Seville's Cathedral, Alcázar and Santa Cruz on foot: a self-guided walk to the Plaza de España, with what is open each day

One of 2 self-guided walks in Seville. See every walk.

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: Start at the Archivo de Indias tram stop and finish at the Prado de San Sebastián stop: 4.0 km, about an hour of walking and a full day with the tickets. Walk it Tuesday to Saturday. The Archivo de Indias is shut on Mondays, and on Sundays the Cathedral opens at 14:30, the Archivo closes at 14:00 and the Venerables at 15:00. Book the Alcázar first: €15.50, in a name, for a 30-minute slot, with no changes or refunds. The Cathedral is €13 online. Or book a tour: the Small-Group City Highlights Walking Tourad (from €22.50, 2 hours) passes the Cathedral, the Alcázar, the university and the Parque de María Luisa.

The route

Map of the walk numbered stops in walking order

Open the whole route in Google Maps - all the stops in walking order, set to walking directions, which is the version to put on your phone.

The route starts by the Cathedral, goes past the Alcázar’s Lion Gate and threads the lanes of Santa Cruz, then crosses to the Murillo Gardens and the former tobacco factory and ends through the Parque de María Luisa at the Plaza de España. Prices are the adult rate in euros from each operator, and hours are the October to March schedule.

Walk it with a guide

A guide adds the stories and the order. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

• Seville: Small-Group City Highlights Walking Tourad: from €22.50, 4.9 stars from 1,901 reviews, 2 hours, up to 10 people. It starts at the Fuente de Mercurio in the Plaza de San Francisco and passes the Cathedral, the Giralda, the Alcázar, the Torre del Oro, the university and the Parque de María Luisa, ending near the Plaza de España. It does not include entry to any site.
• Seville: Must-See Attractions Walking Tourad: from €19, 4.6 stars from 214 reviews, 2 hours, private or shared. It starts at the San Telmo Palace and goes by the Torre del Oro, the former tobacco factory, the Cathedral and the Archivo de Indias to the Alcázar and Santa Cruz.
• Seville: Priority Access Cathedral, Giralda and Alcázar Tourad: from €53.40, 4.8 stars from 13,900 reviews, 2.5 to 3 hours. The Cathedral, Giralda and Alcázar tickets and a licensed guide in one booking, against €28.50 for the two official tickets. Seville walking tours compares the rest.

1. Archivo de Indias

Free · Tuesday to Saturday 9:30 to 17:00, Sunday 10:00 to 14:00 · closed Mondays · Avenida de la Constitución

The Metrocentro tram stops outside, across the avenue from the Cathedral. The Archivo General de Indias holds the records of Spain’s empire in the Americas and shares its 1987 UNESCO listing with the Cathedral and the Alcázar. Visitors see the monumental area and the temporary exhibitions.

• Entry: free, with no booking for individuals; groups of more than 20 must book. Last entry is 30 minutes before closing, and access can be restricted for capacity.
• Closed: Mondays, 1 and 6 January, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and 24, 25 and 31 December.
• The tram: a single is €1.40, bought on board: see Seville public transport.
• More: Seville museums.
• The first leg is 330 m north to the Giralda.

2. The Cathedral and the Giralda

€13 online, €14 at the office · Monday to Saturday 10:45 to 19:00, Sunday 14:30 to 19:00 · ticket office closes at 18:00

One ticket covers the Cathedral, the Giralda and the Divino Salvador church, and the visit starts at the Giralda and takes about 75 minutes. The Cathedral calls itself the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and stands on the site of the city’s mosque; the Giralda was its minaret, and the climb is by ramps.

• Booking: the time on the ticket is the time you go in. Online tickets enter by the Lagarto Gate and office tickets by the Prince’s Gate. In April and May the most popular slots usually sell out.
• Sundays: the Cathedral opens at 14:30. It also holds a free public visit on Sundays, subject to the liturgical calendar: tickets are given out in person at the Prince’s Gate office from 17:00 until closing, with limited capacity.
• Rules: keep silent and dress respectfully; there are no tourist visits during worship.
• Detail: Cathedral and Giralda tickets.

