A Week in Seville & Granada

This December, I was lucky enough to spend a week in the beautiful Andalusian cities of Seville & Granada! I will be reviewing the trip overall, sharing some photos and tips for exploring these two cities for my first blog post!

Flights 

This was a somewhat last-minute trip - we found the flights a couple of months back on Ryanair for £10pp return and I thought it would be a perfect short break, so my parents and I went ahead with booking it! 

Despite the flights being so cheap, we ended up paying a lot for baggage - which is where Ryanair makes up the money for its low-cost flights. Overall for 1 x 20kg bag, 1 x 10kg bag both ways and flights, we paid £130 which doesn't work out badly at all for three people! 

Tip 1: Make sure you look at the baggage policy for Ryanair - they are particularly strict about hand luggage (you are not allowed to take a small suitcase/cabin bag - only a rucksack/holdall is suitable and even these have size requirements)!

Tip 2: I would also recommend waiting till a couple of hours before to check-in - Ryanair usually allocate the seats at the back first - however, as we left checking in till quite late I was lucky enough to sit in the front row, with extra legroom and no one sitting next to me! 

We stayed at a couple of different places and jumped from Seville to Granada and back so rather than reviewing the accommodation separately - I think it would be easier to do a day by day itinerary style review! 

Day 1: Seville

We arrived in Seville at around 11am and our AirBnB owner had organised a taxi to come and collect us from the airport and take us to the apartment - which was right in the centre of Seville, next to the Giralda/Cathedral. 

It was a really lovely apartment, with one bedroom, a bathroom, a kitchenette and a living area with a sofa bed with a balcony that had a few of the Giralda: Giralda-Seville apartment - and our host Angela was extremely helpful.

She spoke both Spanish and English, although I decided to speak in Spanish with her to practise - and was able to provide us with lots of details of things to do nearby (printed out lists with opening times, costs, etc.), as well as several recommendations of restaurants that have vegetarian options + had a whole array of amenities for us to use throughout our stay (be it one night!). I had a lovely conversation with her for about an hour in Spanish about why she moved to Seville and her children and I can definitely say that she gave our short stay here a really personal touch.

I had a little siesta (as the Spaniards do) in the afternoon for a couple of hours! 

Then, after two years of not seeing each other, I met up with my Spanish exchange partner who I did an exchange with a couple of years ago, who now studies in Seville. So, I spent the rest of the day/night exploring the city with her, walking and catching up on everything that has happened over the past two years. She told me about several Sevillian customs/traditions and took me to a bunch of different spots like the University of Sevilla where she studies as well as the markets (which I, unfortunately, did not photograph as we were too busy caught up in conversation), however, the last place we visited was one of my favorite places in Spain! Plaza de España. I think the photos speak for themselves on the beauty of this place:

My parents haven't been to Seville before - so I decided that I would come back here later on in the trip with them so they could properly explore it! I then met my parents again and we went for a lovely dinner at L'Oca Giuliva. 

I am massively into my pasta - and had Trenette Al Pesto Genovese, which I highly recommend ordering if you go there! The service wasn't as great as the food though - it was a bit lacklustre and we did find that we had to keep on reminding the staff about our order and waited quite a while for our food to come. 

Tip 3: Most restaurants in Spain bring a bread basket and olives to your table, it is important to note in many cases that these have a surcharge usually of between 70 cents to €1 per person and will be added on to your bill at the end) 

We then strolled around a bit more to walk off the food that we had eaten and headed to sleep as we had to be up early the next day to catch a bus to Granada! 

Day 2 - Day 4: Granada

The morning after, we took a taxi to Estación de Sevilla-Plaza de Armas. We prebooked a return bus before the trip from Seville to Granada - which cost €19 (return) each and is definitely well worth doing. The bus was fully air-conditioned, had WiFi and as we were going up the hills to Granada, there were some amazing views of the Sierra Nevada mountains! Also, this way is so much cheaper & easier than driving yourself or taking a taxi. 

We then took a taxi from the bus station to our hotel which was situated right next to La Alhambra, the Eurostars Washington Irving! 

There is so much to say about this hotel that I could write a separate review, but the service, hotel, and location definitely lived up to the 5*! 

Tip 4: Book directly with the hotel instead of through a third party website - breakfast is included if you book directly and there are usually offers - we managed to find this for around €300 for 3 people, 3 nights! 

We all rested for a couple hours and then for our first night here decided to head towards the area of the Albayzín - which definitely was my favourite part of Granada! 

Tip 5: Across Granada, there are red minibuses (they are a lot smaller than the buses we have in the UK as the roads are so narrow) that can take you all across Granada - they cost €1.40 for adults and €0.90 for students and there was a bus stop situated right outside the hotel, which made travelling around really easy! You can also walk down from the hotel to the city centre using a pedestrianised route that takes about 15 minutes. 

