The Fantastic Playgrounds of Spain: Alameda de Hércules

The Alameda de Hércules is hands-down, my favorite outdoor space in Sevilla. In my youth, it used to be a somewhat gritty giant plaza of dirt, perfect for botellóning into the wee hours with lots of other college students. Then, it got gentrified aka the city paved the giant dirt oval and added two playgrounds and suddenly the Alameda was the perfect place for the formerly youthful to take their small kids to run off some energy while the parents sat on one of the many, many terrace cafes.

I'm not going to do any research here, so take this info with the knowledge that I'm maybe completely making this up, but AFAIK the Alameda used to be a run-off creek of the Guadalquivir River or something. Hence, it tends to have a cool breeze going down it that is especially appreciated in the summer time.

The Alameda is huge and lined with a lot of tall shady trees and comfortable concrete benches. There are also two playgrounds (one better suited to big kids and one that is more toddler-friendly) that the city just added astroturf to. Next to those fenced playgrounds, you can find public water fountains which are perfect for filling water balloons, spray bottles, etc.  (I personally wouldn't drink that water based on what I've seen, but a lot of people do.) The Alameda used to have two spray pads, but I guess the city closed them during covid and they have not been reopened. Also a lot of kids play soccer in the spaces between the playgrounds.

Safety note: there is a LOT of broken glass in the paved part of the Alameda (it falls into the cracks from the current youth botelloning into the wee hours, i assume.). And the areas around the bottom of the trees are pretty gross and are used as dog potties/broken glass discard spots. So I would try to steer kids away from getting too close to either of those things.

Logistics: The 13 and 14 busses go to the Alameda, and it's a pretty easy walk from C/Torneo San Juan stop for the C3 bus. You can also just take a taxi. That's my motto in Seville: just take a taxi. It'll be like 6 euros and you will not regret it when it's 105 degrees outside.

Don't let the graffiti scare you away, the Alameda de Hércules's playgrounds are nice!