Holy Week in Seville 2027: a visitor's guide

Holy Week 2027 dates

According to the Council of Brotherhoods and Visita Sevilla, the city council's tourism website, Holy Week 2027 runs from 21 to 28 March. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are public holidays in Andalusia, according to the official regional calendar.

During Lent, the Council has already set several events:

• Unveiling of the official poster: Saturday 6 February 2027, at 12:00.
• Via Crucis of the brotherhoods: Monday 15 February, at 20:00, in the Cathedral, led by the Cristo de la Exaltación.
• Cabildo de Toma de Horas, where each procession's times are set: Sunday 7 March, at 8:30, in the Cathedral's Royal Chapel.
• Holy Week proclamation (Pregón): Sunday 14 March, at the Teatro de la Maestranza, given by Enrique Barrero.

The Palm Sunday order for 2027 is also approved: la Borriquita (Sagrada Entrada en Jerusalén), Jesús Despojado, la Cena, la Hiniesta, la Paz, San Roque, la Estrella, la Amargura and el Amor.

What it is and how it works

Seville's Holy Week is, above all, a religious celebration. The Council's own rules say so explicitly: the processions are not a public show but a station of penance to the Cathedral. Visita Sevilla points out that you do not need to be a believer to experience it, and many people come for the culture and the art, but it is worth watching with that respect in mind.

• Brotherhoods (hermandades). Lay associations devoted to an image of Christ or the Virgin. Each one processes on a set day from its church to the Cathedral and back. Visita Sevilla counts around sixty, with more than a hundred floats.
• Pasos (floats). The platforms that carry the images, most of them carved between the 16th and 18th centuries. There are scene floats (misterio, a moment of the Passion), floats with Christ alone, and palio floats, with the Virgin under a canopy on twelve poles, surrounded by candles.
• Costaleros and capataz. The costaleros carry the float on the back of their necks, hidden under the drapes; the capataz guides them from outside and gives orders with a knocker on the front of the float.
• Nazarenos. Brotherhood members in robes and the capirote, the tall pointed hood that covers the face. It is a penitential garment that goes back centuries in Seville, and the hood keeps the wearer anonymous. They carry candles, crosses or insignia. Penitents carry crosses and wear no pointed hood.
• Music and silence. Christ floats are usually followed by cornet and drum bands, and Virgin floats by brass bands. Some brotherhoods, known as the "serious" ones in black robes, process in complete silence.
• Saeta. A prayer sung in flamenco style to an image, usually from a balcony. If you are interested in flamenco, see our flamenco guide to Seville.

The Carrera Oficial is the shared stretch every brotherhood follows: Plaza de la Campana, Calle Sierpes, Plaza de San Francisco, Avenida de la Constitución and the Cathedral, which they enter through the Puerta de San Miguel and leave through the Puerta de Palos, onto Plaza Virgen de los Reyes. The paid seats and boxes are here, and each brotherhood must enter and leave at a fixed time.

The Madrugá is the night from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, when six of the best-known brotherhoods go out: el Silencio, el Gran Poder, la Macarena, el Calvario, la Esperanza de Triana and los Gitanos. To give you an idea of the timings, in 2026 the Macarena left at 0:00 and returned to its basilica at 13:30 on Good Friday. According to Visita Sevilla, some processions spend more than ten hours in the street.

How to watch the processions without a seat

The Carrera Oficial is only one stretch. The rest of each route, from the moment the leading cross leaves the church until the last float goes back in, is free to watch from the street. Visita Sevilla in fact recommends finding spots away from the Carrera Oficial to see the images better.

• Pick a few processions a day. They leave from different neighbourhoods at similar times, so you cannot see everything. The Tourist Information Office advises carrying the printed programme and getting to your chosen spot early.
• Look for open spaces. In its guide to Holy Week with children, Visita Sevilla suggests open places such as María Luisa Park, Plaza del Triunfo, Plaza Nueva, the Alameda de Hércules, Plaza de la Encarnación (the Setas) or Plaza de la Magdalena. Check the 2027 route to make sure the procession you want still passes there: routes change, and the Council has already approved a new one for the Santo Entierro on Holy Saturday, for example.
• Narrow streets get the most crowded. Departures, returns and the lanes of the old town create the "bullas", the dense crowds. If you dislike crowds, wait on an avenue or square along the route.
• Inside the Cathedral. In 2026 you could watch the processions pass through the Cathedral, with free entry through the Puerta del Príncipe until full, from 17:30 on most days. For 2027 the Cathedral has announced that people coming to watch will enter through the Puerta del Príncipe and stand in the area behind the choir. The 2027 times are not yet published.
• The Madrugá with children. Visita Sevilla suggests going out around 9:00 on Good Friday morning, when the Macarena, los Gitanos and the Esperanza de Triana are still on their way back through the streets.
• Follow the processions on your phone. In 2026 the city council's "Sevilla" app offered, as a pilot, a GPS showing where each brotherhood was and a crowd-density indicator.
• Only cross the Carrera Oficial at the marked crossings (in 2026, for example, at Plaza del Duque, at several points on Sierpes, between García de Vinuesa and Alemanes, between Plaza Nueva and the Banco de España and at Plaza Virgen de los Reyes). You cannot stop on these crossings.