We climbed up to find the most amazing view of La Alhambra and the city landscape, and it wasn't too overcrowded. We stayed up here for a while took some pictures and then had the difficulty of trying to find our way back down as all the streets looked the same. Narrow and windy! We finally made our way down and found the Moorish inspired streets that surround the Albayzín! 

We then walked through the neighbourhood and did a tapas crawl, ending up at "A Los Buenos Chicos" 

"A Los Buenos Chicos" - was definitely one of my favourite restaurant visits. This was a tiny place - there was not much seating at all - however, it was really cute and all the tapas were made fresh and it was all vegetarian! You also had the option of ordering 4 tapas dishes for €7 which is what we did after sampling our first free round that came with the drinks we ordered! The staff were incredibly lovely and you could tell that it was a very studenty/local place and that they had a mini-community in there! 

Tip 6: Granada is well known for the fact that with every drink you buy in EVERY tapas bar you visit, you are given a free tapas to go with it (also known as Pinchos). If you are vegetarian make sure you let them know when ordering your drink! 

The following day we had tickets to go see the most famous site in Granada, La Alhambra! Tickets cost €12 and I highly recommend getting an audio guide as well for €6 - so you can understand what is going on and these also allow you to set your own pace, which you wouldn't be able to with a normal guide! 

You must book tickets for La Alhambra at least three/four weeks in advance as it is usually unlikely to get a space after this! There are varying tickets on offer, we had ones that included Nasrid Palaces (which I 100% recommend seeing) and this was the only part of La Alhambra that had a specific time slot. Ours was 3:30pm, so we explored the rest of La Alhambra before this - so I recommend getting there a couple of hours earlier.

Tip 7: You are not allowed bags inside quite a few of the areas - so I recommend leaving these at home to avoid having to pay for lockers as well! There is also not much food choice available within the site so I would definitely eat well before you arrive here as you will be doing a lot of walking around! 

The Nasrid Palaces were so beautiful, and definitely the highlight of my visit to La Alhambra - and I do recommend purchasing tickets that include the palaces. You can definitely see the Moorish influence throughout the palace - and there was an amazing viewpoint as well from the palace over Granada. 

We then took a taxi down from La Alhambra to a restaurant that I found online called Restaurante Páprika. The food was all completely vegan and made fresh by one sole Argentinian chef right in front of us - who was extremely lovely and talented! We had six different dishes, and drinks and the bill came to around €55 in total for the three of us, which I found to be quite reasonable! 

Unfortunately, on the last day, it was pouring it down and I was very tired - so I only made it out for dinner at the famous Restaurante Hicuri Art Vegan, which again was completely vegan! The food was absolutely amazing, I had a tropical smoothie which I highly recommend and then some mushroom/spinach croquettes and vegetable lasagne! They also have a set menu between 12 and 4:30pm, where you can order a starter, main, dessert, and drink for €13.95pp. The service was incredible as was the design of the restaurant, with all the walls painted and carefully selected pieces of furniture - which gave the restaurant a homely feel and you can tell it's loved by the locals as well. 

Tip 8: I've read that in high season it is hard to get a table at the restaurant for weeks in advance - so I recommend booking very early in advance if you are visiting over the summer!

Day 5 - Day 7: Back to Seville

We then headed on our return bus back to Seville, where we would be spending the remaining time of our trip. Our hotel Eurostars Torre Sevilla was located right next to the bus station - so we walked 5 minutes across to it. I have a lot of comments to make about this hotel - and they aren't very good! This was especially in comparison to our stay at the Eurostars in Granada, which really was 5*. 1) The hotel is not in the best location - it is about a 30/40 minute walk from the city centre where we were previously staying. 2) The service was quite poor throughout our stay - especially at breakfast, where they had run out of cereals, etc. and told us that they would not be topping up. 3) The staff were quite unhelpful when asking for recommendations on what to do or where to eat in the city centre. So, I would avoid staying here and try to find an apartment in the centre of Seville where you are close to everything! 

That being said, the hotel has an amazing rooftop terrace bar with views across the whole of Seville, which were absolutely stunning! It is also situated next to a shopping mall - which we looked through on our first day back here.

That evening, we then took a taxi to the city centre and walked around for a bit to find somewhere to eat.

Tip 9: As the streets in Seville are so hard to drive through, I would recommend that you either take a bus instead into/out of the centre or get your taxi to drop you on the outskirts of the centre and then walk the rest of it to avoid paying too much! 

