The Spanish city of Seville is the mainland Europe destination which receives the most sunshine in April – ten hours a day on average – when it holds the famed Seville Feria
A historical city is drenched in hour after hour of sunshine and delightfully warm weather in April.
Now that one of the wettest winters in the UK’s history is behind us and Spring has arrived, attention can be turned towards the fairer part of the year. If you are in need of an Easter holiday and the sensation of sunshine on your skin once more, then Seville is a good bet.
The Spanish city is the mainland Europe destination which receives the most sunshine in April – ten hours a day on average – and enjoys average temperatures of 22C. What’s more, it is easy to get to, with Vueling, easyJet, Ryanair and British Airways operating routes from cities including London, Manchester and Birmingham. It is common enough to find return tickets for £70.
If you do make it out there, then sunshine is not the only thing you’ll be treated to.
Seville Fair is a week-long extravaganza which takes place after Easter each April and features flamenco dancing, bullfights, fireworks, and horse carriages parading through the streets. “This is a week of serious dancing, drinking, eating and socialising, with late nights – or all-nighters – the norm. The sheer extent of the April Fair’s spectacle is extraordinary. From around midday until early evening – especially on Sunday, the first official day – Sevilla society parades around the fairground in carriages or on horseback,” Andalucia.com reports.
The Real de la Feria is where the main section of the fair takes place and covers 450,000m2. It includes amusement parks and striped tents of varying sizes in 24 blocks arranged along 15 streets.
The tents and the parties held within them are generally reserved for private guests, so you’re best arriving a few days before and making some friends who are able to extend an invite. Otherwise, some of the fiestas are open to the broader public.
From around 1.30pm until early the next morning drinks begin to flow and tapas is served, with each casetas equipped with a bar, kitchen and sound system or live Sevillanas player. This is the official genre of folk music in Seville, which has its own set dance.
The festival is not the only thing that is likely to pique your interest during a weekend in the city. If you head out of the winding streets of the old town and over the river you will find a neighbourhood that is dotted with crumbling buildings which seem to belong to an era unknown.
“Interspersed with science and tech company headquarters and the odd government building, the rusting reminders of the exposition provide a poignant juxtaposition between the old and new,” writes Atlas Obscurer of what is left of Expo ’92.
“Organised 500 years after Columbus landed on the shores of the New World, the Universal Exposition of Seville was themed “The Age of Discovery.” More than 100 nations participated in the event, which drew more than 40 million visitors to the 215-hectare site.”
Like the grand exhibitions of the Victorian era or the Venice Biennale, pavilions were set up to allow visitors from across the world to show off their wares. While many of them were demolished afterwards, some structures were left to slowly decay over time.
Today a dusty geodesic globe, a rocket ship shell built on a 1:1 scale, and a colourful obelisk known as the Tower of Europe remain, alongside a now empty canal that used to fill an artificial lake. Today it is dry, parched and overgrown with yellowed grass.
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