Moving to a new city can be challenging – a different language to learn, unfamiliar customs to understand, and an unknown place to find your way around. Our guide by AWC members can smooth your transition with helpful hints on life in Seville, plus useful contacts.
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Finding Your Way | Eating and Shopping Schedules | Food | Drink | Security | Festivals | Children | Weather
Useful Contact Information
One of the first things you’ll discover in Seville is that the maps, especially paper ones, are not as useful as in other cities. Maps can be confusing as some streets are so small that they are not marked; the same street can change its name several times; or a street can keep the same name despite several changes of direction.
This is especially true in the old center of town (known as the “centro”), where the streets are so serpentine, you’ll almost definitely get lost – most visitors do. Cell phone mapping apps work well if you have data. Or ask someone the way, and, if possible, have the name and address of where you’re going written down, to show people when you need directions.
Sevillanos have a different eating schedule than Northern Europeans and Americans. In the morning they have coffee at home before going to work; then they leave their workplace at about 10:30am for breakfast, which normally consists of more coffee and toast. Lunch is at 2pm (sometimes followed by a siesta) and dinner at around 9pm. Children have merienda (afternoon snack) at around 5pm.
Supper is often a “tapeo,” visiting several tapas bars during an evening, having nibbles and a drink (or two) – usually beer or wine – at each one. More substantial dinners usually start at 10pm or later. The city is known for its nightlife, and it is not unusual to be out until two or three in the morning.
Most shops (except department stores and some chains) open at 10:00am and close at 1:30 or 2:00pm for lunch, opening again at around 5pm till 8 or 9pm.
Many stores are closed Saturday afternoons (except the department stores). On Sundays, with the exception of a few government-approved dates, all stores are closed (except the neighborhood bodegas and some small grocery stores). The best way to spend a Saturday afternoon or Sunday is to enjoy a late lunch, take a long siesta and stroll around town and through the parks.
The Spanish love to eat and often plan their days and nights around food. A key ingredient in the diet is jamon serrano (cured mountain ham), cut in wafer-thin slices from huge haunches that hang from the ceiling . The prime version is jamón ibérico, from purebred black-hoofed pigs. Other meat mainstays include pork in every conceivable form, chicken, and bull’s tail; beef and lamb are less common. Fish is
enormously popular, especially grilled or fried, and you can get all types of shellfish.
Deep-fried foods, especially fish but also onion rings (known as calamares del campo or country-style squid) can be found on the menus of most tapas bars.
Vegetarian and vegan food, previously limited to a salad of iceberg lettuce with tinned beetroot, or spinach with garbanzos, is now widely available in creative forms and combinations, especially in the more modern tapas bars.
You can also find a variety of ethnic cuisines, such as Moroccan, Mexican, Italian, Peruvian and Japanese fare, and there are the inevitable fast food franchises in case you’re homesick for a Whopper.
Sevillanos love their beer, the colder the better, which is why they serve it in cañas (short glasses), so it can be consumed before turning warm. Another favorite drink, especially in summer, is tinto de verano (summer red wine), a mix of red wine and club soda, served over ice, making a sort of pink wine spritzer. It sounds awful but tastes great, especially on a hot day.
Red wine is common; when in doubt, ask for a Rioja, while good whites include Albariño and Verdejo. Manzanilla and fino are ultra-dry sherries that are widely ordered (and made in nearby Jerez); at the April Feria, manzanilla is served with 7-Up over ice, a mix known as rebujito.
Non-alcoholic beverages include the usual carbonated drinks and bottled fruit juices, as well as fresh orange juice. You can drink the tap water safely. Coffee is excellent here, and comes in various forms, including café con leche (coffee with milk) and leche manchada (literally stained milk, more milk than coffee). These days it is easier to get the jumbo-size flavored lattes that are so popular elsewhere, as there are many specialist coffee bars around town, even the ubiquitous Starbucks.
