El botellón is a Sevillano tradition that we hope will never die. Although it was outlawed in Sevilla in December of 2006, when the warm weather returns to Sevilla, there is a good chance that the botellón will too! The practice is as follows; certain plazas fill with young, drunken Spaniards who dance to car stereos and chat. Where it takes place depends on the time of year.
The actual botellón that you buy is called a lote. It consists of a liter of alcohol (rum, vodka, gin, whiskey, etc.), 2 liter of soda, 6 Spanish style glasses and ice. When you are ordering a lote you tell them quiero un lote de .... con ...... . For example, rum and coke would be, un lote de rom con cola. Other good combinations are Fanta (naranja or limon) and Vodka, and whiskey and coke. Be careful when putting the ice into the glasses. The plastic is thin and if you drop the ice straight into the glass it will crack the bottom. Tilt the glass and slide the ice in. If you break a glass, you won't want to go all the way back to buy more.
Where to buy a lote
Buying packaged alcohol in Spain after 10 p.m. is illegal, but there are still a few places that you can load up on supplies until about 1 a.m.
The Asian mini-mart on calle Arjona which is usually open until 11 p.m. Their liquor selection is often limited, but you can always find liters of ice-cold Cruzcampo and bottles or boxes of tinto for less than 2 € each.
There are a few bars on calle Pureza, right behind calle Betis, that will often sell you a lote as late as 1 a.m. depending on how busy they are at the time. Just go in and ask if they will sell to you and worst case scenario is they say no.
Right next to the Plaza Salvador are two bars where you can buy alcohol by the liter for a couple euros.
Bar Litro is right before you get to Plaza Salvador coming from the Ayuntamiento. They sell liters of beer for 3 € and liters of rum and coke for 6 €. They close at 1 a.m.
Another bar right up Cuesta del Rosario, heading towards Alfalfa, has cheap liters of beer, wine, and rum. They close between 1 and 2 a.m.
Where to botellón
There are many plazas and parking lots around Sevilla where you can find lots of people drinking in the street or you can just grab a comfortable spot somewhere with your friends. (Botelloning by yourself is called being a hobo. Go to the river and make some friends). Most botellóns start around midnight and last until 4 a.m. Here are a couple popular places these days...
Plaza de Cuba (Wednesday)
Plaza Alfalfa (Tuesday through Saturday)
Viapol (Thursday)
Calle Betis (All weekend)
Plaza del Pan (All weekend)
Capote (Everyday in the summer!)
Plaza de Salvador (All week)