Check into a private holiday apartment in the colourful Triana district of Seville. Here you can easily become part of the local life and rhythm. And you’re close to all Seville’s major sights.
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When I travel in Spain, I often stay in a private apartment. Although I enjoy breakfast being served and the bed being made in the many fine hotels I also stay in, there’s something special about living in an apartment with locals as neighbours.
Here I feel more integrated into local life and I come into closer contact with them when I meet them in the supermarket, at the bakery, at the market and in the small bars and restaurants in the neighbourhood. If you’re open-minded, Spaniards love to have a quick chat when they’re going about their daily business, even if you don’t speak Spanish well.
Private holiday apartment in Seville’s Triana district
I’ve visited Seville several times, but I’ve long wanted to get to know the colourful Triana district better. So when I had the opportunity to test one of NOVASOL’s holiday homes in Spain, I jumped at the chance and chose a holiday apartment in the middle of the Triana district of Seville.
The holiday apartment is set in a residential area of a modern one-storey building, built around a modern version of a traditional Andalusian courtyard. The owner, Alicia, was ready to greet me when I arrived. She lives in the hallway herself, so she was close by during the whole stay. Very reassuring in case questions arise along the way.
Although I knew beforehand that the Seville apartment could accommodate six people, I was surprised by how spacious it is.
I had invited my girlfriend along, and the two of us had plenty of space to frolic in the large kitchen area, which included a bar area, dining table and sofa area with TV.
The bar area, between the kitchen and living area, is a great place to have breakfast or enjoy a glass of wine while taking in the view of the fine tiles on the wall. A nice detail that fits very well with the Triana district, which is known for its many pottery workshops.
Part of Triana’s daily life
Everywhere the apartment is very typically Spanish, which is a great way to get into the right mood when, like my friend and I, you want to experience Seville so locally that you feel like you’re part of the neighbourhood.
The neighbours in the property were enormously nice and accommodating. We were greeted daily with smiles and little remarks like: “Hi, how are you?” and “Oh, are you having trouble finding the right key too?”
Feeling at home also means being able to cook in your holiday apartment. And the apartment’s modern kitchen is stocked with everything you need in pots, pans and crockery. In Spain, coffee is brewed in espresso pots, and of course there were a few of those in the kitchen.
We both love going out to eat at local tapas bars and restaurants, so we didn’t cook much in the apartment. However, we ate breakfast at home, and had tapas and cava at the end of the afternoon, just like many of the other people staying at the property. But we had plenty of opportunities to cook bigger meals if we’d wanted to.
Shop and eat locally
We buy the raw materials and delicacies for our breakfast and tapas at the beautiful local food market in Triana, which is just a seven-minute walk from the apartment. The market is full of local vegetables, fruit, hams, cheeses and almonds and nuts, and it’s also a great place to shop for delicacies to take home in your suitcase. There are also bars where you can take a break and have a tapa.
In addition, we shopped at the supermarket and the bakery, both located a few minutes from the apartment.
Lunch and dinner were eaten out, and we especially liked the tapas bar Puratasca, which is one of the best in Seville. Puratasca is just a few minutes from the apartment. From the outside, the bar doesn’t look like a gourmet tapas bar, but make no mistake. The bar has won Michelin awards for several years and serves modern tapas in creative versions at very good prices. We only met locals at the bar, and the waiter recognised us immediately when we came the second time. So of course she asked how we were doing. Because that’s what you do in Triana when you’ve met before.
Triana has plenty of other good bars and cafés, including the cosy wine and tapas bar, Trianilla, which is just around the corner.
Soulful Triana
A young man sits in the central square playing an emotional flamenco, while others gather in a small church in the street next door. Just in front of the square, stalls in the market are bustling with shoppers and mussel tapas, and around the corner, pottery shops cluster around the neighbourhood’s ceramics museum.
Seville’s Triana district is at once popular, colourful, full of passion and tradition and the city’s most historic quarter. It lies west of the Guadalquivir River and is connected to Seville via the Puente de Isabel II, also known as the Triana Bridge (Puente de Triana).
The neighbourhood’s residents have a strong attachment to the neighbourhood, not least a passionate relationship with flamenco, which comes from Triana, a former gypsy quarter, bullfighting, ceramics, for which the neighbourhood is famous – and not least the church.
Flower-covered balconies and tile decorations with Madonna figures, large flamenco dancers and bullfighters adorn the many colourful houses in the narrow streets, which are also dotted with small churches. Behind lattice gates you’ll find the cosiest courtyards, filled with potted plants, where numerous flamenco artists have sung and danced over the years. Today you can enjoy flamenco concerts at one of the many flamenco bars in the neighbourhood.
Late afternoon river walks
When the sun sets low over Triana, and the rest of Seville, the neighbourhood’s residents walk along the Guadalquivir River towards the Triana Bridge, the city’s most beautiful. The bridge was designed by French architects Gustavo Steinacher and Fernando Bernadet.
I loved the late afternoon walks along the river, where the men of the neighborhood were out with fishing poles, loving couples kissed, and others sat reading a book on the many stairs and fine rests by the river.
You won’t run into tourists here, and I definitely felt like one of the locals who needed a break after a long day before dinner. Along the river there are also a few bars and restaurants where you can enjoy a tapa and a drink with a river view.
Discover Seville’s great sights
If you can tear yourself away from the bustling Triana quarter (I had a hard time), move across the Triana Bridge and experience Seville on the other side. This is where you’ll find Seville’s biggest sights, and they’re certainly worth spending time at.
Visit the iconic Plaza de Espanña, built for the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition. Here you can see magnificent architecture and impressive local ceramic art. In the Cathedral, which is the third largest church in the world, you can see the coffin with the remains of Columbus. Opposite is the Alcazar, Seville’s jewel of a palace with beautiful gardens. Also visit Las Setas, a gigantic wooden structure shaped like large sponges above the square of La Encarnacíon.
You can find more tips and read more about Seville’s attractions in the guide here
Sleep well in quiet surroundings
The Seville holiday apartment is on the ground floor, screened from the street so people can’t peek in. We could, however, sit at the dining table and enjoy the view of the courtyard garden with fountain and lots of plants through the large window wall.
Two of the apartment’s three bedrooms also face the quiet patio. The third faces a small courtyard on the inside of the house.
The rooms were extremely quiet at night and I actually slept more hours than I used to when I lived in the apartment. Precisely because it is so quiet.
A significant detail that also ensured our night’s sleep is that there is air conditioning in the apartment. That’s important when you’re on holiday in 30-degree heat and it can easily be 24 degrees at night. We also had plenty of storage space in the spacious wardrobes and dressers, and not least the luxury of having each our bathroom. They also had plenty of storage space for two women’s many toiletries, which can often be a challenge.
See more photos, find more info and book the holiday apartment in Seville’s Triana district on NOVASOL Holiday home rentals website.
