Granada - Tips for visiting the Alhambra
Buy tickets early
Buy your tickets when you book your flights/accommodation - tickets for the Alhambra are very much in demand. Tickets become available on the 1st of the month for one year in advance. The only official website for buying Alhambra tickets directly is http://www.alhambra-patronato.es
Here are some helpful tips for booking Alhambra tickets online
The Alhambra Monumental Complex is made up of five parts:
- Carlos V Palace which hosts the Museum and Art Gallery - free access for EU citizens
The Carlos V Palace with Museum and Art Gallery are free to visit for EU citizens together with the small gardens outside them and the Santa Maria church. To reach these places just follow the tarmac road up from Granada town or the path which is called Cuesta Gomerez and then go in through Puerta Justicia. Access to this area which also includes toilets, kiosk selling food and drink, left luggage, shops and the Parador hotel, café and restaurant is free to all. Here is a description of our visit to that part.
Other parts of the Alhambra require tickets
- Nasrid Palaces, which is the most spectacular part and has ticketed and timed access
Other parts of the Alhambra require tickets
- Nasrid Palaces, which is the most spectacular part and has ticketed and timed access
- Alcazaba, the castle or fortress - ticketed access
- Generalife, the summer residence and gardens - ticketed access
- Partal Gardens, the grounds of the Nasrid Palaces - ticketed access
Don't book the Alhambra for the first day of your stay in Granada.
Ideally Granada deserves several days. We stayed 9 nights and didn't run out of things to see and do. But anyway, even if you only stay for two or three days book your Alhamabra visit for the second day. First of all you will have settled in and got over the journey and will be feeling more rested. A whole day around the Alhambra is wonderful but tiring. In this way the day before your official visit you can take a stroll up to the Alhambra Complex and get your bearings so you see where you've got to go for Nasrid, and you can visit the Carlos V Palace Museum and art Gallery, free to visit for EU citizens. Especially the museum will give you an idea about what to look at inside the Palaces.
You MUST keep to the Nasrid Palaces access time specified on your ticket
Access to Nasrid Palaces is ticketed and timed. This means that you need a ticket to visit the Palaces and when you buy your ticket you have to choose an entry time. You must respect this entry time. If your entry time is 9 o'clock a.m. you will not be allowed entry after 9.29 for any reason. Ideally you should get to the access point to the Palaces at least 10/15 minutes in advance of your booked access time. You can get audioguides right where the queue is, or in the shop in the Carlos V Palace just in front of where you have to queue. There are also toilets in this area because there are no toilets inside the Palaces.
If you visit in winter it will be surprisingly cold in the Nasrid palaces compared to the rest of Granada.
We visited on a bright morning early in March and it was really quite cold (I live in the Alps so you can believe me!), wear a warm coat and you will enjoy the visit more. Don't think it will be warm in the winter just because you are in the south of Spain!
Get an early start to get the best photos.
If you want photos with very few people you should take the earliest option for access to Nasrid at 8.30 a.m. and be in the front of the queue to get in first.
Walk up to the Alhambra.
If you are a normally fit person and the temperatures aren't extremely hot it takes just 20 minutes to walk up from the Realejo (Cuesta del Realejo), Plaza Nueva (Cuesta de Gomerez) or Albaicin/Paseo de los Tristes (Cuesta del rey Chico). All are pleasant walks in nature. The first two take you more directly towards Puerta de Justicia which is closest to Palacio Carlos V and Nasrid access point. Instead Cuesta del rey Chico brings you to the Main Access pavilion.
You can buy food and drink inside the Alhambra Complex or bring your own.
There are toilets with drinking water fountains and vending machines selling drinks and snacks at the Main Access pavilion and the toilet/left luggage block near Palacio Carlos V. Prices are normal, not excessively expensive. In front of the Alcazaba entrance there is also a refreshment kiosk, once again with prices which are not excessive. March 2019 a ham roll was 3.50 euros. You can also eat your own picnic in this area. There is also the Parador restaurant and cafe and another couple of restaurants.
Your ticket is valid all day so take it easy! (except for Nasrid timed access).
You must respect the access time for Nasrid Palaces specified on your ticket, also, you can access the other sections (Generalife, Partal gardens, Alcazaba) only once. These are the only restrictions, so take your time. Once you are inside Nasrid you can stay as long as you want, no-one hurries you along. We were there nearly two hours. You exit Nasrid directly into Partal Gardens without showing your ticket. This means that you can go out and, for example, go and have lunch and a rest and then go back into Partal Gardens (showing your ticket) and from there continue to Generalife. You have to show your ticket again when you enter the Alcazaba and the Generalife palace area.
