Written by Carmen Ramírez, manager and licensed tourist guide at Alcázar Seville Tour. Monument closures and departure data from our own operation. Verified on 10/08/2026.
Quick Answer
Semana Santa 2027 runs from Sunday 21 to Sunday 28 March — in March, not April. It is the single hardest week of the year to visit Seville’s monuments, for two separate reasons. The first is capacity: the Cathedral closes on Holy Tuesday, the Alcázar closes on Good Friday, the centre is impassable on Palm Sunday, and on the five days that do work we run one guided departure a day instead of our usual three. The second matters more. Alcázar tickets are issued in each visitor’s name and are never resold, so when the monument sells out for a date — typically four to six weeks ahead in Holy Week — that date is closed permanently, for us and for everyone else. There is no waiting list, no cancellation pool and no late option. Holy Week is not a week where booking late is harder. It is a week where, past a certain date, it becomes impossible.
Semana Santa 2027 is in March, not April
This catches people out every few years, and 2027 is one of those years.
Easter moves. It falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox, which is why it can land anywhere between late March and late April. In 2027 Easter Sunday is 28 March, so the whole of Holy Week sits in March:
- Palm Sunday — 21 March 2027
- Holy Monday — 22 March
- Holy Tuesday — 23 March
- Holy Wednesday — 24 March
- Maundy Thursday — 25 March
- La Madrugá — the night of 25 to 26 March
- Good Friday — 26 March
- Holy Saturday — 27 March
- Easter Sunday — 28 March
If you are planning a trip to Seville in April 2027 expecting Semana Santa, you will miss it. And if you are planning a quiet March, you will not get one.
There is a second consequence worth knowing now: the Feria de Abril always falls two weeks after Easter Sunday, so in 2027 Seville’s two biggest festivals come almost back to back. The city is at its busiest, with barely a pause, from the third week of March to the middle of April.
What does fall in April that year is the other great week: the Feria, three weeks later, from 13 to 18 April. Some years the two share a month; in 2027 they do not.
The three days we do not run at all
This is the part no general guide tells you, because it only matters if you are actually trying to book something.
- Palm Sunday — we do not run. The monuments open, but the centre is one continuous procession from late morning onwards. Getting a group from the meeting point to the Alcázar and on to the Cathedral is not realistically possible.
- Holy Tuesday — the Cathedral is closed. No cultural visits that day.
- Good Friday — the Alcázar is closed. The monument does not open to visitors.
So of the eight days of Holy Week, three are simply not available for a full guided visit. That is before you consider how many places remain on the five that are.
Holy Week dates shift every year and so, occasionally, do the closures. We keep the Cathedral’s opening hours updated, and we would always check again a few weeks before your visit.
Why there is only one departure a day
On the five days we do operate during Holy Week, we run a single guided departure instead of our usual three.
The reason is the street. Processions move through the centre from early afternoon until well into the night, and the route changes daily. The area between the Archivo de Indias, the Alcázar and the Cathedral — which is the whole of our route — is inside the official carrera oficial for much of the week. An afternoon departure would spend most of its time waiting at a barrier.
So the arithmetic for the week is plain: five operating days, one departure each, small groups. That is the entire supply for the busiest week of the Seville year.
Because group departures drop to one a day that week, a private tour is often the only way to visit at a time that suits you — provided the monument still has tickets for your date.
The second limit, and the one that catches people out
Capacity is the obvious constraint. The one that actually ends trips is timing, and it works differently from what most visitors assume.
Our Holy Week departures do not close because the group is full. They close because the monument has sold out.
We hold each date open for as long as the Alcázar still has tickets available for that time slot. The moment the monument closes that slot, we close it too — even if there were still places in the group. We cannot sell a guided visit without an entry ticket, and there is no ticket left to buy.
And because Alcázar tickets carry the name and document number of one specific visitor, they are never refunded, never transferred and never resold. Nothing comes back. There is no cancellation pool, no waiting list, no releases at midnight, and no amount of money that changes it. For most of the year that is an inconvenience. In Holy Week, when the whole week’s demand is squeezed into five mornings, it is a hard deadline.
In Holy Week the question is not whether booking late is more expensive or less convenient. It is that past a certain date the answer becomes no, permanently — and that date is set by the monument, not by us.
In practice, for Semana Santa 2027 that date falls in February. Alcázar tickets for Holy Week typically close four to six weeks ahead, and sooner for the morning slots — the longest lead time of the entire year, against two to three weeks in ordinary high season. We have set out when Alcázar tickets sell out season by season.
It is also why we genuinely cannot help at the last minute during Holy Week, however much we would like to. There is no second departure to move you to, and no later date that is still open.
Getting around during the processions
The thing to understand is that the centre is not simply busy — it is divided. A procession is a moving wall. You can be two hundred metres from your hotel and unable to reach it for forty minutes.
What actually helps:
- Plan mornings, not afternoons. Most processions set out in the early afternoon. The hours before lunch are the city at its most normal.
- Check the day’s routes before you go out, not after. Printed route guides are sold everywhere in the week beforehand, and the brotherhoods publish their timings.
- Allow double the time for everything. A ten-minute walk is not a ten-minute walk.
