How long to spend at alhambra

It includes skip-the-line entrance, which makes things much more convenient than trying arrange it all yourself. It gets great reviews. The few reviews it has are great, some remarked that it was more expensive than others, but worth the price.

Tours are only as good as the guide, and many reviewers commented on how professional and knowledgeable they were, even with kids. The timing seems to be the right amount for most people, 2. Click here to see more Alhambra tours!

The best time of year to visit the Alhambra is in the early fall and the late spring, due to warm weather, limited rainfall, and smaller crowds compared to summer. That said, Granada is quite pleasant throughout the year, making the Alhambra a great year-round destination. In terms of climate, the Alhambra Granada sits on the 37th parallel North , putting it roughly in line with southern Utah, Colorado, and Kansas, and the northern parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.

Summers are hot and dry, and winters are cool, but rarely cold. April are November are the rainiest months, averaging 12 days and 10 days of rain, respectively. Even in the rainiest months, however, Granada is still relatively dry, receiving 6 cm 2. We visited in February, and had a great time :. December and January are the months with the most limited daylight, although there s still more than enough time to see the Alhambra, which requires roughly 3 to 4 hours.

In our opinion, the best time of day to visit the Alhambra is the morning, although it does depend somewhat on the season. Visiting Alhambra in the morning allows you to get the bulk of your visit over and done with before the strongest heat of the day sets in. In winter, a morning or late afternoon visit will allow you to catch some of the most beautiful light of the day, which is great for photos.

In December, the sun rises in Granada around 8am and sets around 6pm although it starts to get dark earlier than that. The Nasrid Palaces are the busiest and most popular part of the entire Alhambra complex, and require a reservation to enter. In this case, we recommend making a reservation for the earliest time possible, and making the Nasrid Palaces the first stop on your Alhambra visit.

Really, the best time to visit the Nasrid Palace is whenever you can get a reservation. You can walk, take minibus, or catch a taxi from Granada city centre to the Alhambra.

Continue along Cuesta de Gomerez, which will merge with Paseo del Generalife. We also recommend either joining a highly-rated tour so you benefit from the knowledge of a trained guide or visiting the complex independently, but with a well-rated and detailed guidebook that gives you some of the background and history of the complex. You can visit the Alhambra quite easily on your own, without a tour. If you choose to join a group, there are plenty of Alhambra guided tours out there to choose from.

Buy it on Amazon. An in-depth look at the key features of the palaces, gardens, and architectural details. It includes advice and itineraries to follow while visiting the Alhambra, maps, and images. Yes, of course. If you have a baby carrier, this might be the day to use it. Or store a carrier in your buggy basket, and use the carrier for the two sections needed. Glad you asked.

When we visited Granada, we stayed in an Airbnb apartment that was a bit far out. And because we started getting so many emails from people wondering where to stay in Granada , we actually created an entire post on it. You can see our Where to Stay in Granada Guide here! We really hope it helps with your trip planning! Once for the General admission during the day and once for the Alhambra by night opportunity. What are your thoughts?

Thank you. Great question! I think the night visit would be especially awesome if you enjoy photography! I did it when I visited in January and I thought it was worth it. I visited once in the afternoon with a guide and again at night by myself. The second time around gave me another opportunity to spend more time in certain rooms and get great night pictures.

This is awesome information — thanks so much for chiming in and sharing your experience, Anne! Super helpful. Thanks for putting this together. We will be coming from the U. Yes, you must use the same card you purchased the tickets with on Ticketmaster.

Thanks for posting such a useful guide. I basically followed your advice and booked a spot to visit Nasrid Palace first 8. The issue I have is I will be arrving at Granada at around 7pm by train the day before visiting Alhambra. Can I make it to the Gate of Justice from the box office in about 20 minutes? Is the route clearly signed? Any advice would be much appreciated and thanks. Main entrance to Nasrid is a bit of a hike, 20min is do-able but crowds at the gate will slow you down and you should already be in line at that point.

The route is clearly marked however. Hope that helps — enjoy! Thanks for the tips! We have a potential problem that may arise. We purchased tickets online with our Visa card. Everything went well, the transaction went through. However, our card has a hold placed on it. The card is not expired, however, we cannot make any charges on it for now due to the hold and we will not have it replaced until after our trip to Spain. We were wondering if you know whether this will prevent the La Caixa machine from recognizing the card for us to print the Al hambra tickets out?

Oh wow! What a conundrum. Are you able to put the card into a machine and have it be recognized in your home country? If so, my instinct is that it would be fine. If not, then probably not. Good luck and let us know how it turns out! Thanks for the advice! I honestly am not so sure either.