3. The Real Alcázar

€15.50 · 1 October to 31 March 9:30 to 17:00, 1 April to 30 September 9:30 to 19:00 · entry by the Lion Gate

Go back through the Plaza del Triunfo, 290 m, to the Puerta del León. The Alcázar calls itself the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe. The general ticket covers the ground floor of the palaces and the gardens; allow two hours.

• Booking: every ticket carries a name and an ID, NIE or passport number, for a 30-minute slot, and cannot be changed or refunded. Enter by the Lion Gate from 15 minutes before the slot to 30 minutes after. The office in the Patio de Banderas opens at 9:00 with a small same-day quota.
• The upper royal rooms are a separate €5.50 timed visit, booked online.
• Closed: 1 and 6 January, 25 December and Good Friday; open in the morning only on 24 and 31 December. The gardens can close for weather without a refund.
• Free on Mondays: the shop sells a “Free Monday” visit for a late-afternoon slot, and it sells out.
• The ticket also opens the Antiquarium, the Casa Fabiola and the Triana ceramics centre free, on the day or the next: the ceramics centre is stop 6 of the Triana walk.
• Detail: Real Alcázar tickets.

4. Plaza de Doña Elvira

Free · always open

The fountain in the Plaza de Doña Elvira. Photo: CarlosVdeHabsburgo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Take the lane along the Alcázar wall, Calle Joaquín Romero Murube, then cross the Plaza de la Alianza: 300 m. The Plaza de Doña Elvira was laid out between 1911 and 1918, in the remodelling of the Santa Cruz district, on the site of a 17th-century playhouse, a corral de comedias. A local legend puts the house of Don Gonzalo de Ulloa here, the father of the Doña Elvira of Zorrilla’s play Don Juan Tenorio. The square is pedestrian, with orange trees, a fountain and beds in the middle, and restaurants, terraces and souvenir and craft shops round it.

• Crowds: it is on every guided route, so the square is full of groups by day.
• Next: the Plaza de los Venerables is 115 m on, by Calle Gloria.

5. Hospital de los Venerables

€12 · Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 19:00, Sunday 10:00 to 15:00 · Plaza de los Venerables 8

A 17th-century hospital for priests in the Santa Cruz quarter, with a baroque church and the Centro Velázquez. The €12 ticket includes an audio guide.

• Tickets: named tickets; over 65s, ages 13 to 18, students to 25, people from Seville and people with a disability of 33% to 64% pay €10; under-12s are free. The last pass is an hour before closing.
• Closed: 1 January, and it closes at 15:00 on 31 December.
• Guided visits: Fridays and Saturdays at 11:00, 12:00, 16:00 and 17:00, €15.
• More: Seville museums.

6. Plaza de Santa Cruz

Free · always open

Calle Reinoso and Calle Lope de Rueda lead 200 m east to the square. It lies in the former Jewish quarter and stands where the church of Santa Cruz was demolished in the 19th century. A wrought-iron cross on a stone pedestal, ringed by tile benches, stands among orange trees, and part of the church of Santa María la Blanca can be seen from it.

• Quiet: the square is usually calmer than the Plaza de Doña Elvira.
• A bar: Las Teresas is round the corner on Calle Santa Teresa.

7. The Callejón del Agua

Free · always open

The Callejón del Agua, with the old city wall and a tower. Photo: Anual, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Plaza de Alfaro is 50 m from the square, and the lane starts there and runs 140 m along the city wall to Calle Vida. The wall once held two pipes that carried water from the Caños de Carmona to the Alcázar gardens, which is where the name comes from. The Murillo Gardens at the far end were made from land ceded by the Alcázar’s Huerta del Retiro in 1911.

• Time: a short stop; the lane is a few minutes’ walk.
• Next: Calle Nicolás Antonio leads 320 m on to the gardens.

