Seville Highlights 3-Hour Guided Bike Tour

Seville Cathedral and the Giralda

Seville Cathedral is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, built between 1401 and 1506 on the site of the city's great Almohad mosque. Its bell tower, the Giralda, began life as the mosque's minaret in the 12th century and was crowned with a Renaissance belfry and a bronze weathervane in 1568. Together with the Royal Alcázar and the Archive of the Indies, the cathedral forms a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Because the streets around the cathedral are largely pedestrian, the bike tour does not stop here, but your guide points out the monument as you pass and explains how to plan a visit later. Seville Cathedral tickets are best booked in advance, and a visit including the climb up the gentle ramps of the Giralda takes about one and a half hours. Early morning is the quietest time to go.

Torre del Oro and the Guadalquivir Riverside

The Torre del Oro, the Golden Tower, is a twelve-sided watchtower built by the Almohads around 1220 to guard the river port. A chain was once stretched from its base across the water to block enemy ships. For two centuries after 1503, Seville held the royal monopoly on trade with the Americas, and the quay below the tower was crowded with ships, merchants and sailors.

Today the riverside promenade is a broad, flat path lined with palms and benches, one of the most pleasant stretches of the city to cycle. The bike tour follows it for views across the Guadalquivir to Triana and of the bullring of the Maestranza. The tower now houses a small naval museum; if you want to come back, Torre del Oro opening hours usually run from morning to early evening, closing on some public holidays.

Triana, Tiles and Flamenco

Across the Isabel II Bridge, the iron bridge Sevillians simply call the Triana Bridge, lies the neighbourhood that many consider the soul of the city. For centuries Triana was the quarter of potters, sailors and Roma families, and it is famous for its glazed ceramic tiles, called azulejos, and as one of the birthplaces of flamenco. Its riverside street, Calle Betis, offers one of the best views back towards the old town.

On the bike tour you ride into Triana's lanes, where your guide shows you workshops and façades covered in hand-painted tiles and tells the story of the old ceramics industry. You also see the market built over the remains of the San Jorge castle and the little chapel at the end of the bridge. If you want to explore the Triana neighbourhood again, it is an easy walk across the river from the centre.

María Luisa Park

María Luisa Park takes its name from the princess who donated the gardens of the San Telmo Palace to the city in 1893. In the 1920s it was redesigned as the setting for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, with avenues of palms, orange trees and jacarandas, ponds, fountains and benches decorated with tiles. Pavilions from the exposition still stand among the trees, including the buildings around Plaza de América.

Riding through the park is one of the highlights of a Seville bike tour: the paths are flat and shaded, and the guide stops to show you some of its hidden corners, such as the duck island and the tiled glorietas. The park is open daily and free to enter, so it is a lovely place to come back to with a picnic or for an early morning stroll before the heat of the day.

Plaza de España

Plaza de España is the showpiece of the 1929 exposition: a huge semicircular building of brick and ceramics, with towers at each end, a canal crossed by four bridges representing the old kingdoms of Spain, and a row of tiled alcoves, each devoted to a Spanish province with its map and a scene from its history. The design mixes Renaissance, baroque and Moorish revival styles and is one of the most photographed places in Andalusia.

The bike tour stops here for photos and the story of the exposition. Plaza de España is free to visit and open at all hours, though it can occasionally close for events. Many people ask whether Plaza de España is worth visiting: the answer is yes, especially in the late afternoon when the light warms the brick and the fountain glows. You can also hire a small rowing boat on the canal.