Carmona is a 73-minute bus ride from Seville on line M-124, a public consortium service run by Casal that needs no car, no tour and no advance booking. The bus does not leave from the Plaza de Armas coach station but from San Bernardo, a stop that shares its name with a metro and a Cercanías station. Watch the front of the bus for the M-106, which serves Carmona too but never enters Seville.
What shapes the day is the return. The last M-124 back to Seville leaves Carmona at 21:00 from Monday to Saturday and at 20:30 on Sundays and holidays, and Sunday has only seven departures each way. Once there, the Necrópolis Romana de Carmona, the Alcázar de la Puerta de Sevilla and the Puerta de Córdoba are all within walking distance of the bus stops.
Is Carmona worth a day trip from Seville by bus?
Yes, for Roman and medieval Andalusia without a car. Line M-124 of the Consorcio de Transporte Metropolitano del Área de Sevilla leaves from San Bernardo and reaches Carmona in about 73 minutes. A single costs 3.00 euros, and the consortium card brings it down to 2.30 euros per journey.
Where the Carmona bus leaves from in Seville
Head for the Viapol stop in San Bernardo, listed as S. Bernardo on the consortium timetable. Getting there from the old town is easy on rail: the San Bernardo station on metro line 1 is 88 metres away, the San Bernardo Cercanías station, on lines C-1, C-4 and C-5, is 64 metres away, and the tram stop of the same name is 143 metres away.
A handful of direct buses start instead at the Prado de San Sebastián bus station, 148 metres from the metro station of that name. On weekdays they leave at 13:00, 15:30 and 19:15, on Saturdays at 14:30 and on Sundays at 21:30.
In Carmona the line ends at Paseo del Estatuto, about 320 metres from the Alcázar de la Puerta de Sevilla, where the tourist office is. If the Necrópolis comes first, get off one stop earlier at Gasolinera de Entrada, about 180 metres from Avenida de Jorge Bonsor. The variant that runs through El Viso del Alcor skips that stop.
The other line to keep straight is the M-106, named Carmona-El Viso-Mairena del Alcor-Alcalá de Guadaíra. Casal runs both, the names overlap, and the M-106 stays in the Los Alcores corridor. It is useful only for hopping from Carmona to Mairena del Alcor or Alcalá de Guadaíra once you are already there.
How long the bus to Carmona takes, and the last one back
The usual run from San Bernardo to Paseo del Estatuto takes 73 minutes on the timetable the consortium has kept since 1 September. The direct services from Prado de San Sebastián take 61 minutes, the variant through the Aerópolis business park 75, and the one through El Viso del Alcor and Alcalá de Guadaíra 91. Coming back, the direct bus takes 56 minutes and the standard one 71.
On a weekday you can leave the return open, since a bus back runs roughly every half hour to hour. On a Sunday the gaps stretch past two hours, so pick the return bus before setting off.
What a return trip costs, for one person or two
Fares on consortium lines go by the number of zone boundaries crossed, called jumps, from zero to five. Seville sits in zone A and Carmona in zone E, which makes four jumps: 3.00 euros for a single ticket and 2.30 euros on the consortium card, so 6.00 euros or 4.60 euros for the round trip.
The card has a cost of its own, since the Consorcio charges 1.50 euros for it as a handling fee that is not refunded, the minimum top-up is 5 euros, and the balance never expires but cannot be cashed out.
Those are the standard fares. From 1 January to 31 December this year, the Junta de Andalucía and the Ministry of Transport each fund 20 per cent of every card journey, which brings the Carmona leg down to 1.38 euros. The table below uses the standard fare; the reduced figures follow it.
| Who travels | Single tickets | With one card | Paid up front with the card |
|---|---|---|---|
| Two people | 12.00 euros | 10.70 euros | at least 10.70 euros |
| One person | 6.00 euros | 6.10 euros | 6.50 euros |
A couple comes out ahead, because one card can pay for several passengers who board together. Four journeys at 2.30 euros come to 9.20 euros, plus the 1.50 euros card, against 12.00 euros in singles, a saving of 1.30 euros. The top-up has to be about double the 5 euros minimum. With the reduction, the four journeys drop to 5.52 euros and the couple’s total to 7.02 euros.
A solo traveller pays 6.50 euros up front and ends the day with 0.40 euros left on the card, so one round trip costs 6.10 euros against 6.00 in singles. The card only pulls ahead with further use, and it can get it: the card also works on TUSSAM city buses except special services and the airport bus, on the Metrocentro tram and on metro line 1. With the reduction in force, the same solo day costs 4.26 euros including the card fee.
