We are traveling to Spain and will be in Granada 3 days. Trying to determine which type of ticket to purchase to see the Alhambra in it’s entirety. The website looks like there is not a ticket that includes everything. Somewhere I read there were 3 day tickets where you could go in to each site over a 3 day period. Does anyone know about this and where to purchase?
We’d like to see everything, and the Palace both during the day and in the evening.
Gracias por su ayuda!
Posted by
Washington DC
29672 posts
This is the official Alhambra website: https://www.alhambra-patronato.es/en. That's where you should buy your ticket(s). You can click on the various ticket offerings to see the details.
The full-access daytime ticket for the Alhambra is the "Alhambra General" ticket. That's for a daytime visit. If you also want to see the Nasrid Palaces at night, you need to purchase a separate "Night Visit to Nasrid Palaces" ticket. If you want to make a nighttime visit to some other areas of the Alhambra, that requires purchase of the separate "Night Visit to Gardens and Generalife" Ticket. The nighttime lighting in the Nasrid Palaces makes them an interesting visit in the evening. I'm not sure there's much, if any, value in seeing the gardens and the Generalife at night if you're also doing a daytime visit.
The "Dobla de Oro General" ticket gives you full daytime access to the Alhambra plus entry to some other (much-lower-cost) sights in the area. In other words, it's an "Alhambra General" ticket with some extras. It saves a bit of money if you want to see all the extra places; if you're interested in only some of them, you might spend less by buying the "Alhambra General" ticket and paying separately for the non-Alhambra sights.
As an art lover, I also enjoyed my visit to the Rodriguez Acosta Foundation. It's near the Alhambra and open daily from 10 AM to 2 PM. A tour is mandatory. I'm not sure of the schedule, but I think my tour departed either on the hour or on the half hour. It would be difficult, I think, to see the Alhambra and the Rodriguez Acosta Foundation on the same day. The combo ticket doesn't require that, but there is not a ticket covering the Foundation and the Dobla de Oro ticket sights as well as the Alhambra. I bought a separate ticket to the Foundation.
I highly recommend also seeing San Juan de Dios while you're in Granada. The interior is nearly unbelievable.
Posted by
OP
Oregon
37 posts
Thank you for your great information! I looked up where we are staying in Granada and it’s a hotel right on the west side of the complex. What is the way to enter for beginning touring around Alhambra? It looks like there is a road entering from the east. Should we enter there? Thank you!
Posted by
Washington DC
29672 posts
The Alhambra website provides information about accessing the complex on this webpage: https://www.alhambra-patronato.es/en/visit/faq. Click on "Access".
This independent website has several maps of the Alhambra. It's not the official website, so I cannot vouch for it, but I assume it's accurate. https://www.lovegranada.com/alhambra/map/.
The FAQs on the official website currently say they are working on improving the audio guide (which I thought was fine in 2019), so it is currently not available. I don't know how soon you'll be in Granada, but you might want to think about whether you'll want to do some reading ahead of time or buy a guidebook for background information. There are of course commercial tours of the Alhambra you can book--but not any run by the Alhambra itself. My concern about a commercial tour is that I think they usually last 3 hours and I spent well over half a day at the Alhambra. The key parts of the complex (including the Nasrid Palaces) can only be entered one time each, so you cannot take a tour and then return to buildings you've already visited. The Nasrid Palaces are crowded; folks who are interested in taking pictures without mobs of people in them will need extra time, something you'd be unlikely to have on a commercial tour. There have been positive reports on the forum from folks who did take tours. You can probably find some of them with the Search function.
I made a point of stopping at the Visitor Center first thing so I could find out the opening hours of the various buildings in the complex. The Nasrid Palaces are always open long hours (as shown on the website), but some of the other buildings have more limited hours; some may not be open every day. For those open only part of the day, you'll want to know when you can see them, if you're interested. The Charles V Palace is the museum, so that one is important.