Seville is very safe compared to most cities, and people—even solitary women—go out alone at all hours of 
the night without any problems. Violent crimes are extremely rare, but you do have to watch out for pickpockets and purse snatchers. Leave your passport, most of your cash and valuables, and copies of your credit cards somewhere safe. Backpacks, fanny packs, purses that don’t zip shut and wallets and telephones sticking out of back pockets are all tempting targets for thieves. Use your common sense!
Seville is famous for its festivals, which occur throughout the year, but most especially in springtime. At Easter, Semana Santa is a world-famous spectacle involving more than 50 huge processions carrying statues of the passion of Christ and a weeping Virgin; palios move through the streets day and night, often with brass bands and thousands of participants dressed in hooded robes.
The other major festival occurs two weeks after Semana Santa. The Feria de Abril (April Fair) is a dazzling 
spectacle of wildly colorful flamenco dresses, horses and carriages, drinking and dancing all night, with a fun fair and circus on the side, in case you need more excitement. Like Semana Santa, it is a world-class attraction.
These are by no means the only festivals in Seville. They occur with bewildering frequency throughout the year, mostly celebrating highlights of the religious calendar, often with processions much like those of Semana Santa.
It can be great fun to see these glittering spectacles, especially when you’re not expecting them, but be advised that many holidays involve shutting down businesses, including shops and food markets, sometimes for a day or two or even the whole month of August. Not to worry – this being Seville, you will find most of the bars and cafés open for business.
People here love children, especially infants, and will often offer spontaneous comments on their 
beauty (¡Que guapo! ¡Que bonita! He’s so handsome! She’s so pretty!), or unsolicited advice on dressing them more warmly or shielding them from the sun.
Seville has lovely parks with children’s areas (especially Maria Luisa), plus many small neighborhood play areas with playground equipment suitable for small children and cafés nearby for the parents. Be aware that the small, winding streets, while charming, have sidewalks that can narrow abruptly to less than two feet wide, making strollers and baby carriages awkward to maneuver.
Having said that, children and strollers are welcome pretty much everywhere, including bars. It is not uncommon to see little kids sitting or playing quietly in the corner while the parents enjoy a beer, a cigarette and the company of friends at a local bar.
You have probably already heard that it gets extremely hot here in July and August – 90s and 100s, making it inadvisable to leave the house from lunch time between 2:00 and 10:00pm (the hottest part of the day). That means nearly all activities—sightseeing, shopping, buying groceries, errands, etc. should be done before 2pm.
Spring and fall are the best seasons, when the weather tends to be pleasantly warm, and if you are lucky you will have gorgeous, let’s-eat-all-our-meals-and-have-all-our-drinks-outside weather. Winter can be chilly and/or rainy, although it varies.
“Thank you to all the ladies who made our three-month stay in Seville so memorable. You lot are an amazing bunch. You could write a guidebook with the well of knowledge that you all have.”
| EMERGENCIES | |
| National Emergency | 112 |
| Local Police | 092 |
| Local Ambulance | 061 |
| Local Fire Department | 080 / 085 |
| GOVERNMENT INFORMATION & ASSISTANCE | |
| US Consular Agency, Seville (sevillecons@state.gov) | 954 218 751 |
| US Embassy, Madrid (askacs@state.gov) | 915 872 200 |
| American Citizens Abroad ( info@americansabroad.org) | +1 (540) 628-2426 |
| British Embassy, Madrid | 917 146 300 |
| British Honorary Consulate, Seville | 954 155 018 |
| British Consulate, Malaga | 952 352 300 |
| Irish Honorary Consulate, Seville | 954 690 689 |
| Canadian Honorary Consulate, Malaga | 952 223 346 |
| Seville City Hall Citizen Info | 955 010 010 |
| TRANSPORTATION | |
| Airport, San Pablo (SVQ) | 954 449 000 |
| Train Station, Santa Justa (ADIF) | 912 432 343 |
| Bus Stations | |
| Prado San Sebastián | 955 479 290 |
| Plaza de Armas | 955 038 665 |
| Tussam Bus/Tram | 955 010 010 |
| Metro | 900 927 172 |