The best flamenco shows in Seville
No single tablao beats all the others: there is the best one for what you want. Here are Seville's venues, each picked for what it does better than the rest, with the fact that backs it up and today's price.
To feel the singing up close: the small rooms
In a room for fifty there is no bad seat and the cante reaches you as it is. Pura Esencia is one of the smallest tablaos in Seville, twenty-eight to thirty people per show on Calle Betis, and performs without microphones. Sala Almoraima, also in Triana, seats fifty; La Cantaora about sixty, between Plaza Nueva and the City Hall; and at El Arenal, a room of about fifteen tables, there is no amplification.
The most authentic, according to those who have been
Casa de la Memoria is the one most often cited as the most authentic on the circuit: the courtyard of an old palace next to La Alfalfa, unamplified singing and guitar, and a cast that rotates among more than thirty artists, so the programme almost never repeats. It only sells the ticket, with no dinner or drink, at 24 €.
In the same spirit, Teatro Flamenco Triana is linked to the Fundación Cristina Heeren, one of the most prestigious flamenco schools in the city, and El Callejón del Embrujo, in an old convent in Santa Cruz, was founded by artists from the same school.
The ones with the longest history
El Patio Sevillano opened in 1952 next to the Torre del Oro and is the oldest tablao in Seville. Los Gallos has been on Plaza de Santa Cruz since 1966 with the classic format of singing, guitar and dance, and seventy-five-minute shows. El Arenal opened in 1975.
For a big show
If you want a lot of people on stage, El Palacio Andaluz, on La Cartuja, has the largest stage devoted to flamenco in Seville and a ninety-minute show. El Patio Sevillano has two rooms and around four hundred seats, also with ninety minutes. And right in the centre, Las Setas, under the Metropol Parasol, puts eight artists on stage for 140 people per show.
For dinner with flamenco
El Arenal is where you properly have dinner; El Palacio Andaluz and El Patio Sevillano add dinner to their big format; and La Cantaora is one of the few in the centre offering the show alone, with a drink or with dinner. And if you want a ticket with tapas or dinner at the lowest price, these are today's four most affordable:
1. Sala Almoraima · 45 € · Triana. Front row, a drink and a board of Iberian cured meats.
2. Tablao La Cantaora · 50 € · Centro. Preferred seating, a cocktail and a gourmet tapa.
3. Teatro Flamenco Sevilla · 53 € · Centro. Rows 2 to 5 with tapas.
4. El Patio Sevillano · 65 € · Arenal. Ticket and a tapas dinner. With set menu: {{p:el-patio-sevillano:menu}} €.
If you are going for the guitar
Casa de la Guitarra is a small room in Santa Cruz that is also a guitar museum, with the collection of the guitarist José Luis Postigo. No food or drink is served and the weight falls on the playing, with one of the cheapest tickets in the city: 20 €.
In Triana
Across the river, in the district with the deepest flamenco roots in Seville, you have Teatro Flamenco Triana, with about 120 seats; Sala Almoraima, with fifty; Baraka, with about eighty; Pura Esencia, with about thirty; and Orillas de Triana, which runs inside a flamenco school.
If you only have the afternoon
The Museo del Baile Flamenco and Teatro Flamenco Sevilla have a 5 pm show, among the earliest in the city. At the museum, for a small supplement, the same ticket also covers the collection on the history of the dance.
On a tight budget
At today's checked prices, Casa de la Guitarra, with tickets at 20 €. You have every venue sorted by price in the cheapest flamenco shows in Seville.
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Frequently asked questions about the best flamenco shows in Seville
Which is the best tablao in Seville?
It depends on what you're after. For the singing up close, small rooms such as Pura Esencia, Almoraima or La Cantaora; for the most authentic, Casa de la Memoria; for a big show, El Palacio Andaluz or El Patio Sevillano; and for dinner, El Arenal.
How were they chosen?
By what each venue verifiably does: its capacity, whether it performs without microphones, how many artists it puts on stage, what the ticket includes and what comes up most in its public reviews. Everything comes from each tablao's own website and its page on this site.
How much does a good flamenco show in Seville cost?
A show-only ticket costs from 20 to 30 €, and the price does not tell you which is better: Casa de la Memoria, the one most often cited as the most authentic, is among the cheapest. What makes a ticket expensive is the drink or the dinner, not the show.
Which district is best for flamenco?
Santa Cruz has long-standing venues next to the Cathedral; Triana, across the river, the small ones linked to flamenco schools; and the centre and El Arenal, the largest.
Do you need to book?
For the small rooms it is a good idea: with fifty or sixty seats per show they fill up sooner. In the Seville tablao comparison you can see today's next show at each one and book from there.