10 Things to Do in Seville in Winter

There are no better times than others to visit a city. Each season has its advantages and its public. For example, winter is the ideal season for those who want to know everything Seville has to offer while escaping the heat or the crowds. A season where the cold is not an impediment and in which there is no lack of plans and ideas to get to know another side of the Andalusian city.

In the winter months there are also festivals and events that are celebrated with special enthusiasm in the city in addition to, of course, its best monuments and places always seen from the perspective that gives the calm that characterizes the Sevillian winter.

Visiting the Cathedral and the Alcazar of Seville is the first thing you should do when you arrive in the city. Although it sounds like a typical plan and can be done throughout the year, the truth is that seeing this monumental complex in winter has a great advantage. And it is that there are far fewer people than during the rest of the year.

If you book your ticket for the Cathedral of Seville or the Alcazar in advance, you can see all the wonders of these places without queuing up. Keep in mind that both monuments receive more than 2 million visitors a year.

The Cathedral of Seville is not just any cathedral, but the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, and the Alcazar is the oldest active royal residence in Europe. In addition, both monuments are World Heritage Sites.

Flamenco lovers traveling to Seville in January will find a date marked in red on the calendar. In the first month of the year, We Love Flamenco has been held for more than a decade, an event focused on flamenco fashion where the best artisans and manufacturers bring out the best dresses for the catwalks that are held in different parts of the city.

This event serves as preparation for the famous April fair and taking advantage of the occasion there are also special flamenco shows and performances being the Triana neighborhood, as usual, the stage and cradle of this very characteristic musical genre.

Whether you like fashion or music, this event is the best attraction in winter.

Gastronomy is one of the highlights of Seville and never better said. It is true that winter is not especially cold in the city, but the humidity of the Guadalquivir and some colder days make eating good hot dishes very grateful.

And for this we can take a gastronomic tour of the city and try some of its winter delicacies:

• The Andalusian stew, similar to the Madrid stew but with certain particularities.
• Eggs "a la flamenca", a dish with fried eggs as the protagonist and usually served with a base of fried tomato and some vegetables or sausages on a hot plate.
• Roasted chestnuts, which are sold in street stalls.
• Churros with chocolate for breakfast.
• The oxtail stews, a delicacy for the winter.

Whenever you visit a European city in winter , it is always a good idea to have a plan in case we get caught on a day or several days of excessive cold. In these cases I usually recommend visiting museums if the city in question has an interesting range. And, fortunately, this is the case of Seville. In the city of Seville there are several and some of unique themes in the world.

This is the case of the Museum of Flamenco Dance, unique in its subject and one of the most important in the city. It is located in the neighborhood of Santa Cruz, between the Plaza de la Alfalfa and the Cathedral, and also has a showroom where concerts are held regularly. You have more information in this post.

Other alternatives are the Museum of Fine Arts in the Plaza del Museo, or the Maritime Museum, which is located in the famous Torre del Oro. All of them are excellent places to visit on cold days.

February 28th is a very special date for the city of Seville and for Andalusia. On that date is celebrated the day of Andalusia and is one of the most special days to visit the capital of this community as the city is decorated and prepared to host numerous activities and events.

The museums and archaeological sites have a leading role among the activities of this day. Booking an excursion to Italica from Seville is an excellent idea, since in the ruins of this ancient Roman city there are theatrical performances on the occasion of this day.

Apart from the official program of activities, it is a date that I highly recommend to get fully into the Sevillian customs. This happens, for example, by hiring a boat trip on the Guadalquivir, book a tapas and flamenco tour in Seville or visit the most emblematic places of Seville with a private tour. Any excuse is good to imbibe the Sevillian spirit but on Andalusia Day you have it easier.

In any European city, Christmas is the main event of the winter. Seville is no exception. These holidays are celebrated in the city of Seville with great enthusiasm and with a great weight of tradition. Christmas markets, street lighting, Christmas sweets or carol contests are the classics of Christmas in Seville.

One of the favorite plans of the Sevillians is to make the famous route of the cribs. An itinerary through the churches of the city that mount their own cribs with an exquisite level of craftsmanship. In any case, if you want to know everything that Christmas in Seville has to offer, you can do it in this link.

