Hola Sevilla

I've done a lot of travel around continental Europe during my pre-mum days. To be honest, its never striked me to be baby-friendly. When I think of continental Europe, I think of old towns with cobble stone streets, small shops and restaurants and loads of steps with no lifts or escalators. I was surprised to find Seville extremely baby-friendly!

My parents were visiting Europe in April. As I had not been on a trip in over 9 months, I was desperate to go somewhere. Unfortunately hubby didn't have enough annual leave to come along. So I decided to leave hubby at home and tag along with my parents.

We booked a 5 day stay in Seville followed by 2 extra days in Granada (see post here). During our stay in Seville, we had no trouble finding step free accesses and baby changing facilities. In addition, the Spaniards love kids and in all instances were more than happy to accommodate us and our baby.

I had been to the Andulucia region in May before and the temperatures reach high 20s and even 30s. Therefore I packed loads of t-shirts and shorts for baby. Thankfully I packed some long sleeve clothing and trousers too! As the temperature in April was markedly cooler than in May. We experienced rainy days and tops of only 20degrees. (Sad to say, the week after our holiday the weather was forecasted to be 30 degrees)

Here is what we got up to in our 5 days.

Plaza de Espana

Plaza de Espana is the main square in Maria Luisa Park. It consists of a large semi-circular building with Renaissance and Moorish style architecture with towers at each end. There is also a semi-circular canal with 4 arched bridges crossing it.

The plaza is free to visit and there is plenty of space and step free accesses for buggies and push chairs. You can hire a boat to row in the canal. The day we went was a bit wet, so we didn't do this activity. It is also the start or end stop of the horse and carriage ride.

Horse and Carriage Ride 

Throughout Seville old town, there are many horse and carriages. It is a very touristy (and fun) thing to do for the family. The tour is approximately 30min long and cost 45 euros. It is a lovely tour of the old town from Plaza de Espana to the Cathedral (or vice versa).

I put 🥟 forward facing in the baby carrier for the first time. He absolutely loved it. He was so calm as he looked around taking in all the sights.

Real Alcazar de Sevilla

Located in the heart of Seville, this is one of the oldest operating palaces in the world. It was built in the 10th century by Moorish rulers and were added to by Christian kings. The palace is a combination of Islamic and Christian designs. It is still used today by the Spanish Royal family. GOT fans would recognise some of this in the series.

It is advised to pre-book your tickets way in advance. It sells out online quickly especially in the summer. If you do not book tickets in advance, the queues are massively long. We made the mistake of not pre-booking tickets. We decided to join the queue at 9:30am when entry into the Palace was open and it was already a 4hour wait at that point. Tickets to the Real Alcazar is 9.50 Euro.

Queue Hack: There are freelance tour guides that form tour groups on the spot. They approach people in the queue and offer them a guided tour for 25euros and an opportunity to skip the queue. The tour takes 1.5 hours and then you can stay as long as you want in Alcazar.

Having a guided tour was the best way to appreciate the Alcazar as they explained the history and the architecture.

We spent about 3hours in the Alcazar exploring the palace and the gardens. However you could easily spend all day there!

The gardens is the real highlight. It covers over 5,500 square metres of land and is perfectly manicured with beautiful flowers, hedges, trees and water features. It is serious garden goals!

Barrio Santa Cruz

This is a lovely medical Jewish corner of the old town, with little alleyways and small squares with orange trees. The neighbourhood is home to boutique shops, tapas bars and restaurants. There are plenty of al fresco dining areas to enjoy a bite to eat or something to drink.

Note, there are many cobbled streets and therefore is quite bumpy for buggies and strollers.

Cathedral de Sevilla & Giralda Tower

This is one of the biggest churches in the world (in fact it is 3rd largest). It sits in the centre of Seville and is a must-see when visiting this city. The Cathedral is now Roman Catholic, however when it was first constructed it started out as a mosque. You can see some parts of the Cathedral have preserved elements of the ancient mosque.

The Cathedral is massive and there are 80 chapels inside. It took us a good couple of hours to explore. The queue into the Cathedral gets extremely long especially in the morning. We visited in the afternoon around 3pm and the queues had subsided. Admission is 9 Euros and includes the Giralda Tower.

Giralda Tower is a perfect example of how baby friendly Seville is. The climb up to the top is made up of 35 gently inclining ramps, all completely step free. I used the baby carrier that day and it is a good work out to get to the top. However the views made it worth the effort.

The bells do ring every hour. I would time going up there just after the bells have rung. 🥟 was napping when we were up the top. Thankfully we timed it so that the bells were not ringing so he could continue sleeping.

Metropol Parasol - Las Setas

The Metropol Parasol is a wooden structure in Seville's new town. It is nicknamed "The Mushroom" due to is fungus like shape. There is an observation deck and a walkway across the structure.