We ended up at Al Wadi - a Moroccan restaurant that I had also read about online. The food was pretty average - my parents really didn't enjoy it - however, I thought it was okay but I wouldn't be rushing to come back here again. The staff were very helpful though and the restaurant was nicely decorated - the portions are quite big, so I would also avoid ordering a lot! 

We then walked around, did some shopping (always my favourite part of visiting Spain, the selection in the shops is always better than the UK!) and found HolyRoll - a dessert chain that has bubble waffles and ice cream rolls - which I enjoyed before we walked back to the hotel! 

The following day was quite packed, we had tickets for the Real Alcázar, one of the most visited sites in Seville, situated right next to La Giralda. We got tickets for 1:30pm and I would recommend getting them in advance (they are €12 for adults, €5 for students) so you don't have to face the queues on the day! 

Tip 10: If you are in Seville on Monday, there are reduced tickets for only €2pp for specific time slots in the afternoon - which can be a much more affordable way of seeing it - however you do need to book these a lot earlier in advance! 

I found the Alcázar to be equally if not more beautiful than La Alhambra - despite it being smaller, there was so much more detail and intricacy, especially in the main palace. There were beautiful tiles and floor prints everywhere, and the gardens were massive and really nice to walk around, so I highly recommend visiting if you are in Seville and get a chance! It did not feel crowded either, which is why I think it is nice to go in low season - as usually such sites can feel overwhelmed by tourists trying to get photos! 

We then walked to Las Setas de Sevilla, which is the largest wooden structure in Europe. It is stunning from below, but for only €3 you can head to the top of this structure which has the best views across the centre of Sevilla undoubtedly. There is also a really nice café here to sit and have a drink & cake, which I enjoyed, whilst waiting for my parents to take all their photos! 

Tip 11: Keep your ticket receipt as you can head to the gift shop after visiting and claim a free postcard when presenting it! 

We ended the day by visiting the Plaza again! This time, I decided it would be a good idea to go on the boats to see a different angle of the square - so we did that and it wasn't badly priced at all. €6 for each boat for 35 minutes - and you can fit up to 6 people in the boats so it doesn't work out too badly at all - as long as you get back in time otherwise you will be charged a surplus of €4!

For dinner, we headed to La Tagliatella, in the shopping complex next to our hotel. I would not recommend at all - the food was extremely overpriced at nearly €17 per dish and there were barely any vegetarian options! 

On our last day, we started to pack our stuff away and relaxed in the hotel before heading for dinner at Habanita, where we enjoyed a jug of Sangria for €11.90 and some really lovely vegetarian tapas - in this restaurant that was off the beaten path and stowed away down an alley. It was really authentic Spanish food and somewhere that I would definitely recommend visiting. 

The previous evening, we also booked a flamenco show for our last night here in Seville at Casa de la Memoria (priced €18 for adults, €12 for students), which we then headed to. We received an email saying to arrive 40 minutes early to collect tickets and queue and I'm so glad we did as we were at the front of the queue and had the best seats in the house right in front of the artists. 

Tip 12: At most of these tablaos (traditional Flamenco houses) you are not allowed to take photos/videos of the artists when they are performing as a matter of respect until the last 5 minutes! You can also get really unlucky with seats if you arrive late or do not queue up early!

This really was the highlight of my trip - it was an absolutely beautiful show and you could really feel and see the emotion of the artists and the acoustic in the tablao was absolutely incredible with the sound of their footwork. Casa de la Memoria has different shows every evening - with different styles every show - we watched Duende Flamenco (spiritual flamenco elevated by heightened emotions) and it was amazing for the price that we paid. 

The structure of the shows are usually: a performance by the male and female artist, guitarist & singer perform, male artist performs, guitarist performs, female artist performs. They also have an exhibition that is free to visit and it was amazing to see the origins of the flamenco. I cannot recommend this tablao enough - and I will definitely be revisiting, whenever I am next in Seville! 

  

We ended our trip at the most lovely little Italian restaurant Restaurante Da Pino as well in the area of Santa Catalina - astray from the main town - my favourite meal of the whole trip.

The service was amazing, the food was so good and the prices were even better! We paid €40 for three drinks, three mains and two desserts. I would really recommend coming here if in Seville! 

Unfortunately, this marked the end of a lovely trip and a return back to London on Christmas Eve.

TO END 

Sorry for the extremely long, first blog post but I hope this post has given you an insight as to what there is to do and places to eat in Seville & Granada and some useful tips for getting you around these two cities! If you have any more questions feel free to drop me a message on my socials.

Instagram: @sarinaaax

Twitter: @_sarinaaax

I hope you all have had a lovely Christmas & New Year and are looking forward to reading more about my travels! 

Sarina xxx