Granada: the Alhambra, and the City That Earns the Overnight

The Alhambra is the reason most people come, and it earns it. This hilltop complex of Moorish palaces, gardens and a fortress was the seat of the last Muslim kingdom in Spain. The highlight is the Nasrid Palaces, a series of carved and tiled rooms of astonishing delicacy. Beside them stand the Generalife summer gardens and the older Alcazaba fortress, whose tower gives the best view over the city. Booking is the key thing to understand — see Practical Info, because the ticket structure trips people up more than the visit itself.

The Generalife was the sultans’ summer estate, a short walk across the hillside from the main palaces. Its gardens are the draw: clipped hedges, long water channels, roses and courtyards built for shade and the sound of running water. On a standard full Alhambra ticket the Generalife is included, and unlike the Nasrid Palaces it has no separate timed slot — you can wander it at your own pace within opening hours.

The Albaicín is the old Moorish quarter, a UNESCO-listed tangle of steep white lanes climbing the hill opposite the Alhambra. Behind many walls hide cármenes — private houses with enclosed gardens. Near the top, the Mirador de San Nicolás gives the classic view across to the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada. It’s stunning and no secret, so it packs out at sunset; come at first light for the same view in near silence, or after dark when the palace is floodlit. Go early to have the alleys to yourself.

Granada’s cathedral was the first Renaissance cathedral built in Spain, raised on the site of the city’s main mosque. Inside, a huge circular main chapel rises under tall stained-glass windows — a bold, bright design unusual for a Spanish cathedral. It sits right in the centre, wrapped by the old silk-market lanes, and takes about an hour to see.

Next to the cathedral, but a separate building with its own ticket, the Royal Chapel holds the tombs of the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, the rulers who completed the Christian reconquest of Spain in 1492. Their carved marble tombs, and those of their daughter and her husband, sit in a richly decorated Gothic space. It is small, moving and quick to visit; many people pair it with the cathedral next door.

Sacromonte is the old cave district on the hillside beyond the Albaicín, long home to Granada’s Roma community and the birthplace of the local zambra style of flamenco. Many of its whitewashed cave houses are still lived in; some are now small flamenco venues or a cave museum. The lanes here are quieter than the Albaicín and give another angle on the Alhambra across the valley.

A little outside the centre, the Carthusian Monastery is one of Spain’s great Baroque interiors. Its church and sacristy drip with carved stucco, coloured marble and gilt — the sacristy is often called one of the most beautiful in the world. It sees far fewer visitors than the Alhambra, so it makes a calm, rewarding stop for anyone staying more than a day.

The single best free thing to do in Granada is walk the Albaicín before the day warms up. Start low near the Darro river and climb slowly through the white lanes to the Mirador de San Nicolás for the Alhambra view. Come at dawn and you often have it almost to yourself; by late morning it is busy. For an even quieter panorama, keep climbing to the Mirador de San Miguel Alto, higher up and rarely crowded. Wear real shoes — the streets are steep and cobbled.

Granada is one of the few Spanish cities where a free tapa still comes with every drink you order. Walk into a local bar, ask for a beer, wine or vermouth, and a plate of food arrives with it, unasked and uncharged. Order a second drink and you get a different plate. The bar chooses what you get. It is a real local custom and a cheap, sociable way to eat your way across the city — best in the Realejo quarter and along Calle Navas and Calle Elvira, and weakest in the tourist strips right by the Alhambra gates, where the tradition has quietly faded. Try the local specialities as you go: habas con jamón (broad beans with ham), remojón granadino (an orange, cod and olive salad) and, for the brave, tortilla del Sacromonte.

Granada is one of the cradles of flamenco, and Sacromonte’s cave venues stage the local zambra — a raw, close-up style rooted in old Roma wedding dances. Watching it a few feet away in a low cave, with the Alhambra lit up across the valley, is a genuine Granada experience rather than a generic show. You can simply turn up at a zambra, but seats are limited and the best-known caves fill fast, so many visitors book ahead.

Granada’s Moorish-style hammams — warm, cool and hot pools in candlelit, tiled rooms, with an optional massage — are a relaxing way to end a day of hills and heat. They are a discretionary treat rather than a sight, and they book up, so reserve a slot in advance.

If you stay longer, the mountains are close. The Sierra Nevada rises straight behind the city — a ski resort in winter, cool hiking in summer. On its southern flank, the white villages of the Alpujarras (Pampaneira, Bubión, Capileira) keep an older, slower Andalucía, famous for cured ham and hand-woven rugs. Both are best reached by car and make an easy full-day loop from a Granada base.