2025: How to Buy Tickets to Visit the Real Alcazar Palace in Seville

Buy skip-the-line tickets online for the Real Alcazar in Seville with afternoons the best time slots to visit the palace complex and gardens.

Buy tickets for the Real Alcazar online. Ticket queues outside the Real Alcazar palace complex in Seville, Spain. — Less Queuing at the Real Alcazar — Advanced Online Tickets Are the Norm

Buying advance online tickets is currently almost essential for visiting the Real Alcazar in Sevilla. This royal palace complex with a magnificent Mudéjar masterpiece at its core and extensive gardens is justifiably one of the top most popular sights to see in Andalusia and all of Spain. The number of visitors inside at any given time is limited and time-slot reservation tickets are obligatory to enter the complex. In quiet periods, it is possible to buy tickets onsite but online tickets and guided tours secure skip-the-line entry on a specific day without queuing. Combination tours with the equally popular and busy cathedral are often better value. Free admission is possible for the final hour on Mondays but also requires an advance online reservation.

Buy Tickets Online for the Real Alcazar de Sevilla in 2025

Buy tickets online and see the Patio of the Maidens in the Real Alcazar in Seville.

NOTE: Most visitors arrive at the Real Alcazar with online time-slot reservation tickets making the queues for buying the limited number of leftover tickets onsite even slower.

Tickets are only sold at the Real Alcazar if time slots are left over and only for use on the same day. Tickets often sell out weeks in advance but more expensive tours are usually available at short notice.

The Real Alcazar is one of the most popular tourist sights to see in Spain. It receives nearly 1.8 million annual visitors. For conservation reasons, only 750 people are allowed inside the palace complex at any given time. Only visitors with time-slot reservation tickets or on guided tours are admitted.

Ticket Options for the Real Alcazar Palace in Seville

The basic ticket and admission options for the Real Alcazar in Seville are:

Ambassadors Hall -- buy tickets online to see the fantastic Real Alcazar in Seville

General Admission (Entrada General) — access to the ground floor of the palace complex and gardens. This is the standard ticket that allows a visit without a guided tour. Official audioguides may be added, or download the free tour. Buy online in advance.

Royal Apartments (Entrada Especial al Cuarto Real Alto) — Access to the furnished royal palace upper floor may be added to the general admission. This option uses very strict time slot admissions. Online reservations are highly advisable, otherwise, make reservations as soon as entering the complex.

Guided tours — a variety of options from private tour operators. These tours give immediate access and tour members may of course stay inside the palace complex and gardens at the end of the tour. Tours are often a good late-minute option too for ensuring a visit if regular tickets are not yet on sale far in advance. The best value is often longer tours that combine further sites in Sevilla especially the cathedral — another top sight that no sensible visitor would attempt seeing without an advance time-slot reservation ticket.

It is not possible to buy separate tickets to see the Royal Apartments in Seville or the gardens without visiting the entire Real Alcazar palace complex.

Buying Tickets for the Real Alcazar in Seville in 2025

Buying tickets onsite and in person at the Real Alcazar in Seville is possible but only if there are leftover tickets for the specific day. Few would regret using the easy online option. The small surcharge for online timeslot reservation tickets is money very well spent.

Visitors with tickets should find the correct time-slot queue at the Puerta del Leon entrance to the Real Alcazar. Be in queue 15 minutes before the stated time and never after the timeslot time.

On very busy days, even visitors with reservations may have to wait until enough people leave the complex before being allowed to enter. The best times to visit are the first entry in the morning or in the late afternoon.

Buy tickets onsite at the Patio de Banderas — the square used when exiting the Real Alcazar rather than at the Puerta del Leon, which is the admission gate to the complex. If tickets are still available, visitors at the back of the queue will do better by buying tickets online on a mobile phone and then go straight to the entrance (or go elsewhere and return at the next time slot available).