For a full budget of a stay, the trip is one of the smaller lines in the three-day Seville trip cost, and how the card combines with TUSSAM and the metro is set out in Seville transport fares explained.
Which Carmona sights to see and when they open
Walking from the Paseo del Estatuto stop, the Alcázar de la Puerta de Sevilla is about 320 metres away, the Prioral de Santa María about 730 and the Puerta de Córdoba, at the far end of the old town, about 1,170 metres in a straight line, or roughly 16 minutes on foot. The Necrópolis and the Roman amphitheatre sit at the other end, on the road in from Seville, about 950 metres from the Puerta de Sevilla.
The consortium’s own walking route through Carmona covers 3 kilometres and puts the visit at about three and a half hours, which leaves room for both ends of town between a morning bus out and an early evening bus back.
The Necrópolis Romana de Carmona, on Avenida de Jorge Bonsor, is run by the Andalusian regional government’s culture department and needs no booking. From late September to December it opens Tuesday to Saturday 9:00 to 18:00 and Sundays and holidays 9:00 to 15:00. From 21 June to 20 September the Junta sets mornings only, 9:00 to 15:00 every day it opens, and in spring it stays open until 21:00 on Fridays and Saturdays. It closes on Mondays unless the next day is a holiday.
The Alcázar de la Puerta de Sevilla houses the Carmona tourist office. Its autumn hours are 10:00 to 18:00 Monday to Saturday and 10:00 to 15:00 on Sunday, with last entry half an hour before closing, and a ticket costs 2 euros, or 1 euro for children, students and seniors. On Mondays it is free. The Prioral de Santa María charges 3 euros and closes at midday, from 13:30 to 18:00, as well as all day Monday. Both monuments change hours by season. The full walking order, sight by sight, is in the Carmona day trip guide.
Best day for a Carmona day trip, and what Monday closes
Carmona rewards a weekday between Tuesday and Saturday, when every monument on the route is open and on weekdays the M-124 runs up to 31 times towards the town. Mondays, Sundays and summer afternoons each take away part of the visit.
- Skip Monday for a first visit. The Necrópolis and Santa María both close, though the Alcázar de la Puerta de Sevilla lets you in free.
- Treat Sunday as a half day. It has seven buses each way, a Necrópolis that shuts at 15:00 and a last return at 20:30.
- In summer, start with the Necrópolis. From 21 June to 20 September it shuts at 15:00 every day, so leave the old town for the afternoon. On a weekday the 8:25 or 8:45 bus from San Bernardo reaches Carmona before 10:00.
The trip suits anyone without a car, anyone on a tight budget and couples who can share a card. It suits less well a traveller whose only free day is a Monday, or a summer afternoon.
If you are not an EU citizen
The Necrópolis is free only for EU citizens who can show proof, such as an identity card or passport, and costs 1.50 euros for everyone else. The same split applies at Itálica, the other Roman site reached by consortium bus, where the card from the Carmona trip also works. The bus fare itself is the same for every passenger, whatever their nationality.
The consortium card covers every metropolitan line around Seville but not the Huelva coast routes in reaching a beach from Seville without a car, nor the TUSSAM airport bus in getting from Seville airport to the city centre. The other car-free trips are compared in day trips from Seville by bus, and the other towns in the best towns near Seville.
Frequently asked questions about Carmona from Seville by bus
Where does the bus to Carmona leave from in Seville?
Most M-124 buses start at the Viapol stop in San Bernardo, next to the San Bernardo metro and Cercanías stations. A few direct services leave from the Prado de San Sebastián bus station. The Plaza de Armas bus station is not on this route.
How much is the bus from Seville to Carmona?
Seville is in fare zone A and Carmona in zone E, so the trip counts as four jumps. A single costs 3.00 euros and the same seat on the consortium card costs 2.30 euros, which makes the round trip 6.00 euros or 4.60 euros. Until 31 December, a 40 per cent reduction cuts the card fare to 1.38 euros.
Do I need to book the Seville to Carmona bus in advance?
No. The M-124 is a public consortium line with a fixed fare, so there is nothing to reserve and no cheaper price for buying early. On weekdays there are 31 departures towards Carmona, so you can simply turn up at the stop.
Is the consortium card worth it for one day?
For two people, yes: one card pays for several passengers boarding together, and the round trip for both comes to 10.70 euros with the card against 12.00 in singles. For one person, no. The 1.50 euro card fee makes it 6.10 euros, 10 cents more than singles, unless the card gets used again.
Carmona is easy to reach and easy to miss. The bus is never the problem; the last one back is.