Seville

💡From May to September the city happens at night

Between two and seven in the afternoon it passes 40 degrees easily and the streets empty for a reason. Do your sightseeing first thing, eat slowly, sleep like the locals, and come out again after seven. Fighting the heat is not brave, it just costs you the day.

💡You climb the Giralda by ramps, not stairs

It was built to be ridden up on horseback, so it's thirty-five gentle ramps instead of steps. It's far more manageable than people fear, even in the heat, and access is included in the cathedral ticket.

💡During Holy Week and the Feria it's a different city, and different prices

They're the two most beautiful weeks and the two hardest: accommodation at triple, streets closed by processions and almost impossible to walk in a straight line. Worth going for deliberately, but not in passing.

💡Eat where they eat: cross the river or drop to La Alfalfa

On the streets around the Cathedral and in Santa Cruz you will pay double for the same thing. Ten minutes' walk away, in Triana or around La Alfalfa, the same tapas cost half and the bars are full of locals. And standing at the bar is always cheaper than a table: that is normal here, nobody is fleecing you.

💡Standing at the bar costs less than sitting at a table

Many bars have three prices for the same thing: bar, table and terrace. The difference shows by the end of the night. And tapas are ordered one at a time, not all at once: you try, then move to the next bar.

💡Alcázar tickets sell out almost daily

In spring and on long weekends they go weeks ahead. Buy on the official site, with a day and time, and they are in your name. If you miss out, the trick is the night visit: it is released separately, almost nobody knows about it, and the palace lit and empty is another thing entirely.

💡The Plaza de España is free and looks better at night

There's no ticket and no opening hours: it's a public square. In summer daylight it's a shadeless oven; lit up, with the park beside it, it's another thing entirely. And the María Luisa park next door is where you breathe at midday.