! I was hoping you could help me with a question about the Alcazar Real online tickets. If we have an 11:00 timed entry ticket for the Royal Apartments, how early can we enter the Alcazar complex to look around prior to seeing the apartments? We would like to be there for when they open at 09:30 but cannot find any information on if they will allow us to enter the complex if our ticket for the apartments isn’t until 11:00. Also, if we go early, can we also pick up our audioguides early as well, and is there a time limit for how long you can keep the audioguides? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks!
Hi Kathryn, thanks for reading our blog and for such nice comments. As far as we are aware, it is no problem to enter the complex before you assigned time to visit the living quarters, it certainly was this way previously. With regards the audio guides, you simply collect them when entering the Alzacar and then deposit them when you leave, there is no specific time limit on your use of them, so long as you stay within the normal opening hours, of course. I hope this helps and enjoy your time in Seville.
Hi
I only have time to spend 1 day at Seville and intend to park at Parking Avenida Roma (expensive), I intend to visit Alcázar of Seville, Iglesia del Salvado, Seville Cathedral & Giralda & Plaza de España. Which place should I visit first? Going to the north to Iglesia del Salvado first or to start off with Alcázar of Seville. Seville Cathedral & Giralda open at 1100 – 1700 & Alcázar of Seville open at 0930 – 1900 . Do you know what is the average hours people spent in Seville Cathedral & Giralda & Alcázar of Seville?
Hi Mervyn,
While the parking you’ve chosen is a bit more expensive, it is very well located. I think if you head to the Alcazar first to beat the queues (consider booking ahead online to ensure you walk straight in), you can then head to Iglesia del Salvador to make use of the combination ticket that allows you to skip the queue to the Cathedral. Then round off your day in Plaza de España. It’s a jam-packed day but you will enjoy some amazing sights! Each of the main sights requires at least 2 hours, from our experience. You won’t want to leave the gardens in the Alcazar – they’re truly spectacular! Hope this helped!
Thanks for your info, my son would like to visit a spanish bull ring but not fond of watching a bull fight, I heard there is a bullring in Seville, Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla, may I know if it is possible to go to the bullring stand to have a view of the grand bullring arena.
Absolutely, you can do tours of the bullring where they explain a bit of the history of bullfighting and you get to see the arena itself, without seeing an actual bull fight. The visit to the bullring costs 8 euro and there are visits every 20 minutes or so from 9:30 – 21:00, unless there is a celebration on, in which case they stop doing visits at 15:00.
Great tip about skipping the line for Seville Cathedral. We saved hours of standing in long queue while it was raining and walked in like a boss!! 🙂
Thanks.
We’re delighted to hear it, there’s no time for waiting in line, especially when there’s so much food and drink to enjoy in the city!
How advanced can you reserve for Seville Cathedral? Any English website? Thanks
You can use this website to book tickets in advance – http://www.cubiertasdelacatedral.com/ – but we would recommend buying a combo ticket in person at the Divino Salvador Church in Seville, which allows you to jump the longer line at the Cathedral!
Hi, this is a great post! I made a booking for the General Tour + CUARTO REAL ALTO on the booking website you suggested just then but the e-ticket that was sent to me said the ticket was for the CUARTO REAL ALTO tour only. I thought that ticket included a general tour of the Alcazar too? Or do I need to buy a separate ticket for that? Thanks
Hi Faye,
From the booking website, you would select “Events” and choose “General tour + Cuarto Real Alto” then hit the purchase button. From there you will be taken to the next tab to select your date and time. Next, you’ll choose how many ticekts you want and hit the “next” button and finally you’ll be taken to the last tab where you will select if you are buying a general addmission ticket or if you have any applicable discounts (for children, retirees, etc.). On this final tab is where you will see the option “Combined Alcázar + Cuarto Real Alto” which shows a general admission price of 14€. Hope that helps!
Thanks Hayley! I’m also interested in getting the combined ticket at the Divino Salvador Church – is it open in August though? I couldn’t read their website which was in Spanish. Thanks!
Open in August!
Hi
I see that it is only 2 euros for retired people in The Alcazar. Does this apply to people from all countries or just Spain?
Hi Sheila,
Any person from any country over the age of 65 can get the retired persons’ discount, with a valid ID!
