Seville

As usual check the web sites www.booking.com and www.hotels.com as there are loads of excellent hotels in the Barrio Santa Cruz and in other central areas. Should you be there in Semana Santa or for the Feria room rates can be double the rack rate.

An alternative is to rent an apartment and there are some beautiful ones available, check out the following sites, www.veoapartment.com has some excellent apartments and is highly recommended and www.citysiesta.com is also a reliable company with apartments in other cities including Barcelona & Lisbon.

Another recommended site is www.friendlyrentals.com they have some very smart apartments in many cities including Seville.

Barrio Santa Cruz

Bodega Santa Cruz, C/Rodrigo Caro & C/Mateos Gago is the best old fashioned bar in the area. No frills, old fashioned tapas, barmen that have been there as long as I can remember and reasonable prices. This bar is also confusingly known as Las Columnas because of the columns outside. This is a must on your visit.

La Fresquita, C/Mateos Gago 29 is a small traditional Seville bar packed with religious memorabilia, we found it a couple of years ago and have continued to visit it any time we are in the city.

La Azotea, C/Mateos Gago 8, is one of the three Azotea’s in the city and the one with most visitors as oppose to locals. The food, service and ambience is always excellent.

Vineria San Telmo, Paseo Catalina de Ribera 4, although in the heart of the tourist area this is a really good tapas and wine bar. The selection of tapas is excellent, lots of different modern style offerings, great quality and reasonable prices. These days a booking is suggested as it is very popular.

Cafe Bar Las Teresas, C/Santa Teresa 2, this was probably one of the first bars we visited in Seville many years ago, we stopped going after one evening of poor service but returned again recently and enjoyed the experience. It is what you would think of as a typical Seville bar and is in the heart of the tourist area and despite some negative comments on web sites we thought the service and atmosphere was good. If it is too crowded Bar Casa Placido opposite has a similar feel and is usually less crowded.

Plaza Nueva

Ovejas Negra, C/Hernando Colon 8, www.ovejasnegrastapas.com was a real find on a previous visit, a minute from the Giralda it is a modern tapas bar with a wide range of innovative tapas. it is incredibly popular so get there just as it opens to secure either a seat at the bar or a table. This is now a must on any visit to the city. They have opened a new place opposite called Mamarracha, at No. 13 and the menu is different but as interesting as the original.

Maridaje Bodeguita, C/Chicarreros 9, we found this great bar & deli when we stayed round the corner & used it every day for breakfast & were impressed by the quality & service and returned one lunch time to sample the meat, cheese and wine and again everything was top notch, Only open during the day but one for future visits.

Lobo Lopez, C/Rosario 15, we had visited here for a drink on a previous visit as we had been impressed by Nazca their other restaurant. This time we visited for lunch and had an excellent meal, we shared three dishes and had two wines each and the bill was €30. All the dishes were very good and served one after the other not at the same time, lovely service and atmosphere make this a top recommendation.

Bodega Gongora, C/Albareda 5, another tried and tested place for tapas which are good and traditional in style, friendly service and very popular with a local clientele.

Arenal

Round the Bull Ring are some very up-market tapas bars, these are especially good to see on the days when there is a bullfight as the local Sevillanos come out in their finery to attend at the Maestranza Bull Ring. It is also a lively area at weekends for young locals at various “copas” bars, bars specialising in spirits & mixer drinks such as gin & tonic.

La Brunilda, C/Galera 5, Arenal, was opened by someone who was involved with Bar Zelai, which had a great reputation. We have visited it on a number of occasions and have always been impressed by the range of dishes and the quality of food and wine. We did not get there this visit but hear from locals that it is still as good as ever and at night getting there at 8pm before it opens at 8.30 is essential to get a seat at the bar or a table.

Mechela Arenal, C/Pastor y Landero 20, has become a firm favourite for lunch with friends. On our most recent visit we all shared a number of dishes and all loved the food. It is excellent value for money, a very pleasant atmosphere and the staff are very nice. Booking is highly recommended. The original one is at C/Bailen 34 and we visited on our most recent visit and booked in advance as you must, again impressed by the food and wine.

