Seville Cathedral and the Giralda: Which Ticket, Which Gate and How the Climb Works

One ticket covers the cathedral, the Giralda and the church of El Salvador, and the visit begins at the Giralda because it has its own access control and a limited capacity. That single fact shapes the whole morning. You buy one ticket, climb first while your legs are fresh and walk the nave afterwards without hurry.

Which cathedral and Giralda ticket: general, reduced or guided

The general ticket costs €13 online and €14 at the box office, and it opens the cathedral, the Giralda and El Salvador. The reduced ticket costs €7 online for people over 65, students up to 25 and large families, with proof. The guided visit costs €20 online plus a small fee per ticket, and the audio guide costs €5.

Buy online, and the reason is the slot rather than the saving, because the box office offers no guarantee in the busy months. The guided visit runs longer than a self-guided one, which takes about about 75 minutes. On a first visit the general ticket gets you the Giralda and El Salvador without any guide. Add the audio guide only if you want the story told while you walk.

The audio guide is €5. Children under 13 with an adult enter free.

The gate and when to come

Online tickets go through the Puerta del Lagarto, and the box office is at the Puerta del Príncipe on the other side of the building. Opening hours: Monday to Saturday 10.45 am–7 pm, Sunday 2.30 pm–7 pm; the ticket office closes at 6 pm. Entry counts from the moment you walk in, and you may stay until the doors close.

Come in the first hour after opening on a weekday. The cathedral is calmest then, and the light through the stained glass is better earlier in the day than at noon, when the crowd is thickest. The hours also shift for church services, so the official page is the last word on the day. On Sunday the doors open only in the afternoon, which suits a late start.

The Giralda is a ramp and not a staircase, 35 ramps wound up the inside of the tower with windows where you can stop for breath. There is no lift to the bell level. Go up before anything else.

The tower began as a minaret, finished in 1198, and a Renaissance belfry of the 16th century now crowns it. It has its own access control, which is why the visit starts here.

Walk the Patio de los Naranjos first, the former ablution court of the mosque, with its fountain, its orange trees and the horseshoe arch of the Puerta del Perdón. Inside, the nave is the longest of any Spanish cathedral, and the building, begun in 1402, took the title of the largest cathedral in the world from Hagia Sophia once it was finished. Columbus's tomb stands close to the Puerta del Príncipe, carried by four heralds, and historians still argue whether all his bones lie inside.

The Capilla Mayor holds the great altarpiece, begun by Pieter Dancart in 1482 and completed in its central part in 1526, a wall of gilded scenes that rewards a slow look. The Capilla Real follows, with the remains of Ferdinand III, Alfonso the Wise and Peter the Cruel. This is one way to walk it, since no official route exists, and the church holds about eighty chapels to explore if time allows.

2 daysThe Seville itinerary opens the day at the Alcázar in the 9.30 slot and brings you to the cathedral around noon, with ideas for what follows.Seville in 2 days →

When the tickets run out

In the busy seasons, spring and early autumn, the online slots can vanish within a few days, and resellers keep a separate quota of their own. When the official page shows nothing for your date, these are the four moves to try.

• Look at another day or another hour on the official site.
• Join the queue at the Puerta del Príncipe box office, knowing it guarantees nothing.
• Buy a guided visit from a reseller, who holds a separate quota and adds a guide.
• Go to the Alcázar across the Plaza del Triunfo first and come back to the cathedral another day.

Hidden gemsThe Casa de Pilatos stands ten minutes north-east of the cathedral, and the page on lesser-known corners covers other places outside the cathedral–Alcázar–Santa Cruz triangle.Seville outside the triangle: courtyards and a Roman basement →