I hope this is still true as I just purchased 4 retired Alcazar tickets. Discovered the Alhambra only allows the discount rate for EU members. Great tips and answers on your site. Thank you.
Hi, thanks for the information. I have a question about the lines…i have read here that it is more crowded in the afternoon and read someplace else that it is more crowded in the morning…any insight?
Hi Sara,
If you want to get a real jump on the lines, we’d recommend being the first in line when the monument you wish to visit is just opening!
Thanks for the great information! I’m trying to buy advance tickets for the cathedral and the date I want are in red. Any reason why?
http://www.cubiertasdelacatedral.com/calendario-catedral/2017-10
Hi, Katherine. The dates in red may indicate there are no more advanced tickets available for that day. If you head to the Iglesia de Salvador church though you can skip the queue and don’t pay any extra than a normal Cathedral ticket, perhaps that would be the best option if the online site won’t allow you to purchase in advance. Glad to hear you found the info useful, enjoy your trip to the city!
Thanks!
Just checked both options for the palace and the cathedral – work perfecty! We skipped two very long lines. Thank you for the excellent advice!
Hi, Gabi. I’m so happy you were able to make use of the insider info, I hope you enjoyed visiting both monuments!
Hi, from the Alcazar website it mentioned that there is free admission on Monday.
Is the free admission allowed enter the whole palace or only certain sections of the Alcazar
Therefore if i pay a visit on Monday, shall i still buy the entrance ticket in advance?
Hi, Jovin. The free entry on Mondays only applies to the last opening hour of the Palace. As we are moving to October, the winter hours kick in and so the free hour for the Alcazar is from 16:00-17:00. With the free entrance you can enter all the Palace but you will have just one hour to visit it. You can still reserve a ticket online for the free period in order to skip the queue, just click on the ‘Lunes. Entrada Horario Gratuito’ link on the ticket purchase screen. Enjoy the Alcazar!
I grab a free tickets for Monday October 9th at 16:00. There were also tickets for 17:00…. If they are letting people in at 17:00 would I be able to stay longer than one hour?
Hi, thanks for your post. Greatly appreciated. Just tried to secure tickets in The Alcazar for January 2018. Not sure if there is a problem on the website as it doesn;t allow any tickets to be booked in any months for 2018. Whenever you click on a certain date for 2018 it will advice that there are no scheduled passes for any of the dates. Does this mean that it has been booked out fully? Unsure if it applies to everyone visiting the site now or just a browser issue for mine – although I tried using different browser to book to no avail.
Hi, Dianna. Don’t worry, it’s nothing to do with your browser or the number of tickets left. Each year, online reservation for Alcazar tickets only opens the 1st of January, so you should be able to reserve a ticket online from the 1st onwards. I hope this helps and thank you for your comment!
Thanks for the great tips. We were only able to get 13:00 tickets for the Alcázar Cuartos Reales for the day we visit, but can we hope to be able to view the rest of the palace early beforehand. Can we expect to be allowed to enter as early as 9:30 when they open? I’m hoping so. It’s a bit confusing that they have timed entry for the general tickets, but only have the Cuarto Reales time given on that ticket and don’t specify how early we can arrive for general entry. Thanks!
Hi Audrey! We’re not 100% sure but we do believe that you can enter the Alcazar at any time, and just have to visit the Royal Quarters during the assigned time. Enjoy!
We had Cuartos Reales tickets for 13:00, and indeed they let us into the Alcázar shortly after the 9:30 opening. We went to the middle line which was far shorter than the right line. There were a lot of people waiting so you kind of have to go to the front and then work back to find the end of the line of people with tickets already.
Hi! I came across your blog while researching for our trip to Spain and find it very informative. We were able to book the Alcazar Cuartos Reales tickets with audio but upon checking out and payment, I found that the price indicated did not include audio. Would you know if it is possible to rent audio guides when we get there? Or do the tickets include audio even if the price do not reflect this? Not sure if my understanding was that audio is only for the Royal Apartment portion or includes the whole Alcazar. On the site, its inidicated that audio is for 5 euros.
thanks in advance.
Great question, Maxine! Though we aren’t sure, we imagine you could get audio guides once there if it turns out that your tickets do not include them. You’ll have to let us know how it turns out!