Freiduria Arenal, Calle Arenal, join the locals and get a bag of fresh fried fish and stand outside with a beer or wine and people watch. This is run by members of the original owners family which probably explains the well heeled of Seville who visit.

Casa Morales, C/Garcia de Vinuesa, is one of the oldest bars in Seville and probably has not changed since it first opened its doors, the huge sherry barrels are very likely the originals. Limited tapas but worth a visit for a no frills, very popular, traditional bar.

In C/Arfe is a local very small bar Casa Mathias which has impromptu live flamenco mainly late afternoon and early evening, the overspill going into the basic bar next door.

Plaza Alfalfa and Plaza Salvador

It is definitely tradition to stand outside one of the bars in the colonnaded part of the Plaza Salvador opposite the church however my recommendation is do not bother with the tapas which tend to be overpriced and average and seek out the places below.

La Escalona, Plaza Alfalfa 12, we found on a previous visit and returned on our most recent trip. Modern bar and restaurant we were very impressed with the quality of the food and wine and service. It is very popular and we took a local friend who was similarly impressed, this is now a firm favourite.

Bar Manolo, Plaza Alfalfa, was an old fashioned bar where the speciality is fried fish, try the gambas rebozados (deep fried prawns) or pavia de merluza (loin of hake) a great local haunt with prized tables outside. This has been taken over by the same group as own La Escalona above. The bar has been improved greatly in look, decor & seating while still offering a range of similar dishes but with a slightly more upmarket feel.

Bodega La Aurora, C/Perez Galdos 9, looks like an old school bar which it is but attracts a younger crowd however worth a visit as the wines are good, the tapas simple and the staff pleasant.

Taberna Aguilas, C/Aguilas 10, has been there for many years but this year we tried it for the first time and enjoyed the friendly service and good tapas, one to add to the list for future visits.

Sal Gorda, C/Alcaiceria de la Loza 23, the best find of our most recent trip, a very small smartly styled place with a great selection of modern & innovative tapas. Lovely staff, a good wine selection and also craft beers. Booking recommended as it is very popular. A must for our next visit and has also been recommended to Seville friends.

Debellota, C/Angel Maria Comacho 5, has become a bit of a favourite haunt on recent visits. It is like a cross between a grocers and a bar, with an excellent range of wine and champagne and also cold meats and cheese. the owner seems very serious but as you get to know him and enjoy the occasion free tapas of cheese you realise he has a very dry sense of humour. We discovered this year that he had moved to bigger premises and it is still incredibly popular.

Bar Europa, C/Siete Revueltas 35, has an upmarket selection of tapas cooked to order. The crujiente of langostinos with avocado, is not to be missed, crujiente means crunchy and it comprises three langostinos each wrapped in filo pastry and with an avocado dip. It is more expensive than some but worth the extra cents. Returned again and enjoyed the tapas and wine.

El Traga, C/Aguilas 6, having read good reviews we managed to book a table for lunch and really enjoyed the food and the service, starters were particularly impressive, for mains we both had Galician beef which was very good. Reasonably priced for the quality and a very good selection of wines by the glass.

Manducare Restaurant, C/San Esteban 32, this seems to be a fairly new opening and is very popular with locals, it says speciality is local cuisine but they have some twists on it. The same people own the bar opposite called Llanette, with good drinks and tapas.

San Lorenzo, Alameda & Santa Catalina

Eslava, C/Eslava 3, San Lorenzo www.espacioeslava.com is on most people’s list of must try places, the fabulous tapas and small restaurant are incredibly popular. This is a wonderful place, if there is no room at the bar look for a table in the back, squeeze through the crowd but don’t give up ! Great to go back time and time again and find that the tapas are still so good and the prices for the quality, so reasonable. We have been visiting here for years and every time the food is top notch and still incredibly reasonably priced. Visited twice on our most recent visit and is still so very good.

Nearby is the Antigua Abaceria De San Lorenzo, C/Teodosio 53, it’s not a grocer’s shop as it might first seem but a bar and restaurant. The staff are not the most welcoming but the food is good and also very reasonably priced. it is very popular these days.

Bodega San Lorenzo, C/Juan Rabadan 7, very smart old school bar with outside seating. We were impressed with the service and enjoyed having it nearby as a local bar.

