How Much We Spent Living in Sevilla for a Month
Our month in Sevilla was another attempt at spending time in a warmer location while having time to both work and enjoy our surroundings. It didn’t quite work out as well as we had hoped though. Our apartment was too far from the center. We learned that apartments in southern Spain are usually built for the summer – to keep cool – which makes them kind of cold in the winter, even in a milder climate. But overall, we liked the city, and we’re keeping it on our list of places to consider again in the future. Here’s how much we spent living in Sevilla for a month.
Total Sevilla costs
Totals are for two people and are listed in US dollars and euros.
$1,643.40 / 1,494.00€ – accommodation
$106.04 / 96.40€ – transportation
$1,055.35 / 959.41€ – food and alcohol
$38.50 / 35€ – activities
$2,843.29 / 2,584.81€ – total
This does not include our transportation to and from Sevilla. I also left out side trips to Granada and Cordoba.
Sevilla lodging costs – 1,494.00€
We spent 38 nights in Sevilla, Spain. This was split between two apartments because we left Morocco early and had to rent something for a week before we could get into our month-long rental.
The first apartment was 545€ ($599.50) for 7 nights. The second apartment was 949€ ($1,043.90) for a month. As you can see, renting for a month offers quite a discount per night versus renting for a week. This comes out to about 77.86€ per night, or 38.93€ per person per night, for the one week rental. For the one month rental, it averages out to about 30.61€ per night over 31 nights, or 15.30€ per person per night.
Cost of transportation in Sevilla – 96.40€
Sevilla’s transportation system isn’t the worst we’ve seen, but it’s not the best either. There’s one metro line, which we never used, a tram, which we only used once, and a bus system that runs all over the city. And none of the three forms of transportation cross over anywhere! There might be a bus station near a metro station or tram stop, but they aren’t interconnected like in most cities. To make matters worse, tickets don’t allow you to transfer from one to another, or even from one bus to another bus.
Since our apartment was located a bit far from the center of the city, when we wanted to meet friends for lunch or something, we had to either get the bus near our apartment that ended at the edge of the touristy center and then walk 20 minutes, or we had to walk 20 minutes to a different bus that took us to where we wanted to go.
Despite all of this, we did use the buses quite often. Single tickets were 2.80€, though that may have gone up by now. The transportation total also includes a few taxis.
Cost of food and alcohol in Sevilla – 959.41€
The location of our apartment didn’t exactly encourage eating out, so we cooked a lot. We did eat out a handful of times when we were in the first apartment, and we met friends in the center a few times for one meal or another. We drank a few times, but mostly at home with drinks we bought at the grocery store. For 38 days, this averages out to about 25.25€ per day, or about 12.62€ per person per day on food and alcohol.
Cost of activities in Sevilla – 35€
We didn’t do a lot in Sevilla that wasn’t free. Entrance tickets to the cathedral and the tower were 8€ per person, and entrance tickets into the Alcazar were 9.50€ per person. Walking around Plaza España was free. The buildings are mostly governmental offices, though there are a couple of museums there that we didn’t go into. There are other museums in Sevilla, but we didn’t go to any.
It was usually entertainment enough to sit at an outdoor cafe and soak up some sun. It wasn’t quite warm enough to sit in the shade, but in the sun it felt warm. We met up with Cat a few times, who lived in Sevilla until recently. We hung out with Bev and Bruce, who spend lots of time in Sevilla and Freiburg. And we met Ang and Ryan, who also spend lots of time in Sevilla, for the first time. So some of our food costs could potentially be counted as activity/entertainment spending.
Sevilla is a wonderful city. The weather was a lot nicer than Berlin, though don’t be fooled – late night temperatures still got down near freezing most nights. It’s a pretty city with lots of good cafe and restaurant options. And you don’t have to spend a lot to be entertained.
If we ever try it again, I actually think our expenses might go up because we would choose an apartment in a more central location, which would cost more, and I imagine that would lead to eating out a little more often. This time around we averaged 68.02€ per day, or 34.01€ per person per day, living in Sevilla for a month.
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- Photos of Sevilla, Spain
- How Much We Spent Living in Berlin for Three Months
- How Much We Spent Traveling in Europe for Two Months
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- Or view all posts on travel spending