Note, the walkway is not completely step free. There are small steps, however it is well spread out. Also people are more than willing to help. I was offered help from people a few times.

Admission to the walkway is 3euros. There is a queue however it moves quickly.

Plaza del Toros de la Maestranza

This iconic bullfighting ring is considered to be one of the finest in the world. In fact it is still used today for bullfights. You can purchase tickets to see a fight, alternatively you can just go and tour the museum and the ring. I'm not a fan of bullfighting, however the museum and the building is definitely worth visiting.

The tour is relatively step-free. However there are a couple of steps to get to the ring.

Admission is 9 Euros and includes a 45min audio guided tour. They only let a set number of people into the bullring at a time. Therefore you will need to book your time slot when buying the tickets. It is best to book online and skip the queue. Unfortuantley we did not do that and we had to wait in a long queue just to get tickets. There was a bit of a wait between before our allocated time slot, so we went to have a coffee at a nearby bar while we were waiting.

Baby-Friendly Places to Eat

La Razza

We stumbled upon this outdoor/indoor restaurant as we were walking back from Plaza de Espana to the Cathedral. We were there for mid-afternoon drinks and tapas. The terrace is a nice little place to relax and refuel.

1️⃣ Step free access: Yes

2️⃣ Baby Change Facilities: Yes

3️⃣ Space for buggy: Yes

4️⃣ High Chairs: Yes

5️⃣ Breastfeeding Convenience: Yes

📍La Razza, Av. de María Luisa, s/n, 41013 Sevilla, Spain

La Cueva

This little restaurant is tucked into an alley way in the Santa Cruz district. We walked past this resturant on our first night and was attracted by the charming decor. We decided to go back to eat there on the second night. We ordered a few tapas and also a pasta dish. The tapas dishes were lovely, however the pasta dish was very mediocre. However we did find the restaurant was very baby friendly. The staff let us choose the seat that we would feel most comfortable in.

1️⃣ Step free access: Yes, there are two entrances. One of which is step free.

2️⃣ Baby Change Facilities: Yes

3️⃣ Space for buggy: Yes, staff are accommodating and will create space for buggy

4️⃣ High Chairs: Yes

5️⃣ Breastfeeding Convenience: Yes

📍La Cueva Calle Rodrigo Caro, 18, 41004 Sevilla, Spain

Mateos Bar

This restaurant was just a 2min stumble from our hotel. Every time we walked past this place, there was a whiff of amazing seafood smells. We decided to try this place out for a late lunch. The quality of the tapas was definitely the best we had on the trip. The atmosphere of the restaurant is also buzzing.

1️⃣ Step free access: Yes

2️⃣ Baby Change Facilities: Yes

3️⃣ Space for buggy: Yes, staff are accommodating and will create space for buggy

4️⃣ High Chairs: Yes

5️⃣ Breastfeeding Convenience: Yes

📍Mateos Bar, Calle Mateos Gago, 2, 41004 Sevilla, Spain

Baby-Friendly Places to Stay

Hotel Dona Maria

We stayed at the Hotel Dona Maria. It is super central in fact it is literally smack bang right outside the Cathedral. It definitely made it easier for us to make a quick escape after dinner so that baby can sleep.

Our room was a bit basic, however it had everything we needed for our stay. The hotel was able to provide a cot (free of charge) and kettle. The hotel has a lovely roof terrace with a bar and outdoor swimming pool. It also has free tea/coffee in its downstairs bar between 4-6pm. This was perfect timing for us to head back to the hotel for a little rest and a cuppa.

1️⃣ Step free access: Yes

2️⃣ Cot: Yes, free of charge and available upon request

3️⃣ Kettle: Yes, upon request

📍 Location: Right outside the Cathedral

Getting There

There are plenty of direct flights from London to Seville. Flight times around 2.5hours.

Taxi from the airport to the centre costs around 25euros.

Getting Around

It is absolutely possible to get around Seville on foot. There is step free access everywhere and therefore pushing around a pram is not a problem at all. The city is also well serviced by buses, metro and it even has a tram.

Note all prices listed above are based on April 2019.

Travel Tips

- It is advisable to book tickets on line as early as possible. Many tickets sell out quickly online especially in the high season.

- The Spanish eat fairly late and some restaurants do not open until 8pm. We opted for Tapas in the evening in Santa Cruz as many tapas bars are open all day. That way we could have dinner earlier in order for baby to go to sleep at a decent time.

- Siestas are a thing. Some shops close between 1pm and 6pm. It is best to plan ahead and check opening times.

- It is perfectly acceptable to have a pram in restaurants and tapas bars late in the evening. So definitely do not feel bad about it.

- April weather is unpredictable. One day it would be mid-20s and sunny, the next day it drops below 20 and is rainy. It is best to dress in layers.

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