Yes, as soon as you enter, you can pay for and pick up the audio guides, currently €5 each. At the Cuartos Reales upstairs, they give you a different audio guide just for that section. We had the Cuartos Reales tickets and it did not include the downstairs audio guides so we purchased them upon entry.
Hi there,
This a great blog very informative, I wonder if you can answer this question? I have purchased online combined tickets for the cathedral, they are timed for 12.30, can we also enter earlier if we get there sooner than this? Excellent info again, kind regards Chris
Hi Chris! We’re not sure for the Cathedral, but know that for the Alcazar, you can get in 15 minutes before the time on your ticket, so you could try that at the Cathedral as well!
Thanks for the useful information about the Cathedral. I have been looking on-line for tickets for Alcazar and see that “Retired” people can get in cheaper. We are 63 & 65, will we need proof of our age? What age is “Retired” in Spain? Looking forward to our trip in September.
Hi Mena! If you buy the “retired” tickets, do come prepared to show some kind of documentation. The age of retirement in Spain in 2018 is between 65 and 66 years. We’ve searched all over the Alcázar page and have seen that student and retiree tickets require accreditation, but there don’t seem to be any details on what kind of accreditation or what age they accept as retired. If you guys go for it, let us know what you find out!
I tried to buy tickets online for the Alcazar but something seems to be wrong with their site. A full ticket is 11,50 but when i press “buy” the price turns into. Same thing happens to all the other tickets, they start with 11,50 plus the normal price!! So it’s impossible to buy online.
Hi there Maya! The website was recently updated. If you are interested in a general visit, the ticket is 11.50€ but includes a 1€ online processing fee. You’ll want to scroll down to “Visita General” and on the second page choose “entrada general” and the number of tickets you’ll need. The next page allows you to choose the day of your visit and then finally, the available times will pop up! All that’s left is to make payment. We hope that helps!
Trying to book cathedral tickets- can’t book because no option to enter we’re from the UK, every other country! And when we try Alcazar, every time we select general ticket the price goes from 11.50 to E18.50 not having much luck!! Any ideas.
Hi Simon! For the UK, select “Reino Unido.” For the Alcazar, the general entry ticket is 12.50€ (11.50 + 1€ online processing fee). You can find that one under the section “General Tour” (third one down). We just tested it and the price stayed at 12.50€ for us!
Anyone knows if i can still buy tickets for the Royal apartments on the spot? Its sold out online and i can only get the general tour.
Hi there! Unfortunately, only a limited number of visitors can tour the Royal apartments each day and are therefore these tickets are not available for purchase same day.
hi
Can I purchase tickets for Real Alcazar and Real High room online and then when I get there add the audio? Or will there then be a long line to pick up the audio that I would have skipped if I purchased audio with the entrance ticket online? How long does the audio take? And how long does it take to get up to the Real High room once we have started the audio tour?
Hey Justine! We’d recommend you buy all three online to save time and money! With the audio guide there are numbered signs which indicate what audio track to listen to. If you listen to all the tracks your visit will take at least 3 hours, but you can skip a few tracks to hurry your visit if you need to. Have a great time!
Does the combined cathedral & church que jump trick still apply?
We are looking at this for tomorrow
Hi Katie! You should still be able to use this trick tomorrow. Enjoy Seville!
If I buy a cathedral ticket online, I have to choose an entry time between 1130 and 1600. But if I walk up and buy the combo ticket at the Salvador church, I will not have an assigned entry time for the cathedral. Does it matter what time I go to the cathedral if I’m using the ticket I bought at the church? Also, can I visit the church and cathedral on different days, using the same ticket? Do you know how many days the ticket is valid? Thanks!
Hi Amanda! If you buy the combined ticket at the Salvador Church, you won’t need to choose a specific entry time for the cathedral—you can go any time during opening hours. The ticket should be valid for at least two days, so you can go to the church one day and the cathedral the next. Enjoy Seville!
hi, the link for alcazar you have provided, doesn’t work.
Hi Zhanna, thanks for the heads up. The link doesn’t appear to be broken—you could try this one: https://www.alcazarsevilla.org/en/
Let us know!