There are cities in which you fall in love right away … sometimes you only need a short walk through the streets to steal your heart in a second. Seville is definitely one of those cities. It captivates with its architecture inspired by the Moorish style, orange trees at every step, and insane food. It is just perfect place to get lost in it, wandering in small streets… then suddenly discover a small tapas bar on a square by the fountain, besieged by locals, where children run and play football. Seriously, it does not surprise me at all that this city has been nominated by Lovely Planet as Top 1 to be visited in 2018.

It is a perfect place for a weekend. Low-cost airlines and short flights certainly make this an attractive location for a short city break. In addition, the beautiful weather (full sun and 22 degrees in mid-November) will definitely help recharge the batteries even to the most tired parent who was caught by an autumn or winter blues.

There are many reasons to call this city ‘almost’ perfect for a family trip, but the word ‘almost’ depends mainly on the age of children. You have to assume that there will not be any changing facilities in any restaurant or bars (even in the most touristic places). If you are not a ninja in changing diapers yet, after you go to Andalusia, you will definitely become one. Our girls had changed diapers on our knees, in the pram, on the bathroom floor (our jackets were used as portable mats) or in the park. It is shocking discovery, considering that the Spanish love children. In addition, in most of the small restaurants or tapas bars they would have only one or did not have any high chairs (not to mention the children’s menu), so feeding the toddler could be another challenge.

As I laid all the cards on the table and you are still here, believe me that Seville is very family friendly city. Spanish love children, and our two blondies (10-month-old Arabella and 2.5-year-old Lily) had non stop beloved admirers who helped us to entertain them during lunches or while queuing to main touristic attractions.

The city is easily reachable by foot as individual main attractions are very close to each other. Most of the places of the interest are pram friendly. We encountered only few stairs in the Real Alcazar, which in the case of a double stroller and a total of about 20kg weight of our girls certainly saved us from the daily gym.

OUR TOP 5

Unfortunately I don’t think we really differ here from any travel blog and guide book, but hopefully the logistics information will be an useful add-on to parents travelling with kids/babies.

Seville Cathedral – If you want to avoid queues at the ticket office in the Cathedral, best option is to buy compound ticket at the church Iglesia Colegial de Selvador. Make sure to go to the top of the Garlanda tower where you will see the most stunning and best views of the city. You walk up on the sloping platform, so not too much of challenge for older children, but there is no entry allowed for prams. My husband and I did turns (it did not take us longer than 20 min per person) and while it was crowdy on the top, it was so worth it.

Real Alcazar de Seville – Even if your family is not a fan of monuments, this one is must to see. The Royal Palace is richly decorated and inspired by the Moorish style. Despite the size, this is a place that our little girls just loved. You can spend entire day there. Lots of rooms for toddlers to run and hide, massive amount of fountains and maze in the gardens. To skip the queues, you can buy the ticket online for a specific hour (highly advisable as first entry when they are the least tourists).

Plaza de Espana – This impressive horseshoe-shaped square is the perfect place for an afternoon walk. One of the highlights at the Plaza de Espana was seeing all the alcoves which represent every province of Spain. Each detail on the bridges and lanterns are decorated with painted tiles which makes this place even more magnificent. Moreover there a small canal in the centre, so if you fancy some easy entertainment you can rent a boat and enjoy the view from different perspective.

Metropol Parasol – Impressive, wood-made architecture, called ‘mushroom’ by the locals. The top is reached by the lift and there are many stairs on the platform itself, but they are placed in large intervals so maneuvering the cart is very easy. In addition, you can enjoy this killer view of Seville from the café with a terrace while enjoying coffee or a snack.

Walk along the river (Paseo Alcalde Marques del Contandero) – It is definitely worth taking a walk along the river between the bridges Puente de Triana and Puente San Telmo. There is also a bike path if you decide to rent bikes, or for particularly active families it is possible to rent kayaks or water bikes on the river. Triana looks very inviting from this side of the river, but it did not impress us.

Time for the award – If the children behaved well and you think they deserved the award (we did it as a daily ritual at the end of the day), I recommend Amorino ice cream. They have several ice cream shops in the city and their sorbets are just amazing. You can not miss either the best churros in the city at Bar Commercio or Bar El Pilar.

Playgrounds  Seville is definitely an incredibly kids friendly city. Wherever you look, you see a playground. Just look for the green zones on the map. In the centre, we literally try every playground as they were placed next to the touristic attractions.

WHERE TO EAT?

El Pasaje – delicious and one of the best tapas we had. The only place I can wholeheartedly recommend in Seville. In addition, it has a changing table for babies, highchairs and our girls even got pens and colouring books while we waited for food.

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