We are planning a day trip from Seville to Jerez de La Frontera by train. I would like some help on what to do once we arrive at the train station in Jerez. Is the center of town within walking distance or is there a bus we can take? Recommendations for sites and restaurants would be appreciated. Thank you!

Jerez is all about sherry, horses and flamenco, with an aristocratic touch (many of the English-Spanish "sherry barons" have homes there or haciendas outside of town).

The center of town is within walking distance. You´ll be coming in from Sevilla on the MD train. You´ll walk from the train station to Calle Larga, which is the commercial Main Street of Jerez. It will take under 20 minutes. I always walk. There are taxis at the train station if you need one, but no city buses, since the distance is short. On the Calle Larga you'll see at the corner the Gallo Azul, the most photographed building, with the blue rooster sign, once again open for dining.

From Calle Larga in the center I would visit (walking) the Cathedral, with a nice Old Masters painting collection including a Zurbarán in its treasure and the Almohad-era, 12th century Alcázar with a camera oscura.
If you arrive in the morning, and you would like to have churros, there is a lively outdoor churro stand close to the municipal market (which was undergoing restoration) or if you arrive before or around noon or before the traditional lunch hour (2-2:30), you can stop in at one of the famous tabancos, former sherry dispensaries, now sherry bars, where you can sample sherry straight from the barrel, accompanied by tapas. They're very interesting "time warps".

The most famous of the tabancos is the Tabanco El Pasaje, from 1925, on a small passage way on the way to Calle Larga. This tabanco has regular daily flamenco performances at 2 pm, 7 pm and 11 pm. And it also offers a large tapas menu (in English) and the tapas are excellent.

If you happen to want to visit a sherry bodega, there are several that give excellent tours. These visits need to be reserved in advance. I've visited many but my favorites have been Bodegas Tradición, which in addition to offering a lovely visit, has a stunning, world-class private art collection on display. I also like Lustau, which begins its tour offering a glass of amontillado to its participants. Rey Fernando de Castilla gives another fine personalized tour.

If you're a sherry "newbie" and not familiar with it or its production, the best tour for beginners would be at Bodegas Tío Pepe, which does provide several food pairings, which are important, especially if this is your first sherry tasting experience. This is one of the most "commercialized", and part of the visit is done by little train, but it's a good introduction to sherry.

If you have no interest in sherry but do love horse ballets or dressage events, and you happen to go to Jerez on a Tuesday, Thursday or once a month also on Saturday, I can highly recommend the 90-minute horse ballet, "Como bailan los caballos andaluces" at the Royal Riding School, la Real Escuela Ecuestre. The performances begin at noon (be there 15 min. in advance), every seat has perfect sight lines (although the best seats, the "preferente" ones, are on the front row, closest to the box seats reserved for dignitaries), there is an intermission for attendees to run to the bar for a glass of sherry, and before the performance or afterwards, one can tour the stables to see the horses up close.

After the horse ballet, I head to Albalá for lunch (a short walk). It's the casual branch of Michelin-starred chef Ismael Ramos, his contemporary gastro bar. Prices are reasonable and the dishes very creative.

If you happen to book a sherry tour at Lustau, I would walk straight for lunch to the lovely La Carboná, housed in a beautiful, soaring former sherry bodega, whose chef is ¨the sherry chef". It's a very elegant and relaxing setting, and the food and service superb.

If this happens to be during Holy Week, Jerez takes its religious processions very, very seriously. The most important ones will occur on Maundy Thursday & Good Friday;

If your trip happens to coincide with the Feria del Caballo from May 4-11, it's a very festive time at the fairgrounds, similar in feel to Sevilla's Feria de Abril. If you've seen the Jerez episode of José Andrés and his Family Go to Spain, you´ll get a sense of this unique event, the costumes and the revelry inside the fairground tents, the casetas.

Jerez holds an important wine festival, Festival de la Vendemia, in September.

I go often to Jerez in late February, early March for the International Flamenco Festival, which is also a great time to be there, as the best of the flamenco artists are in residence, giving master classes to students from around the globe and nightly performances at several venues, including the Teatro Villamarta. You'll see many shops in town selling flamenco dresses, flamenco shoes and other paraphernalia for the dancers.

