Before I even get into this post, if you are visiting Granada you must visit the Alhambra. If you are visiting the Alhambra you MUST book it. Don’t even contemplate just turning up. Tickets, especially to certain areas are limited each day and you will be son disappointed if you don’t get in. We went in February, definitely not peak season, picked up our pre booked tickets at 12 and the tickets for that day had all sold out.
I feel it’s really important to mention the ticketing as we found this process quite confusing. I’m just going to discuss the day tickets as that is what we had (you can also go at night which must be incredible).
You will get two times on your tickets. The first is for your entry into the Alhambra, this is split into a morning and an afternoon slot. The place you absolutely must visit while inside is the Nasarid Palace. Entry into the Nasarid Palace is at a certain time only. Look to see what times are available on your day and make sure you will be there at least an hour before this time.
While the timed ticket to the Nasarid Palace is very strict, the other time is a bit looser. We had a morning slot for example which was 8:30 to 14:00. Our time to the Nasarid Palace was 13:30 we didn’t finish that until after 14:30 but you don’t get thrown out. It’s not clear but I think if your entry to the Nasarid Palace is during the middle of the day you can stay a bit longer.
Because we didn’t want to risk anything we headed to the Nasarid Palace about half an hour to an hour before our ticketed time. Once your time approaches you will be let in and have freedom to move around the palace at your leisure. It is one way and so you will emerge from a separate exit.
The Nasarid palace is probably one of the most visual impressive buildings I have ever seen (hence the extremely picture heavy post!). As you moved through, every area just seemed more and more impressive.
We then headed to the Generalife which is the only other ticketed area and had no problems with getting in even though we were after the end of the morning slot. The Generalife palace is not as grand as the Nasarid palace but definitely still impressive.
After this we explored at our leisure around the gardens.
More information on the Alhambra can be found here and you can purchase tickets from here before you travel.
