Welcome to Granada! Our last stop in the South of Spain, and it is a spectacular one. Granada is a favourite of many travellers visiting the South of Spain because of its classic white-washed buildings, a stand out feature that many towns in the Andalucia still cherish and protect. But it’s not the pretty aesthetics of town that keep people consistently flooding into Granada on a daily basis. It’s something else. Something even more impressive. A great, ancient, walled city found within the city of Granada itself, preserved almost perfectly. The Alhambra.

Getting from Seville to Granada

For the record, we spent one day in Granada on a tour from Seville. I don’t love signing up for tours, and prefer to explore on my own time, but this does prove as an excellent way to explore the Alhambra and a bit of the city in a day. I saw MANY people advising against this way of touring online, stating that simply because Granada is 2.5 hours from Sevilla, it is impossible to enjoy this. As a small town girl who has travelled 2.5 hours for day trips my entire life, I say this is silliness.

You absolutely CAN enjoy a day trip at this distance from your base. We loved our Granada Tour including the Alhambra, Nasrid Palaces and Generalife Gardens and as the alternative was not seeing this city at all, it was a no brainer that we would take the chance. If you, too, are short on time and are on the fence due to the negativity online, just do it! Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t.

But let’s talk about Granada now, shall we? And what better place to start than at the Alhambra itself.

Things to do in Granada

The Alhambra

The Alhambra boasts an average of 6000 people walking through its red, clay walls every day. It is a complex. A city within a city. Built as a fortress in the year 899 AD, its walls were originally for protection, and in later centuries, became the home of Sultans and their families.

As part of our tour, we were assigned a tour guide employed by the Alhambra itself. The tour was 3.5 hours long and our guide was a delight!

Entrance is limited. Unlike some of the palaces we have spoken of in past posts, you absolutely MUST purchase tickets far in advance of your visit (recommended 3 months prior, if possible), or sign up for a tour with a tour company as we did. Limiting the numbers helps to protect the palace, but I found it also made for a much more pleasant visit. That said, still expect to notice the crowds here.

As mentioned above, the Alhambra is a complex, not just a single palace. However, within it you will find some Royal quarters, the Nazrid palaces. They are the definite star of this property. The detailed carvings within them are hard to explain, so let me show you instead.

And the ceilings… Oh. My. Heavens.

And the views you will get of town from inside the palaces give you a real respect for the Andalucians preserving their white villages.

Generalife Gardens

After finishing up our tour of the Nazrid palaces, our guide took us to the Generalife Gardens, some of the most well kept gardens I have ever had the pleasure of touring.

Your guide will appreciate it if you know that the proper pronunciation is HEN-EH-REH-LEAF-AY, not “General” “Life”. So impress them by practicing up on your Spanish.

The garden features roses of all colours and varieties, and so many other stunning flowers.

The best part of touring the gardens, is the view of the palaces you can get from a distance.

Albaicin

Granada is well known for it’s classic Andalucian style. The narrow, cobblestone streets. The flowers decorating alleyways. The traditional white paint. The Albaicin is one of the neighbourhoods where this is best preserved. This is the original, historic part of the city.

Pro tip: If you intend to hike to the Albaicin from city centre or anywhere else in town, wear your runners! This city is built on a steep hill, with the Albaicin at the top. We certainly underestimated this, but our hike in the heat was well worth it.

You can find some AMAZING views of the Alhambra from this quaint little neighbourhood.

And now that we’ve completed our one day in Granada itinerary, we’ve finished our tour of Andalucia! If you missed them, check out my posts on Cordoba and Seville! I hope this series has inspired you to see the South of Spain. You will love it, I promise!

If you have more time, there are so many other stunning cities in this region. Malaga and Cadiz for beaches. Ronda for more stunning views and white-washed buildings. The list goes on.

And for a complete guide for a two week vacation in Iberia, check out my Spain and Portugal itinerary.

Chao!

Hill XO

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