Obviously, one of the best ways to know a city as local is having the opportunity to study in this city. Either through a summer program, semester program or volunteer program, study abroad is one of the best options to know a country and a city.  And it is not different for Seville: a real immersion experience that will allow you to know the language, the culture and the people.

Whether you are thinking about taking this step, have a look on which are the most beautiful hidden gems in Seville. Now in these days that even small cities has become a target for crowds of travelers, you will be able to find a new spot where not everyone has heard about and are not in the travel guides. They are waiting for you to be discovered while you live in the city, away from the beaten track.  Add these barely known venues to your bucket list.

1. Charity Hospital

It is true. There are many religious buildings in Seville. There are even streets where you can see up to four temples while strolling through them. But there is one, that due to the iconographic program of its church, its hidden location, just few meters from the great cultural center of Seville, makes it substantially different. But curiously, it goes almost unnoticed by Seville visitors: that is the Charity Hospital.

2. House-palaces of Pilate, House of the Duchess of Lebrija and House of the Pinelos

If there is a living legacy in the city of what Seville was like socially in the 16th century, those are its house-palaces. That was where nobility lived who were art collectors and demanded for their dwellings the most up-to-date style of the moment in a city that was the capital of two worlds. Walking through the spaces of these house-palaces is possible to understand the extent to which the Indian Adventure signified to the people who lived here.

3. The Museum of Popular Arts and Customs and the Archaeological Museum

These two museums are most of the time empty or with very few visitors. The visitors find here two spaces entirely for them alone.  Both museums are located in pavilions of the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929. There is a lot to appreciate architecturally speaking, but also the collections are worth appreciating in order to learn more about Andalusia’s past and present.

4.The Mudejar route through the streets of San Luis and Calle Feria

As used to sing Pata Negra, Sevilla tiene dos partes dos partes muy diferentes, una donde están los turistas y otra donde vive la gente, (“Seville has two very different parts, one where tourists are and another where people live”). People live where most of the Mudejar-style temples are located. As it happens, this area has been called Mudejar Center of Seville since 2013. It is through the streets of the Macarena quarter, San Luis and Feria, where we can find temples such as those of San Marcos, Santa Marina or Omnium Sanctorum. All of them tell us about a type of unique art in the world due to the historical circumstances that took place in Seville.

5. Flamenco Dance Museum

This is certainly one of the most interactive museums of the city. Visiting its three spaces is gradually getting to know and assimilating different aspects of flamenco dance. Here you can learn about its origins, its palos, as well as the testimonies of important figures of flamenco or even celebrities who talk about it. All this mixed with itinerant exhibitions that different contemporary artists usually dedicate to this art.

6. Macarena Museum

As it is well known, Seville has two main festivals, both in spring: Holy Week and Feria de Abril.  In the absence of a museum about them, the houses of the Hermandades (Brotherhoods) are the ones that best reflect the Holy Week in Seville, being the Macarena Museum a good center of interpretation of this week focused on this Brotherhood.

7. Venues of the exhibitions of ’29 and’92

To understand the urban transformation of Seville during the 20^th century, it is necessary to visit the spaces of two international exhibitions.  The Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929 and the Universal Exhibition of 1992, both related to America and both connected by the Guadalquivir River. Both exhibitions to understand the contemporary history of the city. Probably cicling would be the best option to tour and to transfer between their two main locations: Maria Luisa Park and La Cartuja Island.

8. Antiquarium and Museum of Fine Arts

On Plaza Encarnación, Plaza del Duque and Plaza del Museo axis we find two places of special interest that stand out above the rest. On the one hand, the Antiquarium, a place of scientific rather than tourist interest, which helps us understand what lies beneath the soil of the current city of Seville. On the other hand, the Museum of Fine Arts, a Mercedarian convent of the 13th century renovated in the 17th century, which treasures a magnificent collection of religious art.

9. San Jorge Castle

It is the only Triana element that is named here of the many that could be on this list. It is worth to mention the parish of Santa Ana, The Ceramics Centre of Triana or any of its corrales (a typical Spanish comunal neighborhood). Nevertheless, it is this castle that marks, to a certain extent, the development of this neighborhood of Seville. Since pre-islamic times it has been an important place being located next to the only “bridge” that linked Triana with Seville.  “A framework for reflection” is the motto of what is shown inside, the impregnable fortress of the Catholic faith and the Inquisition.

10. Torre del Oro

Perhaps this is the most typical and topical of all the elements that are listed in this post. Nevertheless, the visitor usually just look this tower from the outside and does not worry about entering. It is in 2015 that the lower part of this tower became a museum of the tower itself and a museum of the history of Seville as well. In addition to the collection that it houses, dedicated to the relationship of the sea with Seville, you can enjoy an exceptional view of the city and the Guadalquivir River from its rooftop.