Overview
That is what makes it unusual: this is Mudéjar work, Islamic technique and ornament made for a Catholic court, two centuries after Seville was taken. The Patio de las Doncellas carries Arabic inscriptions praising a Christian sovereign. Later kings added a Gothic palace, Renaissance rooms and the Casa de Contratación, from which the Americas trade was administered. The gardens run to seven hectares of terraces, pools and orange trees.
Highlights
Book online and take an early slot; the courtyards are small and the queue outside is an hour by mid-morning. Pay the supplement for the upper royal apartments if they are open — they are visited in small guided groups and are never crowded. Give the gardens as long as the palace; the Grotto Gallery along the wall is the coolest place in Seville in July.