Top 10 Reasons you need to visit the Royal Alcazar

When visiting Spain, there was one place I knew I really wanted to visit.

The Real de Alcazar – The Royal Alcazar!

Yeah, I know. The Alhambra is more popular. I mean, it’s in the Top 5 places you need to visit in Spain every year. Why wouldn’t we want to go there? Well, for several reasons, which I’ll get into below.

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What is the Royal Alcazar of Seville?

First off, you might be wondering what is the Royal Alcazar?

The Royal Alcazar or Real de Alcazar is the Royal Palace in Seville. And, when in Seville, the royal family still stays in residence!

The History of the Royal Alcazar Seville

In the mid 1300’s King Peter 1 (Pedro 1) brought in the Christian era to the Andalusia region of Spain.

However, you need to go back 800-ish years to really get the history of the Alcazar. In the 900’s, the Alcazar was home to Moorish rulers. As time went on and influences changed, the palace was updated to reflect that.

Each new ruler brought their own influence to the construction and design, but it was King Peter who brought the Mudejar style to the palace. Mudejar style is a mixture of Arabic and Spanish influences.

In 1987, the Royal Alcazar Seville and its surrounding gardens became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Getting to the Royal Alcazar

Address: Patio de Banderas, s/n Sevilla

Cost: Prices vary, but according to their website, it’s FREE to visit on Mondays

Best Time to Visit

As with most tourist destinations, weekdays and early in the day is always less busy. It is best to buy tickets ahead of time online.

Here are our Top 10 Reasons…

In our opinion, everyone who visits Seville should definitely visit the Royal Alcazar. Here are our Top 10 reasons why the Royal Alcazar palace should be on your list!

1.  Seville is Easy to Get Around

When we travel overseas, we don’t usually rent a car.  So, good public transportation is a must!  Seville is such a fabulous city, and it’s really easy to get around in.  We rode the metro, the bus, the trolley and we walked!

 We were able to get everywhere we wanted to without issue! And, without spending a lot of money.

2.  Inexpensive Royal Alcazar Visit

To go the Alhambra would have required us getting a rental car and the entrance fees are higher than at the Royal Alcazar!  

It is also highly recommended that you purchase your tickets several months in advance of your visit.  

With four tickets to purchase, the cost was part of the decision, but being able to choose our timing based on how everyone was feeling made it much less stressful!

3.  Alcazar is the Oldest Royal Residence Still in Use!

The Royal Alcazar is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe!  

It is renowned as one of the most beautiful in Spain and has been registered as a World Heritage Site.  All of that makes it well worth a stop during your trip to Spain.

4.  Beautiful Tile-Work

With a strong Moorish influence, the tile-work throughout the castle was amazing.  Each room had a little different pattern or color.  Just incredible to wander through!

5.  Gorgeous Stairways

The second floor is where the royal family stays when they are in residence.  However, even though the royals weren’t in town, we were only able to see a few rooms up there.

6.  Beautiful Gardens

When you visit the Alcazar, make sure you save some time to wander around the gardens!  The outdoor spaces of the palace were just as lovely as the indoor spaces!  

With citrus groves, flowering vines, everything smelled fantastic since it was springtime.

7.  A-Maze-ing!!

In the garden, there was a maze!  And who wouldn’t love a maze?!  

We had a great time wandering through it.  However, finding our way back out was an interesting challenge!

8.  Ponds in the Garden

There were several cubby holes throughout the gardens to rest and enjoy the space. We enjoyed watching the fish in the ponds. They were a fun diversion for a couple of restless kids!  Although, I think my son had a granola bar that he was sharing 🙂

9.  Peacocks

I think this guy found out about the granola bar.  He was following us around for quite some time!!

It was fun, and a bit startling to have this big beautiful peacock follow us around the grounds of the gardens. When the granola bar finally ran out, he gave up on following us.

  10.  Close to Chocolate

Always a great way to end any day!  Since we were right in the city, it was easy to get some yummy refreshments at the end of a busy day!

Royal Alcazar and The Game of Thrones

I think I may be one of the few people that have not seen the show Game of Thrones.

But, one thing I didn’t realize is that the Royal Alcazar in Seville was used to film some of the scenes for the HBO series Game of Thrones.

The palace stood in for the Water Gardens of Dorne in various scenes in four episodes of Season Five and one of Season Six. The private estate is owned by Prince Dorian Martell, the wheelchair-bound head of House Martell and ruler of Dorne.

Andalucia.com

There was also a bullring used for many of the shots, but I’m not sure if it was the bullring in Seville or not. I couldn’t find information to confirm or deny that one.

You can go to the website Andalucia.com and see exactly which scenes were shot at the Royal Alcazar Palace.

Other Movies

The Game of Thrones is not the first show to have done some filming at the Royal Alcazar in Seville.

Here are a few others you might recognize:

• Warrior Nun, 2020, coming out soon on Netflix
• Emerald City, 2016, a show on NBC
• The White Princess, 2017, for BBC
• Lawrence of Arabia, 1962

There are several others that have been filmed here. You can go to the website to check out the full list.

Visit the Royal Alcazar in Seville!

While I’m sure visiting the Alhambra is equally amazing, I do highly recommend you visit the Alcazar if you are in the neighborhood!  Seville is a beautiful city to visit, and the Alcazar is quite incredible!

Have you been to either the Alhambra or the Alcazar?  I would love to hear your impressions of both or either!  Share in the comments!

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