We visited the Nasrid palaces in the morning, then went back to our apartment in the Realejo area to have lunch and a rest and visited the Alcazaba, Partal gardens and the Generalife gardens and palace in the afternoon. If the weather is right there are lots of benches and places to sit and relax and admire the landscape inside the grounds.
N.B. Old rules about morning and afternoon access are still around on the Internet but no longer apply.
Find out something about the Alhambra before you visit it.
The official website has, in my opinion, good basic information http://www.alhambra-patronato.es about the complex which will make your visit more interesting. Otherwise there are long and short programmes on youtube, guidebooks etc.
More tips
Have you visited the Alhambra yourself? Have you got some useful tips for visitors? Leave a comment below.
Here's a description of our visit to the Alhambra
And here's more about 9 days in Granada in March
Don't book the Alhambra for the first day of your stay in Granada.
Ideally Granada deserves several days. We stayed 9 nights and didn't run out of things to see and do. But anyway, even if you only stay for two or three days book your Alhamabra visit for the second day. First of all you will have settled in and got over the journey and will be feeling more rested. A whole day around the Alhambra is wonderful but tiring. In this way the day before your official visit you can take a stroll up to the Alhambra Complex and get your bearings so you see where you've got to go for Nasrid, and you can visit the Carlos V Palace Museum and art Gallery, free to visit for EU citizens. Especially the museum will give you an idea about what to look at inside the Palaces.
You MUST keep to the Nasrid Palaces access time specified on your ticket
Access to Nasrid Palaces is ticketed and timed. This means that you need a ticket to visit the Palaces and when you buy your ticket you have to choose an entry time. You must respect this entry time. If your entry time is 9 o'clock a.m. you will not be allowed entry after 9.29 for any reason. Ideally you should get to the access point to the Palaces at least 10/15 minutes in advance of your booked access time. You can get audioguides right where the queue is, or in the shop in the Carlos V Palace just in front of where you have to queue. There are also toilets in this area because there are no toilets inside the Palaces.
If you visit in winter it will be surprisingly cold in the Nasrid palaces compared to the rest of Granada.
We visited on a bright morning early in March and it was really quite cold (I live in the Alps so you can believe me!), wear a warm coat and you will enjoy the visit more. Don't think it will be warm in the winter just because you are in the south of Spain!
Get an early start to get the best photos.
If you want photos with very few people you should take the earliest option for access to Nasrid at 8.30 a.m. and be in the front of the queue to get in first.
Walk up to the Alhambra.
If you are a normally fit person and the temperatures aren't extremely hot it takes just 20 minutes to walk up from the Realejo (Cuesta del Realejo), Plaza Nueva (Cuesta de Gomerez) or Albaicin/Paseo de los Tristes (Cuesta del rey Chico). All are pleasant walks in nature. The first two take you more directly towards Puerta de Justicia which is closest to Palacio Carlos V and Nasrid access point. Instead Cuesta del rey Chico brings you to the Main Access pavilion.
You can buy food and drink inside the Alhambra Complex or bring your own.
There are toilets with drinking water fountains and vending machines selling drinks and snacks at the Main Access pavilion and the toilet/left luggage block near Palacio Carlos V. Prices are normal, not excessively expensive. In front of the Alcazaba entrance there is also a refreshment kiosk, once again with prices which are not excessive. March 2019 a ham roll was 3.50 euros. You can also eat your own picnic in this area. There is also the Parador restaurant and cafe and another couple of restaurants.
Your ticket is valid all day so take it easy! (except for Nasrid timed access).
You must respect the access time for Nasrid Palaces specified on your ticket, also, you can access the other sections (Generalife, Partal gardens, Alcazaba) only once. These are the only restrictions, so take your time. Once you are inside Nasrid you can stay as long as you want, no-one hurries you along. We were there nearly two hours. You exit Nasrid directly into Partal Gardens without showing your ticket. This means that you can go out and, for example, go and have lunch and a rest and then go back into Partal Gardens (showing your ticket) and from there continue to Generalife. You have to show your ticket again when you enter the Alcazaba and the Generalife palace area.
We visited the Nasrid palaces in the morning, then went back to our apartment in the Realejo area to have lunch and a rest and visited the Alcazaba, Partal gardens and the Generalife gardens and palace in the afternoon. If the weather is right there are lots of benches and places to sit and relax and admire the landscape inside the grounds.
N.B. Old rules about morning and afternoon access are still around on the Internet but no longer apply.
Find out something about the Alhambra before you visit it.
The official website has, in my opinion, good basic information http://www.alhambra-patronato.es about the complex which will make your visit more interesting. Otherwise there are long and short programmes on youtube, guidebooks etc.
More tips
Have you visited the Alhambra yourself? Have you got some useful tips for visitors? Leave a comment below.
Here's a description of our visit to the Alhambra
And here's more about 9 days in Granada in March
Comments
Post a Comment