Everything announced with a date in the city, including processional-march concerts and Lent events, appears on our Seville events calendar.

2027 times and routes: when they are published

The 2027 times do not exist yet. They are set at the Cabildo de Toma de Horas on 7 March 2027, and give each brotherhood's departure time, its times at four points of the Carrera Oficial (Campana, Plaza de San Francisco, Puerta de San Miguel and Puerta de Palos) and its return to its church.

The Council then publishes the official list with times and routes on its website, under Horarios y recorridos; the 2026 list came out in March. Visita Sevilla also has a PDF guide to Holy Week 2027 (in Spanish) with each brotherhood's church by day, a route suggested by the Tourist Office and links to special transport and monument hours.

For reference, on Palm Sunday 2026 the first brotherhood left at 13:00 and the last one returned to its church at 2:30 at night. Expect long days and late dinners.

Seats and boxes on the Carrera Oficial

The seats (sillas) and boxes (palcos) on the Carrera Oficial are run by the Council of Brotherhoods under a concession from the city council, and the income supports the brotherhoods. They are on Plaza de la Campana, Sierpes, Plaza de San Francisco, Avenida de la Constitución and Plaza Virgen de los Reyes.

How to get one. They work through season passes (abonos). Under the Council's rules, whoever held a pass one year has priority to renew it the next, so most places are already taken. Anyone without a pass can submit an application, valid for that year only. In the 2026 calendar, new applications were made from 1 to 31 January on the Council's website (and from 26 to 30 January at its office at Calle San Gregorio, 26); temporary passes were paid from 2 to 6 March and collected from 16 to 27 March. The 2027 calendar has not been published yet: follow it in the Sillas y palcos section of its website (in Spanish).

Prices. 2027 prices are not known yet. The 2026 passes, according to the official price table, ranged from €90.50 (Plaza Virgen de los Reyes) to €197.96 (Campana stand) per seat, and from €749.11 to €1,016.77 for boxes on Plaza de San Francisco.

Rules worth knowing, according to the regulations:

• Reselling is forbidden, as is transferring a pass for profit; the holder loses the right. Be wary of anyone offering seats outside the Council.
• No refunds if processions are cancelled because of rain or any other cause beyond the Council's control.
• You must show the original pass going in and out; photocopies are not accepted. Children need their own pass from the age of 3.
• Strollers are not allowed in the seating area; there are enclosures nearby to leave them.
• Each person can hold at most one box or six seats.

Etiquette and tips: respect, children, heat and crowds

• Do not cut between the nazarenos or through the procession. Wait for a gap or use the marked crossings. When a brotherhood processes in silence, stay silent too.
• Do not block the street. The city council reminds people that deliberately blocking pavements or roads can be fined up to €120. In 2026 it also banned folding chairs at around thirty busy junctions and streets, marked with signs on site.
• Watch out for wax. The candles leave wax on the ground, and it is slippery. The city cleaning service clears it after each procession and the council puts up warning signs, but watch your step, especially with children or on a bike.
• With children, Visita Sevilla advises planning a route along wide streets and accepting that they will get tired. Many children love making a ball from the wax that drips from the candles, and in brotherhoods with caped robes the nazarenos often hand out sweets or holy cards.
• Heat and long hours standing. You may wait for hours in the sun, so bring water, a hat and comfortable shoes. Visita Sevilla recommends the gardens of María Luisa Park if it is hot. It gets cooler at night: bring an extra layer.
• First aid points. In 2026 there were fixed first aid posts at Plaza Nueva, Plaza de la Gavidia, Calle Augusto Plasencia (San Isidoro) and the Archivo de Indias, and the Cathedral set up a chapel with medical staff next to the Puerta de San Miguel.
• If you have young children, agree on a meeting point in case you get separated in a crowd.