And if you want to admire the Christmas lights that adorn the capital of Seville, nothing better than booking a seat on the tourist bus, from which you can see the most representative Sevillian monuments decorated for Christmas in a comfortable and warm way.

The religious festivities are lived with special enthusiasm in Seville. Proof of this is its famous Holy Week. But it is not the only date marked on the calendar in this sense. Another very special day for the city is December 8, when the day of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated. A date that has many activities and traditions linked to it.

The dance of the Seises is a traditional dance performed by a group of children in the cathedral of Seville and can be enjoyed free of charge from December 8 to 15.

There are also special celebrations in the Cathedral and even the university tunas play in several central squares of the city. But, undoubtedly, the highlight is the procession that takes the virgin through the streets of Seville and always attracts thousands of tourists.

Given that winter temperatures in Seville are very mild and in spring and summer are very high, this is a time that is used for outdoor sports. In fact there are several important events during these months, such as the half marathon and the Seville marathon.

The Seville half marathon serves as an appetizer for the full marathon. It is held at the end of January and has both the full 21-kilometer variant and a shorter 10-kilometer variant. Both circuits pass through some of the most emblematic places of the city.

A few days later, in February, the marathon is held. It is twice as long and has twice the international recognition.

One of the most celebrated festivals in winter are the carnivals. In Andalusia, those of Cadiz are the most famous, recognized worldwide, but those of Seville are also worthwhile especially because they share many things with those of the city of Cadiz.

In fact some of the groups and chirigotas of Cadiz travel to Seville after the carnivals of Cadiz. Some of these groups join the festivities of neighborhoods such as Triana or towns near Seville, such as Carmona.

In the city of Seville a festival is held in early or mid-March in which the groups and chirigotas make several performances with the characteristic Andalusian humor as a predominant note. This festival is held at the Cartuja Centre Cite in Seville. A very fun plan for the Sevillian winter.

With the arrival of winter and Christmas, a winter theme park is installed in Seville, the Sevilla On Ice, a park that is installed every winter in the Muelle de las Delicias, next to the Guadalquivir, and is the best place to enjoy the winter especially if you travel to Seville with children.

In the park is the largest outdoor ice rink in Spain as the main attraction, accompanied by a dozen attractions such as an ice slide, Ferris wheels, bouncy castles, etc..

There are also gastronomic areas and all kinds of entertainment to have a great time despite the cold. Generally, the park is open from late November to mid-January.

If you are looking for a European city to visit in winter and the cold is not a problem that is Seville, as it is one of the warmest cities on the continent.

The average temperature oscillates around 12 degrees with maximums of more than 15 degrees and minimums that rarely fall below 5 or 6 degrees. Of the winter months, January is the coldest, but not much below these temperatures.

In addition to being a mild winter, the advantage is that rainfall is not very common. Despite being the rainiest season, on average it does not exceed 5 or 6 per month. If you have to look for a downside, it would be the humidity of the Guadalquivir that can sometimes make the wind chill colder. But, as you can see, Seville is the ideal destination for the coldest people.

This section represents another of the great advantages of visiting Seville in winter. And it is the time of least influx of tourists in the city and, therefore, the less crowded and more comfortable to visit its monuments.

Finding accommodation in these months is quite easy. The only upturn occurs at Christmas, when people take advantage of the vacations to see the city decked out.

Prices also drop considerably due to low demand. It is not an overly expensive city, but if you are looking to save on your trip it is best to choose months like February. In any case, Seville in winter is very appealing to see. Away from the heat, the crowds and with lower prices.

Another advantage of traveling to Seville in winter we discovered when it comes to packing. Normally if we travel to a European city in winter space is usually a problem because of the amount of warm clothes we have to pack. This is not the case.

To travel to Seville it is enough to take a not very thick coat and light winter clothes like sweaters. Although it does not usually rain, a raincoat is never superfluous and the most important thing is to wear comfortable shoes to walk around the city as this lends itself well to visit it on foot.