Alhambra
The Alhambra: Book the Tickets Six Weeks Out or Come in Winter
The Nasrid Palaces are sold out. Not sometimes, not on peak dates – they sell out six weeks or more in advance throughout the main tourist season and on many dates year-round. The Alhambra has a daily visitor cap of 6,600 people for the Nasrid Palaces section, allocated across timed entry slots, and the combination of that limit and global demand means that anyone who decides to visit Granada without pre-booking their tickets is very likely to find the most important part of the complex inaccessible. Book at alhambra-patronato.es as soon as your dates are fixed.
The Alhambra was built on a ridge above Granada by the Nasrid Dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries: a walled palace-city that served as the political and cultural capital of the last Islamic kingdom in Iberia. Ferdinand and Isabella completed the Reconquista and took the city in 1492. The complex survived because the new rulers found it too beautiful to demolish, which is one of the more pragmatic decisions in European architectural history.
The Nasrid Palaces
The Palacio Nazaries is the justification for the whole visit. The Comares Palace and the Palace of the Lions are the two main structures, connected by courtyards and corridors of extraordinary intricacy. The Court of the Lions, with its 124 marble columns and the central fountain resting on 12 marble lions, is the most famous space. The Hall of the Two Sisters has a muqarnas ceiling – a stalactite-like honeycomb structure of over 5,000 individual plaster cells – that is both geometrically complex and physically disorienting to stand beneath.
The stucco and tilework throughout are in colours that have faded from their original vibrancy but still carry the essential character. The Arabic calligraphy running in bands along the walls is largely poetry; much of it comes from the 14th-century court poet Ibn Zamrak.
Night visits to the Nasrid Palaces, available on certain evenings through the same booking system, offer a different quality of experience: the artificial light changes the colours and the reduced crowd size makes sustained looking more possible.
The Generalife
The Generalife was the summer palace and gardens of the Nasrid sultans, on the hillside above the main palace complex. The water channels, the cypresses, and the roses are the things most people carry away from it. The hydraulic engineering that brings water across the hillside and through the gardens is as impressive as the decorative work.
The Alcazaba
The military fortress at the western end of the complex predates most of the palace buildings. The Torre de la Vela at its summit gives the most complete view of the complex and of Granada below. Climb it.
Granada Beyond the Alhambra
The Albaicín neighbourhood on the opposite hill has winding alleys, whitewashed houses, and the Mirador de San Nicolás, the viewpoint from which the classic Alhambra-against-the-Sierra-Nevada-snow photograph is made. Sacromonte, above the Albaicín, has cave dwellings where traditional flamenco performances happen – the quality varies; choose a venue with an established reputation rather than one approached by a street tout.
Tapas in Granada remain free with every drink ordered, a local tradition that has not yet been abandoned. Order wine or beer at a bar and food will arrive automatically. This is one of the more reliable pleasures in Spanish travel.
The Parador de Granada, within the Alhambra complex in the former Convent of San Francisco where the Catholic Monarchs were initially buried, is the most atmospheric accommodation in Spain – and priced accordingly.