Algarve to Seville Day Trip Itinerary (Planned by ChatGPT)
As part of my trip to Portugal, we took a day trip from the Algarve region to Seville, Spain. I had heard only great things about the city and wanted to explore, but was short on time to research and plan the day. Thus, I turned to the latest technology everyone can’t shut up about: ChatGPT. It gave me a good starting place, but it certainly wasn’t perfect.
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[RELATED: The Best of Portugal’s Algarve Coast]
My Prompt for ChatGPT
When you use ChatGPT, you have to ask it a question or give it a prompt to go off of. Mine was the following:
I am staying in an Airbnb in Armação de Pêra. Can you give me a schedule for my day trip to Seville where I can eat Spanish chorizo and sangria?
Chorizo is my husband’s favorite food and I figured if I’m going to take a day trip to Spain, I want to drink sangria!
It quickly responded.
Certainly! Here’s a suggested schedule for your day trip to Seville from Armação de Pêra, where you can enjoy Spanish chorizo and sangria:
7:00AM
Leave early from your Airbnb in Algarve to drive to Seville, which is about a 2.5-hour drive.
Driving is the best way to day trip from the Algarve region to Seville. We had rented a car in Lisbon earlier in our trip, but you can rent one in Algarve instead. The most direct route from our Airbnb in Armação de Pêra to Seville was to take the A-22 highway to the A-49. This route does have tolls but it’s a pleasant drive.
There is no checkpoint at the border between Portugal and Spain. They are both Schengen Zone EU countries and driving between them felt like driving between states in the US. There’s just a small sign letting you know you’re now in Spain. We did bring our passports with us just in case but never needed them.
While the drive from Armação de Pêra to Seville was just about 2.5 hours, there’s a 1-hour time change from Portugal to Spain that ChatGPT did not account for. Parking was also a bit difficult and took up extra time. We were able to find street parking and paid at the meter, but we did have to go back and add more time later in the day.
10:00AM
Arrive in Seville and head to the historic district to explore the city. Some must-see attractions include the Seville Cathedral, the Alcázar of Seville, and the Plaza de España.
Plaza de España
ChatGPT only allotted 2 hours to explore the Seville Cathedral, the Alcázar of Seville, and the Plaza de España. We started with the Plaza de España, which is a beautiful plaza built on the edge of a large urban park. It is free and open to the public. The plaza is a half-circle with baroque-style government buildings surrounding it. A small manmade river flows through it with a fountain at the center. This stunning space was bustling on the Saturday morning we were there, with both locals and tourists enjoying the space.
Plaza de España is the quickest of the three stops ChatGPT wanted us to make, and we spent at least 30 minutes there. There’s no way you could go through all of these in just 2 hours, so I adjusted our Algarve to Seville day trip schedule accordingly. In fact, we ended up spending about 2 hours each at the Seville Cathedral and Alcázar of Seville!
Alcázar of Seville
The Alcázar of Seville (also known as the Royal Alcázar) is a royal palace from the Middle Ages with strong Moorish influence. It’s beautiful and grand. Walking through both the compound and the gardens, its easy to forget you’re right in the middle of a city!
I recommend booking your tickets in advance to minimize your wait. We purchased timed entry tickets and still stood in line for 15-20 minutes. We also chose to get the audio guide that gave us a run-down of all the rooms we were walking through.
There is no set path or order to follow when walking through the Alcázar. This made it difficult for me to keep the stories from the audio guide straight. I felt that I got less out of the experience than when there’s a clear narrative arc.
We spent about 2 hours at the Alcázar of Seville and if it hadn’t been so hot, we probably would have spent longer wandering around the breathtaking gardens.
Seville Cathedral
The Seville Cathedral (who’s official name is Catedral de Santa María de la Sede) is the third largest church in the world. Once the site of Moorish mosque, construction on the cathedral was completed in 1507. Over half a millennia later, it still stands as intricately adorned as ever. This cathedral is also the site of Christopher Columbus’s tomb, which stands raised, carried by four statues.
Like the Alcázar of Seville, we purchased timed entry tickets to the Seville Cathedral ahead of time. They take the timed entry very seriously and did not let us enter even 5 minutes early. However, once you enter you may stay as long as you like. We didn’t have an audio guide, but spent about 90 minutes strolling around and admiring the cathedral.