Bar San Lorenzo, Plaza San Lorenzo 6, with outside tables in this lovely square we were impressed with the food on offer for variety, quality and price. There is a wide range of dishes and many not Spanish but old school Spanish offering also available. Service can be a bit slow but food and wine makes up for it.

El Sardinero, Plaza San Lorenzo 15, another new find in this square and really enjoyed the wines on order, the tapas we tried and the service. Again the terrace in the square is a lovely setting.

Azotea, C/Jesus del Gran Poder, is excellent on a recent visit the bar area was full but we managed to get a table which meant raciones only and not tapas. We tried three of the specials and they were all excellent, a must on all future visits for the quality, choice and service.

Azotea La Tienda, C/Conde de Barajas 12, is part of the same small group as the one above and is very close by, we tried it for the first time on our most recent visit and loved the food and the service as we have done with all their places.

Con Tenedor, C/San Luis 50, was a must for our most recent visit having heard great reports and we loved it, the menu is done daily and displayed on blackboards and all the dishes were explained in detail in English even though we understood 90% of the Spanish menu. The food was exceptionally good, the service lovely and incredible value for the quality. Booking is strongly recommended.

Also nearby is the Alameda de Hercules which is full of trendy bars but also some good tapas places, at the far end Calle Calatrava is packed with some places to eat and drink. Gigante Bar at No. 17 was a find this visit, cool bar with good service and a wide selection of drinks.

The area around Calle Feria is also worth exploring, there is the oldest market in Seville which has an excellent eating place specialising in seafood & fish. And there are also some new eating places in part of the central market area which were offering a deal of a large tapas and a drink for 4 euros, choices from tradition Spanish rice dishes, fried fish and Mexican.

This area is constantly changing with new places opening, Lola por Dios 2, Conde de Torrejon, has amazingly cheap tapas, mainly cold meats & cheese, plays flamenco music and is a good fun place. There is also an excellent new Freiduria, fried fish & seafood bar, in Calle Feria, great fish, friendly service and very reasonably priced. Just close by in Plaza de los Maldonados are two new bars one of which has a small off-shoot at the Feria Market. On the most recent visit we found La Bodega in C/Feria possibly the cheapest drinks in Seville, decent sherry and vermut at 80 cents a glass.

Bar Lovento, C/Conde de Torrejon 21, was a small old school bar last time we were in the area but the owner moved to bigger premises across the street and this has become rather more fancy specialising in oysters and sparkling wines but other things on offer. The service was  bit slow but worth a visit.

Bar Rioja, C/de Jesus del Gran Poder 4, a local bar on our last visit and we enjoyed the wines, the tapas and the local atmosphere, the service varied depending on who was working but loved the local atmosphere of this small bar.

Bodega Palo Santo, Plaza de la Gavidia 5, we visited briefly on our mot recent visit and while we only stopped for a wine it seemed incredibly popular with a mainly local crowd who seemed to be enjoying the food on offer.

Perro Viejo, C/Arguijo 3, was recommended by a local who knows their food and therefore we tried it on our most recent visit. We were unable to reserve but as advised turned up as it opened and got a table. A wide range of fusion style dishes we really enjoyed the food and the service, The owners have a number of other places.

Salsamento, C/Jeronimo Hernandez 19, we found this modern, recently opened bar by accident and loved the place. A great selection of cold meats and cheeses and an excellent selection of wines, very popular with a cool Seville crowd and service was good. As good as before on our most recent visit.

Do Fusion, C/Jose Gestoso 5, we found this restaurant near the Metropol Parasol (The Mushrooms) by chance and stopped for a glass of wine but were soon ordering from the menu of Japanese/Oriental dishes. We were very impressed with the service and quality of the food. We chatted to one of the owners and enjoyed hearing about his background and the inspiration for the restaurant.

Centro

Flores, C/San Pablo 24 is a very upmarket food and wine shop and also a bar and restaurant. It is not cheap but the quality is top notch whether you are looking for a bottle of wine or some jamon or just want to sit outside with a glass of their excellent wines.

Almansa, C/Zaragoza 48, we found this by chance and were impressed by the look of the tapas and also by how popular it was with a mainly local clientele, we returned to sample the tapas at the bar and thought the cooking was good, one to return to and perhaps visit the restaurant part.