Buy Admission Tickets for the Real Alcazar Palace in Seville

Photographers in the Hall of the Ambassadors

Basic general admission tickets for the Real Alcazar in Sevilla are €15.50. The ticket price is €6 for students 14 to 30 (any nationality) and EU nationals over 65 years. Admission is free only for children under 13 (but include them in online tickets). Any advance purchase ticket adds a small surcharge — a very sound investment.

Time-slot reservation tickets are cheapest online directly from the Real Alcazar official website. It is currently fairly badly designed and some details may be in Spanish only. Buying through resellers is also an option and may give savings when combined with further sights and tours.

The basic Real Alcazar ticket gives admission to the palace complex and the gardens but not to the optional royal apartments. Although sometimes referred to as the “General Tour” ticket, no tour is involved. It is self-guided with only a very basic map available for free. Add an audioguide for around €6, or download the basic free audioguide. Very little information is on display inside the palace. A good guidebook, an audio guide, or guided tours are all sensible options.

Buy tickets on-site at the Real Alcazar only on the quietest days. Even during the lowest of low seasons, having time-slot reservations is a wise investment. Almost without exception, “terrible” ratings on TripAdvisor are for people without tickets who unnecessarily queued for hours or failed to get into the Real Alcazar.

Free Admission Tickets to the Real Alcazar on Mondays

Admission is free on Monday during the final hour of the day. Currently, it is obligatory to make online time-slot reservations for this time too. These free tickets may “sell out” already weeks in advance.

This free Monday is a good savings option but you have to rush through the palace. The last of the two free time slots is only half an hour before the official closing time. Parts of the complex will already start closing 15 minutes after these admissions. The number of visitors allowed into the palace complex remains limited so it is not more crowded than usual.

See the Royal Apartments of the Real Alcazar

The Royal Apartments (Cuarto Real Alto) are around 15 rooms on the upper floor of the palace. These may only be seen on an optional tour with a very limited schedule. It often sells out well in advance, which is somewhat surprising as many find these royal apartments not worth the price.

Either add the Cuarto Real Alto to the general tour when booking online or try to make a reservation at the dedicated desk as soon as entering the palace complex. The time on the reservation is for starting the tour on the second floor of the palace. Enter the Real Alcazar complex any time before that but at least half an hour before to be on time.

Admission to the royal apartments is strictly by time slot reservations. Be at the entrance on the second floor on time. It is impossible to catch up once the tour has started. The half-an-hour tour is by audioguide. This is always included for the apartments even if no audioguide is bought for the rest of the complex. Visitors are moved along by security guards, so it is not possible to linger longer in any room.

Is the Royal Apartment Worth Seeing?

The royal apartments are not much different from any other European royal palace. Although some of the rooms are named after Isabella I of Castile l (Isabel la Catolica) and Pedro I, the furnishings are mostly from the 19th century and thus not particularly old or of much historical importance. The main reception rooms remain impressive.

Many visitors having seen other European palaces, may consider it €5.50 saved (no discount for children, students, or pensioners) by not seeing the upper floor and royal bedrooms. The Mudejar ground floor of the Palace of Pedro I is very much the top sight of the complex, not the royal apartments.

Guided Tours of the Real Alcazar

A wide variety of guided tours are available to see the Real Alcazar de Sevilla. Tours are a good option to enter the palace complex without waiting and also a great way to learn more about hidden details — surprisingly little information is provided inside the palace. Game of Thrones-themed tours are currently very popular too.

The cheapest guided tours are usually around an hour but longer tours may offer better value. Better value is also possible in combination tours, especially those including Seville Cathedral — another top sight that is a nightmare to enter without an advance purchase ticket — or adding a river cruise.

Somewhat pricey but special is the first entry tour early morning before regular visitors are admitted into the Real Alcazar. This first entry tour may also be combined with a walking tour and tickets for the cathedral.

Private tours are a good choice for small groups or visitors with children. Small groups are more pleasant but note that some define small groups as 15 or even 20.

At the end of the tour, visitors may stay inside the palace complex and gardens until regular closing time. If that is of interest, ensure that the Alcazar is the final sight seen on combination tours.

Buy Tickets Online to Visit the Real Alcazar Palace in Seville