This post will show you how to make plans for the Alhambra, how to get there, where to eat, and some other useful tips. All shared with our current experience.
How to Plan and Buy Ticket for Alhambra
The Alhambra consists of 3 main monuments – Generalife (garden), Nasrid Palace and Alcazaba (fortress). Most people visit all of them in more than half a day. The first thing you put yourself to do is buy a ticket, because it could be sold out! Especially when you buy a ticket just a few days ahead.
There are different kinds of tickets available – Alhambra General (all included), without the Nasrid Palace, or visiting the palace at night. Most probably you’ll buy the general ticket, but then another question pops up – what time should I visit Nasrid Palace? That’s because you can only enter the palace at the time slot you chose.
How Much Time for each Monument
Here’s our plan: start our Alhambra journey at around 10:30am (after a relaxing breakfast in hotel) by visiting the Generalife first, followed by Alcazaba, then having lunch break, and finally visiting the Nasrid Palace in the afternoon, 14:30pm.
It turned out that we spent 1 hour in Generalife, ½ hour in Alcazaba, and another hour in the Nasrid Palace after a pretty long lunch break, where we had time to visit the Palace of Charles V.
Where to Stay
Since we wanted to stay somewhere we can walk to the Alhambra and city centre easily without public transportation, the area near the cathedral was our target. And we ended up staying in a budget-friendly yet good quality hotel named Hotel Posada Del Toro.
How to Get to Alhambra from City Centre
There are several entrance points to the Alhambra. We suggest the Slope of the Rey Chino, where is just 15-20 minutes’ walk from the cathedral. The path is 860 meters long and you’ll have to climb about 80 meters high, which was a good kick-start to the Alhambra journey.
Where to Eat in Alhambra
Another most frequently asked question – where to eat in the Alhambra?
If you search on Google map, you’ll see 2 hotels that are within grounds of the Alhambra – Parador de Granada and Hotel America, where they both have restaurants on site. However, we didn’t try. Instead, we grabbed a pizza and a sandwich to go because the Google rating was quite good. But unfortunately, I made a wrong choice. The sandwich was not made there but already packaged with a few-minute heated it up in a microwave/oven. It had not a single drop of sauce, was very dry, and by all means it was a very cheap quality. Worst sandwich ever! (By comparison, the pizza was kinda okay)
I also saw some people take a taxi at lunchtime to go somewhere, and somebody brought their own lunch boxes and enjoyed lunch in the garden and soaking up the sun.
Toilet Break Please!
Surprisingly, my toilet break was very pleasant! Don’t ew me, I guess somebody like me, concerned of how clean the toilet is when traveling. In my case, the one I visited was just outside the Palace of Charles V, was in very good condition and had plenty of rooms! No queue at all!
I don’t know about the other location, but there are toilets in each monument, so no worry!
Free Audio Guide Available?
If you google ‘Free audio guide Alhambra’, it may show you this interactive audio guide at a cost of €6. But actually, when we entered the main entrance, there was a large QR code displaying the free audio guide. So, better to bring your earphones with you!
One Important Notice
The ID that you registered for the ticket gives you access to the Alhambra. It was required to show the original ID at the entrance as the staff directly scanned our passports with a machine, not even asking for the ticket QR code. The same when you go to Nasrid Palace.
That’s all I wanted to know before visiting the Alhambra, and how it actually went later. I hope this blog post can prepare you well for the visit!
Last but not least, if you are also looking for a good restaurant that day, I strongly recommend this Michelin-awarded restaurant which delivers their seasonal 8-course tasting menu at an excellent cost and performance. Remember to make a reservation in advance just like you buy the Alhambra ticket!