8. The Jardines de Murillo

Free · daily 8:00 to 22:00 in winter, 8:00 to midnight in summer

The gardens are laid out in clipped hedges and paved paths, in a regionalist layout of 1915, and are named for Murillo, who was born nearby. A monument to Columbus (1921) stands in the middle, and the Plaza de los Refinadores at one end has the monument to Don Juan Tenorio among palms. The main fountain and four smaller ones were restored in 2023.

• Where: between Calle Nicolás Antonio, the Plaza de los Refinadores and the Catalina de Ribera gardens.
• A rest stop: the gardens have benches and shade after the lanes.

9. The Real Fábrica de Tabacos

Free to see from the street · the University of Seville’s rectorate · Calle San Fernando

The main front of the Real Fábrica de Tabacos, with the statue of Fame above the portal. Photo: Carlosrs, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Walk 540 m, ending along Calle San Fernando, to the former tobacco factory, built in stone between 1728 and 1758 as the first tobacco factory in Europe. It measures 185 by 147 m, and in Spain only El Escorial is larger. A moat runs round most of it. The main front has a portal with paired columns, relief carvings on the history of tobacco in the entrance arch, and a statue of Fame by Cayetano de Acosta. Since the middle of the 20th century it has housed the rectorate and some faculties of the university.

• Puerta de Jerez: the Metrocentro stop and metro line 1 are 270 m west along Calle San Fernando. The Triana walk starts there, at the river by the Torre del Oro, so this is the place to change walks.
• Next: the park is 1.1 km on.

10. The Parque de María Luisa and the Plaza de España

Free · daily 8:00 to 22:00 in winter, 8:00 to midnight in summer

The monument to Bécquer in the Glorieta de Bécquer, at the park entrance. Photo: Gzzz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Follow the factory’s moat along Paseo Profesor Enrique Valdivieso, turn into Avenida de Isabel la Católica and enter the park at the Glorieta de Bécquer; the plaza is 360 m further. The plaza was designed by Aníbal González for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 and has an arcaded gallery, benches of tiles for the provinces of Spain, two towers and a canal 515 m long with four bridges. You can travel the canal by boat.

• Entry: free, with no ticket. A charge of €3 to €4 for visitors from outside Seville, announced in February 2024, has not been introduced.
• Weather: the park closes at times for the state weather agency’s rain and wind alerts, so check before you go.
• More: the Plaza de España has the park’s museums.

11. Prado de San Sebastián

Tram €1.40 · Metrocentro and metro line 1

The stop is 700 m north of the plaza, on Avenida de Carlos V. The Metrocentro tram runs back past the Puerta de Jerez and the Cathedral to Plaza Nueva, and metro line 1 calls at the Puerta de Jerez next. The San Sebastián coach station, for the day-trip coaches, is reached from this stop.

• The walk ends here. The Triana walk starts at the Puerta de Jerez, one stop back.
• Back to the start: the tram reaches the Archivo de Indias stop in two stops, by the Puerta de Jerez.

Where to eat

Casa Morales

Calle García de Vinuesa 11 · Monday to Saturday 12:00 to 16:00 and 20:00 to midnight, Sunday 12:00 to 16:00

A tavern founded in 1850 beside the Cathedral, 200 m north-west of the Giralda. Spanish lists name it far more often than English ones, and three of the pages that name it mention the carrillada, pork cheek in sauce. Eat here after stop 2.

Bodega Santa Cruz (Las Columnas)

Calle Rodrigo Caro 1

A tapas bar in the Santa Cruz lanes, just north of the Plaza de Doña Elvira. The pages that name it most often mention the montadito de pringá, a small roll filled with stewed meats. Stop here after stop 4.

Las Teresas

Calle Santa Teresa 2 · daily 10:00 to 1:00

A bar between the Venerables and the Plaza de Santa Cruz whose menu lists Iberian ham, loin, morcón sausage and black pudding, and a pork sirloin in whisky sauce. Lonely Planet says tapas are served at the bar only, and the tables are for larger portions. Stop here between stops 5 and 6. Where to eat in Seville has the rest, and Seville tapas says what to order.