Puerta Triana, C/Zaragoza 2, fairly recent addition and enjoyed the outdoor seating and decent service.

Triana

Mercado de Triana, the market is part working old school market and part places to eat. We visited Ceveceria Loli and enjoyed the tapas but have since read some very negative comments however we would return. There are a number of other places and a fantastic pastry stall near the exit.

Cerviceria La Grande San Jacinto, C/San Jacinto 39, is in the main street and is a Triana institution. Part of the Mariscos Emilio Group, the famous seafood suppliers, this is a basic bar with loads of seafood choices. There is usually a small plate of prawns as a free tapas.

Taberna Paco Espana, C/Alfareria 18 Triana, was a new find in an area with no shortage of good places. We only tried the croquettes but a place can usually be judged on the quality of these and they were excellent.

La Antigua Abaceria, C/Pureza 12, is an old fashioned bar and grocers shop which specialises in cold meat tapas. An excellent place to visit and very different from most of the bars in the area. On a retun visit with a local friend we found it packed and thought the cold meats and cheeses rather expensive.

Las Golondrinas C/Antillo Campos, is a lovely tiled bar slightly off the beaten track but worth seeking out. Friendly staff and excellent tapas, they have expanded and now have a place opposite for table service, very popular so often a wait for a table.

Blanca Paloma, C/San Jacinto 49, is a very smart bar with a fabulous range of made to order tapas. It is so popular it has expanded into the next door premises one for the Triana tapas trail. We returned on our most recent visit and loved the tapas we ordered, excellent food, wine and service.

Bar Bistec, C/Pellay Correa, is an old school Triana Bar, worth stopping for a drink and to admire the tiled internal patio.

Other Areas

If you venture across the Macarena to outside the old town go to Bar Yebra, C/Medalla Milagrosa 3, an absolutely fabulous tapas bar, the blackboard shows the main meals but the staff (and the customers) will assist by telling you what tapas are available. The fish, seafood and meat dishes are all top notch and incredible value for the high quality

The new town near the railway station also has some great tapas bars. El Rincon de Buhaira, C/Jose de la Camara, started by someone from Bar Yebra above is excellent and round the corner Taberna Tabala, C/Juan de Sierra, is a very smart modern bar with a great selection of innovative tapas

Drink

The thing to try here is sherry which can only be produced in the area lying between Jerez, El Puerto and Sanlucar so no wonder this is a popular tipple. Fino is dry sherry and has to be drunk chilled it is delicious with seafood. When it is produced in Sanlucar it is called Manzanilla and is even drier due to the location.

Most places will offer a great range of Spanish wines, Seville however as with most places in Andalucia and in the rest of Spain seems to be going through a Gin & Tonic frenzy. They are so well done in Seville, in huge balloon glasses with plenty of ice, a work of art.

Vermut is having a resurgence a must to try is Yo Soy Tu Padre above.

Lastly in the summer try a tinto de verano, red wine with ice and lemonade, best with the lemon type sprite, it is very refreshing and totally different to sangria.

Apart from the main sites the Cathedral, the Alcazar and the Barrio Santa Cruz also worth visiting are the Casa de Pilatos, a beautifully preserved house and garden, the Maria Luisa Park, the Museo de Bellas Artes and of course the Bull Ring.

A new attraction is the Metropol Parasol, Plaza Encarnacion a wooden structure of six parasols forming what looks like a giant mushroom and known as such by the locals. The entrance to gain access to the roof is in the basement and after you pay your fee of 3 Euros which includes a drink you go up in the lift to the terrace area. I have to admit that the jury is still out for me on the structure, true it has improved an area that had little going for it but does it fit in…..

Away from the main tourist areas it is worth walking around the Triana area on the other side of the river and the Macarena the traditional working class area and visiting the famous church of the Basilica de la Macarena, but also don’t miss out visiting the church of San Luis, a true gem.

Naturalmente Aromas de Sevilla, C/Alcaicería de la Loza, 24, although a shop could be classed as cultural as it specialises in perfumes many with the various aromas associated with Seville, Run by a lovely lady who although she speaks little English will guide you through your choices and they are really great value.