Seville Nightlife

Seville NightlifeAs one of the hottest cities in Europe it should come as no real surprise that the Seville nightlife scene is widely regarded as being amongst the ‘hottest’ in Spain. After all Andalucia is the home of flamenco, tapas, sherry and one Spain’s best beers, Cruzcampo – all pretty good ingredients for a flourishing nightlife when combined with those balmy summer nights.

Seville is a wonderful city in which to enjoy yourself. It is large enough to have a great variety of places to go but, at the same time, it’s compact enough to negotiate your way around easily. It also has a large student population, a thriving Bohemian or ‘underground’ element and a lively gay scene, as well as a socially mixed community and an ever-changing population of foreign workers and tourists.

As with many Spanish cities if you venture into the streets before 11 o’clock in the evening you might get the impression that it’s only the tourists who know how to enjoy themselves in Seville. Aside from a few people having a beer on their way home from work the locals will not come out until later – and that’s when things will start hotting up.

Seville Bars & Tapas Bars

It’s customary here to begin the evening with a beer or two before moving on to other places and you’ll find a wide range of Seville tapas bars – many of them overflowing into the streets – offering the ubiquitous ice cold Cruzcampo. Don’t worry if you want a more ‘international’ selection, though – in recent years the number of bars offering a wider range has increased considerably. And there are, of course, numerous Irish pubs throughout the city of varying degrees of legitimacy.

When you think of food in Seville it’s only natural to think of tapas and the reputation that the city has for the quality and variety of the tapas selections is completely merited. There are so many places where you can pop in for a tapa or media ración of delicious home-made food. Seville is near enough to the coast for the fish and sea food to be fresh so the range of food available here is almost limitless. There are few better ways of eating than having a few friends sharing half a dozen or so of these wonderful dishes before moving on to the next tapas bar as part of your ‘tapeando’. Interestingly, although the traditional tapas offerings will still be readily available wherever you go, the revolution in Spanish cooking has led to some restaurants and bars offering innovative, contemporary, even fusion-style, tapas dishes. And there’s certainly more for the vegetarian diner than was the case a few years ago.

Seville Restaurants

If you find you don’t want tapas but instead prefer a ‘proper’ meal there are many fine restaurants in Seville where you can go and enjoy a ‘sit down’ meal. In addition to the good value ‘menu del día’ opportunities you’ll see in many places there are some truly exceptional restaurants offering the very best in Spanish and International cooking.

Seville Nightclubs

And if you fancy a spot of clubbing then Seville has a wide choice available for you. Many of the top Seville nightclubs and discos are in the Triana district, as well as around the Expo ’92 site, but there are also plenty in and around the old city centre. You’ll find that most of these clubs won’t close until 6 or 7 in the morning and many of them will have strict dress codes. Even when it’s not ‘Feria’ time Sevillanos like to smarten up when they have the chance.

Seville Flamenco

And finally, of course, there is flamenco in Seville. In actual fact, there are many differing styles that come under the generic name of flamenco  but this is the part of the world where the gypsies first found this form of music and dance in order to express their suffering so flamboyantly. The famous Seville ‘tablaos’, which you’ll see plenty of advertising for, undoubtedly offer high quality, superbly choreographed professional shows  often with a meal as part of the package. Some people prefer to take in what they consider the ‘true’ flamenco of the back street bars where local artists sing, dance and play the guitar in unforgettably soul-stirring flamenco rhythms.

Whatever your taste Seville will offer you plenty of high-quality nightlife which, along with the fascinating places you’ll want to visit during the day, will make your stay here one incredible experience.

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