The best day to go

The timing that works, Tuesday to Saturday: take the Alcázar’s 9:30 slot first (stop 3 is 330 m from the tram stop), be at the Giralda for 11:45 (the Cathedral opens at 10:45), and eat at Casa Morales when it opens at 12:00. Spend the afternoon on stops 4 to 8, with the Archivo de Indias before it closes at 17:00 and the Venerables by 18:00, an hour before it closes. The gardens and the park stay open to 22:00 in winter, so the Plaza de España can wait until the end of the day.

What closes:

• Mondays: the Archivo de Indias.
• Sundays: the Cathedral until 14:30, the Archivo after 14:00 and the Venerables after 15:00. Do the Alcázar and the Archivo in the morning, and the Cathedral in the afternoon.
• Holidays: the Alcázar is shut on 1 and 6 January, 25 December and Good Friday, and the Archivo on Holy Thursday and Good Friday.

What does not close: the streets, the squares, the Callejón del Agua, the front of the tobacco factory and, in daylight, the gardens and the park, unless a rain or wind alert shuts the park. A Monday still makes a good walk: only the Archivo de Indias is shut, and the Alcázar has a free late-afternoon visit in the shop.

Getting there and back

• To the start: the Archivo de Indias stop is on the Metrocentro tram, one stop from Plaza Nueva and across the avenue from the Cathedral. Seville airport to the city compares the ways in from the airport.
• From the end: the Prado de San Sebastián stop has the tram and metro line 1. Both run back to the Puerta de Jerez; Seville public transport has the fares.
• In reverse: starting at the Plaza de España puts the Alcázar and the Cathedral at the end of the day, and the Alcázar closes at 17:00 in winter, so start at the Archivo de Indias.

What to do with the rest of the day

• The next walk: the Triana walk starts at the Puerta de Jerez, which this route passes at the tobacco factory, and crosses the river by the Torre del Oro.
• The Alcázar and the Cathedral in detail: Real Alcázar tickets and Cathedral and Giralda tickets have the slots and the free windows.
• A plan for the whole stay: Seville in one or two days builds the days round the bookings, and what to book before you go to Seville has every closed day. Free things to do in Seville gathers the free windows.
• Somewhere to sleep: hotels near Seville Cathedral and where to stay in Seville.

Common questions

How long is the Santa Cruz walk in Seville?

4.0 km from the Archivo de Indias tram stop to the Prado de San Sebastián stop, measured along the streets: about an hour of walking. With the Alcázar, the Cathedral and a lunch stop it fills a day.

Is the walk free?

The streets, the squares, the Archivo de Indias, the Murillo Gardens, the Parque de María Luisa and the Plaza de España cost nothing. The Real Alcázar is €15.50, the Cathedral and the Giralda €13 online and the Hospital de los Venerables €12.

What do I need to book for the walk?

The Real Alcázar, in a name, for a 30-minute slot, with no changes or refunds. In April and May the Cathedral says its most popular slots usually sell out. The Archivo de Indias and the Hospital de los Venerables take visitors without a booking.

Which day is best for the Santa Cruz walk?

Tuesday to Saturday. The Archivo de Indias is shut on Mondays, and on Sundays the Cathedral opens at 14:30, the Archivo closes at 14:00 and the Hospital de los Venerables at 15:00.

Where does the walk start and finish?

It starts at the Archivo de Indias stop of the Metrocentro tram, 330 m from the Giralda, and finishes at the Prado de San Sebastián stop of the tram and metro line 1, 700 m from the Plaza de España. The Triana walk starts at the Puerta de Jerez stop, which the route passes at the old tobacco factory.

Is there a charge to enter the Plaza de España?

No. The mayor announced a charge of €3 to €4 for visitors from outside Seville in February 2024, and it has not been introduced. The plaza is open ground inside the Parque de María Luisa, which can close in a rain or wind alert.