Thank you so much, Maribel, for taking the time to provide such detailed information. We really appreciate it and are looking forward to following your suggestions.

Enjoy Jerez!

Here are my notes about Jerez, from last year; this is largely about food and restaurants.

https://www.hungryonion.org/t/andalu...-notes/33762/3

Thank you so much! I see that we will need to spend more time in Jerez.

there's lots of see and do in Jerez, and it's absolutely lovely for walking. we were there for 3 nights, upon arrival in Spain, so were a bit jet-lagged. the Alcazar and Cathedral both have great audio-guide tours, and if you are okay with climbing stairs, the views from the Bell tower are lovely. we enjoyed our sherry visit to Bodegas Tradicion and learned a lot about sherry (plus the small but excellent art collection was a big draw for me!) Everyone we met was warm and helpful, even when their English was limited, as is our Spanish.
our one regret is that we didn't plan ahead and map out our days based on opening and closing times because some of the sights are only open in the morning, and do not re-open in the afternoon. we were there in October, so that may have been a factor. so, if there are things you absolutely want to see, double check the hours and plan accordingly

About the Alcázar--the city hall plans to invest 400,000 to upgrade its facilities. adlmllr, you're right about the opening hours, as I forgot to mention. it's open from 9:30-2:30 and only opens in the afternoon during July, August, September from 9:30-5:30.

But the cathedral is open from 10 am-7 pm.except on Sundays when it opens after morning masses, from 1-7.

But if you want to climb to the bell tower it opens Mon-Sat from 11-1 and then 4-6:30, but it isn't accessible on Sundays.

Thank you for the information about the closing times. (We probably won't be climbing the bell tower.)

PSKid,
Depending on where your Sevilla lodging is, you can also catch the MD (Media Distancia) train to Jerez from the San Bernardo rail station, rather than Santa Justa. You can access San Bernardo by inexpensive tram from a stop on the Avenida de la Constitución (in front of the Archivo de Indias) or the Puerta de Jerez stop or at Plaza Nueva. Purchase your tickets at the booth.

But for the cheaper MD train rather than the far more expensive Alvia (whose prices increase closer to the departure date), tickets do sell out, for some reason.
For example, for tomorrow there are a few departures-returns that have sold out (this has happened to me on the return).
So if you can decide on a date while in Sevilla, you might want to book these r.t. tickets a few days or at least a day in advance. MD fares don't ever change.

Thank you! I may try to buy the tickets before we leave for Seville, as soon as we see a 10-day weather forecast.

Good idea! The comfortable MD train ride takes only about an hour, and the r.t. trip costs only €18.40.

Will be there in September. Lots to see and do. Check out Zahara de los Atunes

Thank you!

PSKid,
Do you have just one day in Jerez, planning on a day trip, I think?

If you fall in love with Sevilla, you may just want to return some day to western Andalucía and spend some time between the Sherry Triangle of Jerez, El Puerto de Santa Maria and Sanlúcar de Barrameda, the city of Cádiz, and the lovely towns of the Costa de la Luz--'Zahara de los Atunes (I love mike1728's place there), Vejer, my favorite white town, and Conil de la Frontera plus the Roman ruins right at the beach at Bolonia. "Cádizfornia" some travel writers call it.

Yes, just a day trip this time. But it sounds like we should plan to return.

Hi,
I want to thank everyone for their helpful suggestions. We took a train from Santa Justa to Jerez, walked to the center of town then continued to our lunch reservation at Albalá. The food was delicious and the service attentive. We then walked to our scheduled 3:00PM tour in English at Lustau. We had some difficulty getting around Jerez because crucial street signs were often missing, but we made it to the tour, slightly late and along with a couple other lost souls.

Your help and advice were very valuable to us.

I too have trouble getting around in Jerez because street signs are either non existent or they simply say "manzana #..1,2.3, 18, etc.", "manzana" meaning "block" in Spanish!

Glad you had a great lunch at Albalá and enjoyed the Lustau tour!