- Do not drag luggage through the centre on a procession day. If you arrive mid-afternoon, expect to walk the last stretch.
What to do on the days the monuments are shut
Holy Tuesday and Good Friday are not lost days — they are simply days for something other than the Alcázar and the Cathedral.
- Good Friday follows La Madrugá, the night of Thursday to Friday when the city’s most famous brotherhoods process through the small hours. The morning after has an atmosphere you will not find on any other day of the year. Sleep late, then watch.
- Holy Tuesday, with the Cathedral closed, is a good day for the Alcázar on its own, for the Plaza de España, or for crossing to Triana, which is away from most of the centre’s route.
- Casa de Pilatos and the Archivo de Indias stay open and are a short walk from the centre.
A realistic plan for Holy Week
Arrive before Palm Sunday if you can. The Saturday before is a normal day in Seville, with normal access to everything. It is by far the easiest day of that fortnight to see the monuments.
Book the monuments for Holy Monday or Holy Wednesday. They are the quietest of the operating days and they leave your Thursday and Friday free for the processions, which is presumably why you came.
Keep the afternoons unplanned. You will not keep an afternoon appointment during Holy Week, and trying to is how people end up frustrated instead of moved.
Our guided tour of the Alcázar, Cathedral and Giralda runs on the operating days with all tickets included and the entry time confirmed when you book — which, in a week with one departure a day, is the part that matters. Free cancellation up to 7 days before.
Is Semana Santa a good time to visit Seville?
If you have come for Semana Santa itself: there is nothing like it in Europe, and the answer is obviously yes.
If you have come to see the monuments and the city, and Holy Week simply happens to be when you can travel: it is the hardest week of the year to do that, and you should know it before you book flights. November and the first three weeks of December give you the same city with none of the obstacles.
And if your dates are fixed and they fall in Holy Week, the message of this entire article is one line: book in February.
And if Holy Week is not the week for you, the rest of the month is a completely different proposition: the rest of March splits into three more stretches, each with its own booking rule.
Frequently asked questions
When is Semana Santa in Seville in 2027?
From Sunday 21 March to Sunday 28 March 2027. Easter Sunday falls on 28 March, which puts the whole of Holy Week in March rather than April that year.
Is the Alcázar open during Semana Santa?
Yes, except on Good Friday, when it is closed all day. It keeps normal hours on the other days of Holy Week, although tickets are far harder to get.
Is Seville Cathedral open during Semana Santa?
Yes, except on Holy Tuesday, when it does not open for cultural visits. Note also that the Cathedral is part of the processional route during the week, which can affect access at short notice.
Why do guided tours not run on Palm Sunday?
Because the city centre is one continuous procession from late morning onwards. The monuments themselves open, but moving a group between the meeting point, the Alcázar and the Cathedral is not realistically possible that day.
How far in advance should I book for Semana Santa?
Four to six weeks, and more if you want a morning slot. It is the longest lead time of the year, because three of the eight days are unavailable and demand concentrates into the remaining five. For 2027 that means booking in February.
Why is there only one guided departure a day during Holy Week?
Processions occupy the centre from early afternoon until late at night, and the route runs directly through the area between the Alcázar and the Cathedral. Only a morning departure can complete the visit, so we run one instead of our usual three.
Why does a Holy Week date disappear while the group still has space?
Because our departures close when the monument sells out, not when the group is full. We hold a date open for as long as the Alcázar still has tickets for that time slot; once the monument closes it, we have to close it too, since we cannot run a guided visit without entry tickets.
Can I get tickets at the last minute during Semana Santa?
No, and not in the sense of it being difficult — in the sense of there being no mechanism. Alcázar tickets carry each visitor’s name, are never refunded, transferred or resold, and never return to sale. Once a date closes it stays closed, so there is no waiting list and no cancellation pool. The small same-day allocation at the ticket office is gone within minutes on Holy Week mornings.
What is La Madrugá?
The night of Maundy Thursday to Good Friday, when Seville’s most famous brotherhoods process through the small hours. In 2027 it is the night of 25 to 26 March. It is the emotional centre of the week and the city does not sleep.
Is it better to visit the monuments in the morning during Holy Week?
Yes, decisively. Most processions set out in the early afternoon, so the morning is the only part of the day when the centre moves normally. It is also when our single daily departure runs.
When is the Feria de Abril in relation to Semana Santa?
Always two weeks after Easter Sunday. In 2027 that puts the Feria in mid-April, so Seville’s two biggest festivals fall unusually close together and the city is busy almost continuously from late March.
Carmen Ramírez · manager
Carmen Ramírez is the manager of Alcázar Seville Tour and a licensed tourist guide in Seville, holding an Advanced Technical Diploma in Tourist Guidance, Information and Assistance. Since 2022 she has run the day-to-day booking operation for the Royal Alcázar, Seville Cathedral and the Giralda, which means she sees first-hand how far ahead each date sells out, which time slots close first, and what actually goes wrong when travellers book. She guides in english and spanish. Official Andalusian tourist guide licence no. GT/02931. Carmen writes the articles on availability, ticket rules and what to book in advance — the questions where the official monument websites stop short.