Visitors with reduced mobility or disabilities

In 2026 the city council and the Council of Brotherhoods set aside 109 free places a day for people with disabilities, in seats next to the Cathedral's Puerta del Lagarto (Calle Placentines) and opposite the Puerta de Campanilla, plus three boxes on Plaza de San Francisco. Access was on the day, with no booking, showing the beneficiary's Spanish ID (DNI) and with one companion only; seats were unnumbered, the front rows were for people with reduced mobility, and Red Cross volunteers helped. The 2027 conditions will be published on the city council's Holy Week page (in Spanish).

In 2026 the Cathedral also opened the Puerta del Lagarto as an exclusive entrance so that people with reduced mobility watching from Calle Cardenal Amigo Vallejo could use the toilets in the Patio de los Naranjos.

Transport and road closures

The historic centre is closed to traffic for much of the week. Under the 2026 plan, from 10:00 to 2:00 from Palm Sunday to Holy Wednesday and on Holy Saturday, and non-stop from 10:00 on Maundy Thursday to 2:00 on Holy Saturday, only accredited residents and garage holders, TUSSAM buses, taxis, pre-booked ride-hailing cars, emergency vehicles, bikes and motorbikes could get in. If you rent a car and are staying in the centre, ask your hotel in advance how to get there. The city council recommends walking and using public transport.

What ran in 2026, as a reference, according to the city council's mobility plan:

• Metro. Extended hours until 2:00 on most days, and non-stop service from 7:30 on Maundy Thursday to 2:00 on Holy Saturday. On Easter Sunday, until 23:00.
• TUSSAM city buses. More services and route changes: lines ending at Ponce de León moved to Puerta Osario from 14:00, lines 13 and 14 moved from Plaza del Duque to the Alameda, and some lines ran all night during the Madrugá.
• Metrocentro (tram). Ending at the Archivo de Indias, last departure around 1:30 and all-night service during the Madrugá.
• Airport bus (EA). It stopped short at Puerta de Jerez when Paseo de Colón was closed, mainly on Good Friday. See the other options in our airport to city centre guide.

The 2027 plan, with metro and TUSSAM times, is published in March on the city council's website. Check it before you go, as it changes from year to year.

Cathedral, Alcázar and other monuments

Cathedral. During Holy Week, sightseeing visits are cut back to make room for services and the processions. In 2026, according to the Cathedral chapter, the schedule was:

The 2027 schedule has not been published; check the Cathedral's official website in March. The church of El Salvador, included in the ticket, closed to sightseeing from 27 March to 5 April 2026 for its brotherhoods' services.

Royal Alcázar. Its official website gives winter hours until 31 March, 9:30 to 17:00, and closure on Good Friday, which in 2027 is 26 March. It is the ticket that sells out first: buy a dated, timed ticket on the official website, and if none are left there are guided tours with entry on Tiqets. Everything is in our Royal Alcázar guide.

Mornings are yours. Almost all processions leave after midday, so in the morning you can see the sights following our 1, 2 or 3-day itinerary or join a guided walk around the centre, for example on Civitatis. Visita Sevilla warns that many places change their hours that week: check before you go.

Accommodation: book early

Holy Week is one of the busiest weeks of the year in Seville, and hotels in the centre are the first to fill up and go up in price. If your dates are fixed, look for a place to stay as soon as possible with free cancellation and check later whether prices drop.

When choosing an area, bear in mind that the old town has road closures, streets crowded until late and bands playing at night. Neighbourhoods such as Triana, Los Remedios, San Bernardo or Nervión, which Visita Sevilla suggests for quieter meals that week, are close to the centre and well connected.

What to eat: Lenten food

According to Visita Sevilla, Lent and Holy Week have their own cuisine, rooted in the tradition of not eating meat:

• Torrijas. The Lenten sweet above all others: day-old bread soaked in milk with cinnamon and lemon, or in wine, dipped in egg, fried and finished with sugar or honey, a cousin of French toast. Pastry shops sell them from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday.
• Other sweets: pestiños (fried honey pastries), leche frita (fried milk custard), poleá and rice pudding.
• Salt cod in every form: soldaditos de pavía (battered strips), tortillitas, fritters, cod with tomato or potatoes with cod.
• Spoon dishes: spinach with chickpeas, chickpeas with salt cod and potaje de vigilia, a Lenten stew.

Visita Sevilla has a guide to where to eat during Holy Week by neighbourhood (in Spanish), for calmer meals near the procession routes.