Well good luck, and please let us know how it turns out! Which shop? You mean the shop to pick up the tickets? I would recommend picking up the tickets the day before if possible.

Unless I misunderstood, and you need a shop for a different reason? Sorry and thanks for clarifying! Great and useful article. Have they changed the policy in being able to buy up to 90 days in advance? I checked and it looks like they are now on sale until the end of June, so they very well may have changed their policy.

Hey Katie, as per your suggestion, have booked Alhambra tickets, for an 8. I do have a doubt though — if the entry into the Alhambra complex itself is at 8. We do plan to enter by the gate you have suggested. Hi Uma! Thanks for the question. In either case, we were able to go into the main part of the complex before our starting time for the Nasrid Palace. I hope this helps!

Alhambra is at the top of my bucket list and I do so want to see it in detail and calmly, so your suggestions are very welcome. I will ensure we reach the gate by 7. That should be good enough right? We are in Granada for 2 nights, in a lovely apartment. We love experiencing local atmosphere and food :. Glad we could help! If I book the entrance of nasrid palace at 2pm can I enter the other sites in the morning?

Before 2pm. Good question! As far as we know, they only restrictions are the visits to the monuments, which you have a scheduled time for. Let us know! Which is the closest collection point that I can go to, to collect my tickets? Also, I have a Pakistani credit card with which I made the booking, can I still collect the tickets using the ServiCaixa terminals? Because I read somewhere that only people with Spanish credit cards can do that. Hi Myra! I already booked morning tickets for Oct 18 with noon palace entry regretting it.

But it will have to do. Since we should be in line at am for palace. Should we start with Generalife first, the palace, the fortress? I understand from Genealife to palace is downhill while from palace to Generalife is going uphill. I am afraid that after going to palace first then to Generalife, I will need to rush to get to Generalife before my 2pm entry expires. Thanks for getting in touch!

I just finished booking my tickets and it looks like had I waited any longer I would have been out of luck. As it happens we are only able to get tickets for the afternoon. We never think to book anything in advance!!!

This is so clearly organised and well thought out. Very helpful. I read Green Summer by Karen Colibri and it gave me a real insight into what happened in the Alhambra Palace and now I just have to go see for myself. Thank you for this information. Hi, great article this. The rest of the sites within you can do anytime within your afternoon slot. Douglas's last paragraph is very important.

You must enter the Nasrid Palace within the half hour time window on your ticket. But you can visit the other sections requiring tickets at any time in the afternoon assuming your Nasrid Palace entry is in the afternoon , and some parts of the complex require no tickets and can be visited at any time. I also agree with his time estimates. Note also that, at least when I went in , once I entered the Nasrid Palace, not only could I stay as long as I liked, but I could walk back and forth within the Palace as long a I didn't exit so I went back to see some sections twice.

I will put in a plug for a separate night visit to the Nasrid Palace. Ideally as your first visit. It is magical. We saw almost no one as we walked briskly alongside the river, before turning sharply to ascend one of the many hills of Granada. We left the cityscape behind and entered into parklands, the damp paths strewn with sodden red and orange leaves.

I was careful not to slip, as per my usual clumsiness. We pushed ourselves to climb the final steps as quickly as possible, conscious of the time on the tickets in my jacket pocket. The Alhambra is perched on a hill overlooking Granada, like a guardian. The outside may look rather formidable and bare, but the intricately decorated quadrangle rooms and the inner courtyards of marble, with fountains of flowing water, paint another picture of paradise altogether.

Granada was the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain, and the Alhambra is decorated with Islamic poems carved into plaster, colourful tiles and astronomical style ceilings. After the Catholic Kings took over they turned the Alhambra into a royal residence fit for the renaissance.

He was granted access to the Alhambra, and proceeded to write countless descriptions, convinced he could not put in words the true beauty of it. Despite his misgivings, the book reintroduced the Alhambra to western society, and care began to be taken to preserve and repair it, leading to an acknowledgment as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the crown jewel of Granada, and some would say, of Spain.

Photographs may do better, but there is nothing like a visit to the Alhambra in person. All of my photos in this post are from a visit to the Alhambra in December. Motril What to See. Motril Where to Eat. La Herradura Beaches. La Herradura Where to Eat. La Herradura Hotels. Scuba Diving. Granada Buses Urban Buses. Bus Station. Suburban Buses. Airport Buses. Intercity Buses.

Sierra Nevada Buses. Granada Flights Airlines in Granada. Granada Airport. Trains Granada Trains. Granada Train Station.