In addition to the cathedral itself, you can also climb La Giralda, which was a tower from the mosque that used to be at this site. Instead of stairs, you climb up a long series of sloped ramps to views of the city from over 300 feet up.
12:00PM
Stop for lunch at La Bartola, a popular tapas restaurant that serves Spanish chorizo and other traditional Spanish dishes. The restaurant is located in the heart of the city, near the Metropol Parasol.
We went immediately from the Plaza de España to La Bartola for lunch and I was very happy with ChatGPT’s recommendation. They seated us immediately without a reservation. We ordered the following dishes:
- Surtido de Chacinas Ibéricas (mix of Iberian cold cuts plate)
- Saquitos de calabacin con ragù de verduras (zucchini sachets stuffed with minced vegetables)
- Croquetas Caseras del dia (homemade croquettes of the day)
- Cordero Asado Con Cous-Cous (roasted lamb with cous-cous)
Everything was delicious and we devoured it all. While Algarve is just a short drive from Seville, the Spanish food is distinctly different from its Portuguese neighbor. It was an extremely hot day and we were still a bit hungry so we stopped by Moya Brunch just down the street for a smoothie as we made our way to the Alcázar of Seville.
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2:00PM
Take a walk through the Santa Cruz neighborhood, one of the most charming and picturesque areas in Seville.
The Santa Cruz neighborhood is the most central part of Seville and where most of the other places ChatGPT recommended are, so it felt unnecessary for the AI to recommend 2 hours to roam around. We got a great sense of the neighborhood just walking from one stop to the next.
A couple other general Seville tips:
- I recommend bringing a water bottle to Seville as there are free fountains where you can refill it throughout the city.
- Our day trip from Algarve to Seville was also one of the only times we ran into paid restrooms, so be sure to bring some euros with you!
4:00PM
Visit a local market, such as Mercado de Triana (indoor market), to try some more local cuisine and pick up some souvenirs.
This market ended up being a bust. It was closed when we arrived (which admittedly was after 6PM due to ChatGPT’s poor understanding of time). There was one place open but it was otherwise deserted and we quickly abandoned this stop.
6:00PM
Head to a rooftop bar, such as La Terraza del EME, to enjoy some sangria and a stunning view of the city.
Following the computer’s instructions, we went to La Terraza del EME after eating plenty of gelato nearby to cool off on the scorching day. We arrived a bit before the rush and were able to be seated right away despite the small seating area on the roof.
Service was a slow and the drinks were expensive, but the sangria was delicious and the views of the Seville Cathedral were incredible. ChatGPT’s description of “a stunning view of the city” was accurate and I was very happy with this suggestion!
Dinner at Muelle Triana
Since our plans to eat dinner at Mercado de Triana didn’t work out, we had to find somewhere else for dinner. Around 6:30PM, we walked around to many places near the market to try to find somewhere to eat and were told that most didn’t start serving dinner until 8PM. We were hungry and had to get back to Algarve, so that wouldn’t work for us. Thankfully we stumbled upon Muelle Triana, which had outdoor seating overlooking the river.
We ordered some more chorizo along with an assortment of cheeses to tide us over before our drive home.
8:00PM
Drive back to your Airbnb in Algarve.
One thing ChatGPT didn’t account for (and couldn’t have known since I didn’t tell it which day we were going) was that there would be a major soccer game (the Copa del Rey final). Starting around noon the streets were packed with soccer fans who were drinking and pregaming the match, chanting, and getting excited. While it was fun to see people having a good time, there were so many people that it became hard for us to get from one place to another without running into massive crowds.
Seville Day Trip Final Thoughts
If you’re visiting Portugal’s southern coast and have extra time, I highly recommend a Algarve to Seville day trip. It’s a beautiful city that’s very walkable and easy to see all the biggest highlights in a short amount of time.
ChatGPT’s itinerary was a great jumping off point, but the AI is far from perfect. It may cut down on research time, but it isn’t going to be a substitute for putting all the pieces together yourself. I am interested to see how ChatGPT and other AI tools continue to improve in the coming years.
Don’t forget to pin this post for future planning!
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