Carmona is a pretty town and the Parador is the perfect place to stay in terms of location, comfort, beauty and service. Don't miss this. It was the best place we stayed at on our Andalusian holiday.

While I agree with the majority of the accolades below describing the beautiful hotel, location, setting, etc, if you do not have a car or hire a taxi, arriving here is an absolute pain and the front desk staff is not helpful in any way (at least the staff working there in August 2011). In typical backpacker style, I took the train into Seville from Madrid and had planned on taking the bus to Carmona. I had done some research pre-trip and even contacted the concierge at the parador for bus instructions that seemed fairly simple. Not so much. The easiest way to get to the parador by bus is to catch it outside the train station near the large electronics store with neon lights (the name escapes me now). The hard way (i.e. the way it was explained by the concierge) is to take a taxi to the main bus terminal across town, fumble through trying to decipher all the signs at all the bus stands in the main terminal, get no help from the station workers (they are all company workers and don't want to refer out) until after an hour and a half of walking in circles trying to find the right bus stop for CASAL, you happen to run into a maintenance worker who points you to a stop 3 blocks away - NOT near the main terminal. So, lesson learned - if you take the bus from Seville to Carmona, the actual stop is outside of the terminal, walk all the way through the big park in front of the terminal (you can't miss it) and you'll see a stand of CASAL bus stops. It is not visible from the main terminal. Oh, I forgot to mention that I called the parador 3 different times to get some sort of assistance in figuring out where the bus stop was and they were absolutely, 100% no help. One person gave me completely wrong directions, one person just gave up, and the other person recommended I take a cab.
Other than the transportation nightmare, nice place, beautiful town and great view from my room. The transpo hassle was the only reason I gave it a 4.

The Parador at Carmona is very impressive-a beautiful old building full of charm and character with stunning, breathtaking views. The bedrooms are ancient-again with amazing views, oozing olde worlde character yet practical and functional for modern day living. It is the surrounding town that fell short of the mark as far as we were concerned. To be fair, we were there in early December which may explain it. However, as we walked round the town to explore, everything was shut-most of the cafes, shops and restaurants (including the one recommended by Trip Advisor customers). It may well be that in season Carmona is a lively place, however, my advice is: if you do go out of season, enjoy the Parador itself and go into Seville for the day. In the absence of any good places to eat in the town (even the creperie was closed), we did eat at the Parador but the food was fairly indifferent. However, the breakfast was very good and a great way to start the day. We went into Seville for the day, parking at the station and taking a cab into the city-only five euros. I would advise anyone going into the city to take advantage of the "Boris" bikes as it is quite tiring walking round and cycling has been made very user-friendly with clearly marked paths to follow.

We're big fans of Paradors - Carmona was our 23rd and ranks among our favourites. Access to the hotel is through a double stone arch, part of the ruined castle attached to the palace accommodation. A large cobbled patio provides easy parking.

As you enter the hotel you begin to get an impression of the attention to detail which makes this Parador so special. The traditional tiling, stonework and brickwork are beautiful. There are comfortable seating areas, cosy in winter, and a beautiful arched patio with a fountain to provide coolness in the summer. Christmas decorations were subtled and tasteful.

Our bedroom and bathroom, with spectacular views over the plain below, were clean and fresh.

The restaurant is a magnificent room, and the food was probably the best we've had in any Parador. Their vegetarian offering was excellent and I can particularly recommend the duo of quiches, and the vegetable couscous.

We try not to repeat a Parador, but if we were in this part of Spain again, this would be our choice. Not only is the hotel lovely, but the village of Carmona is too.