Santiago Castle

The 15th-century fortress built by the House of Medina Sidonia at the top of the Barrio Alto, among the wine cellars. You tour it with an audio guide: courtyards, the Costume Museum, the Weapons Museum and the keep, from which you can see the mouth of the Guadalquivir and Doñana.

Opening hours and tickets

From 27 October to 30 November it is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 19:00 and Sundays and Mondays from 10:00 to 15:00; on Mondays from 16:00 to 17:00 there is a free partial visit. The ticket office closes an hour earlier. Admission with an audio guide costs €9.50, and €6 for children aged 4 to 13, over-65s and people with disabilities. There is a visit with virtual-reality glasses for €19.50 and, in July and August, a dramatised one. You buy online on its website.

Getting there

It is at Plaza del Castillo, 1, next to Bodegas Barbadillo. Walk up from Plaza del Cabildo by the slopes of the Barrio Alto.

With children and what to combine

The audio guide and the climb up the tower make it work for families; the virtual-reality glasses and, in summer, the dramatised visit, even more so. For questions, the castle answers on 956 92 35 00, on 637 83 48 46 and at [email protected]. Next door you have the Manzanilla Museum, with free admission, and a few minutes away the Palace of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia.

Its history

According to the castle itself, it was built between 1468 and 1492 by Enrique Pérez de Guzmán y Fonseca, 2nd Duke of Medina Sidonia, known as the Magnificent, more because of the struggles with other nobles, such as Rodrigo Ponce de León, than to watch over the river. It was called the Alcázar Nuevo because there was another alcázar further east. It was a ducal fortress until 1645; in 1853 it served as barracks for the escort of the Duke of Montpensier and was then abandoned. Once owned by the Town Council, it was used as a hospital and a canteen, and gradually deteriorated until in 2003 a competition awarded its restoration with private funds; the works finished in 2015. On the Puerta de la Sirena and in the vault of the Aula Maior you will see the segur (axe) carved in stone, a heraldic symbol of the house.

Other rates

For Sanlúcar residents, admission with an audio guide costs €6, the same as the reduced rate. The visit with virtual-reality glasses is for over-8s: €19.50, or €16 reduced. The dramatised July and August visit costs €17, €14 for children aged 4 to 13. Groups of 20 or more pay €7 with an audio guide, or €12 with a Spanish-language guide and €14 in English, and book by form, email or telephone. The castle closes on 25 December and 1 and 6 January.