Semana Santa
Easter Week in Seville 2024

Semana Santa Easter Week in Seville 2024

Easter is taken very seriously in Seville, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors for one of the city’s most significant annual festivals featuring a combination of religious devotion, art, colour, music and celebration.  It is a unique experience, always surprising and will stir feelings inside you, whether you are religious or not.

Hotels with views of the processions

The following hotels are close to the Cathedral with views of the processions.

• Hotel EME Catedral – Next to the cathedra with a rooftop swimming pool and views of the city. But in the busiest neighbourhood of the event.
• Hotel Casa de Colon – 50 m from the Cathedral, with unique decor.
• Casa 1800 – Luxury hotel in a restored 19th-century mansion with balcony views.
• Las Casas de la Juderia – 150m from the Cathedral with a spectacular roof terrace.

The hotels are a 10-minute walk from the gay district close to Alameda de Hércules.

The Processions

• Seville has been holding its Easter week celebrations since the 16th century. Processions in which enormous ‘pasos’ (floats) are carried around the streets by teams of ‘costaleros’ (bearers) followed by hundreds of ‘nazarenos’ (penitents).
• There are processions in the evening and at night every day. Each brotherhood sets out from its church and has an established route, although they must all pass the so-called “official section”, which starts in Calle Campana Street and finishes passing through the Cathedral. Once each procession leaves the Cathedral, it returns to its church on a different route.
• More than 50 processions occur, on average, 6 to 8 per day. 50,000 people participate in the processions while hundreds of thousands of spectators watch along the route.
• Musical groups and bands of bugles and drums accompany a large number of the icons.
• The saetas are very emotional moments of the processions: flamenco songs recited a cappella from the balconies in honour of the statues.
• Some of the most revered statues make their way through the streets that night. Some processions are silent, while others are filled with a passionate fervor. For example, the solemn experience that you get when watching the Gran Poder is very different from the overflowing emotion that La Macarena will provide.
• The early hours of Good Friday constitute the most important time of the Seville Easter week celebrations.

Where to view the processions?

• You can see processions by heading for any point on their routes, except in the “official section”. Here there are seats and stands from which to admire the passing processions. Contact the Consejo Superior de Hermandades y Cofradías (Brotherhoods’ Association)  via their website if you want to reserve a place.
• The crowds mass along the procession routes, so they are easy to avoid. The processions go on throughout the day and evening, and you will have no problem finding them. Just listen for the horns and drums or look for many people lining a street.

Post Procession Celebrations

• Once the procession ends, the restaurants and bars of Seville fill up quickly. Even though it is a religious celebration, the event attracts people of all faith who are drawn to its passion and spectacle.
• The gay bars and clubs along the Alameda de Hércules are full each night, with many of the venues hosting special Easter themed parties with drag queens and guest DJs.

Popular Gay Bars and Parties

Most of the gay bars and clubs in Seville are located along the Alameda de Hércules. The following venues are popular:

• Alameda Ritual Club – relatively new nightlife venue with a beautiful outdoor terrace, part of the Ritual Hotel Gay Apartments in Seville.
• El Bosque Animado – In a sea of “gay-friendly” terraces along the Alameda, this bar is the gay champion, offering late night drinking and dancing, especially busy during weekends.
• Men to Men – Popular bears bar with small cruising area.
• Seville also hosts several pop-up parties during weekends and festivals including Sissy Pop and Holiday by Obbio
• Sauna The Cube Urban is a modern sauna with great amenities and unique facilities.

Where to stay for Semana Santa

The following hotels are close to the city’s top attractions and the spectacular Easter processions:

Hotel Alfonso XIII,    Hospes Las Casas,    Petit Palace,    Hotel Doña María