Sights in Granada

I think we spent maybe 30 minutes in the Royal Chapel, but I really only wanted to see the tomb/caskets of Ferdinand and Isabella. Unless things have changed, photos are prohibited in that part of it. To me the cathedral was rather plain and we maybe spent 30 minutes in it. Others will have a different opinion of it. I haven’t visited the other two sites. If you have time you may want to visit San Nicolás overlook and walk through the Albaicín.

Edited: Ferdinand and Isabella were originally interred where the Parador is now, but we’re moved to the Royal Chapel in 1521.

Hopefully your walking tours will include Albaicin and Sacromonte. I would think you would need no more than an hour for the chapel. The cathedral will not be all that time consuming. There is a spice/tea market outside the cathedral that we enjoyed and we purchased a few things from it.

We stayed at Anacapri. We liked it and it was convenient.

I think one day is a fine amount of time to see those four religious sights. I did all four in one leisurely day last month—we didn't start the day, walking down from the Parador, until some time after 10. There was a lunch stop for a menu del dia, and we were having vermuts, sightseeing done, before 5.

I share jaimeelsabio's take on the Chapel and Cathedral. They're both worth seeing, but not going to take loads of time. We didn't do audio guides for either. The Monastery of San Jeronimo closes for siesta, we learned, so that's when we had our lunch. The monastary itself is mostly unremarkable, and was a quick pass through. But the church was remarkable. And San Juan de Dios was the highlight of the day for me. Honestly, maybe even the nightlight of the city—possibly besting the Alhambra!

If you're interested in Isabella's history don't miss her first 'final resting place', tucked in the Parador in the Alhambra complex. You have to go through the hotel's main entrance to get to it.

Thank you for the replies.
I did read a few reviews that the basilica de San Juan de Dios was a don’t miss sight. Maybe we will visit there first, do some of Rick’s tour and take our Isabella tour at noon. Cicerone has a walking tour of Albaicin & Sacromonte at 5, 7 and 8:30) which we could also take in the late afternoon or after our Alhambra visit on Wednesday. Sunset is at 7:44 so I wouldn’t want to take this tour too late. Maybe then Wednesday morning we would just walk around before our train leaves. Thanks for the heads up about Isabella’s final resting place. We will look for it. Also, we are staying at the Anicapri.

Hello from Wisconsin,

I would save the Basilica for last. Make sure it will still be open. Why last? Once you have been into and I mean into, as you get to walk among the areas of the huge altar, as a tourist you will never need to go into another church/basilica the rest of your life. It is an irony that the Saint this basilica was named for tried to help the poor. When you see the looted gold and silver of the conquistadores splashed across the walls, it conjures anger in some.

In comparison the cathedral is blase'. Except for the two rulers of Spain during the remarkable year of 1492. If you haven't been in other cathedrals, then go. it is big.

wayne inWI

San Juan de Dios could take a lot of time. It isn't small, and there are a lot of areas to see. I don't remember how much time I spent there, but I'd try not to have a drop-dead time to be at my next planned sight.

Some buildings in the Alhambra complex have their own days and hours. You'll have to be at the Nasrid Palaces at the time indicated on your ticket, but it's smart to stop at the Visitor Center first thing to find out what will be open that day and at what time. I especially liked the Palace of Charles V, which is actually the Alhambra Museum.

Just looking at the website for the Basilica. Wow. I am definately going to plan on a few hours here. They have an audio guide which will help. It looks so amazing that I wonder why Rick doesn’t give it a mention in his book.

I agree with others that the cathedral is worth seeing (right next to the chapel) but wouldn't take long. The cathedral audio guide goes into great detail about many items. If you're an enthusiastic Catholic you might find it interesting, but we got bored fairly quickly. I'd say skip the guide.

Thank you everyone for your replies. My final itinerary for Granada is
Monday - walking tour - Mysterious Granada at 9:00pm
Tuesday - morning Royal chapel and Cathedral, 12:00 walking tour about Isabella, Albaicin & Sacromonte walking tour at 7:00
Wednesday- early arrival at Alhambra with 1:00 reservation for apartments, Basilica de San Juan de Dios at 5:00 with 6:30 light show.
I think this itinerary gives us enough free time in between sights and walking tours to sit and relax, eat, people watch, etc.
I finished Barcelona, Cordoba and Seville too. Just have to work on Toledo and finish up Madrid.

Barbara can’t wait to hear about your trip, enjoy!

Please report back how your time in Granada went. I am going in May 2023 and hope you don't mind, but plan on copying some of your ideas. Thanks!!

We are going to Granada in a few weeks and I am curious about what/where the light show is?

The light show is At the basilica de San Juan de Dios. Their website says every evening at 6:30. The walking tours in Granada are through Cicerone, in Rick’s book.

Barbara, The light show is At the basilica de San Juan de Dios. Their website says every evening at 6:30.
I looked on the website and wonder if the light show is a virtual reality show. Does anyone know?

I’m thinking they just put small spotlights to highlight some art. Whatever it is we’ll be there.

Regarding the Audio Guide for the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel. They no longer rent audioguides from what I can see, there is simply a QR Code to download the audioguide at no cost to your phone, great for most, except those that do not have data service, or pay dearly for what they do have.

However...you can download it today if you like, simply go to the Google Playstore or the App Store and download it ahead of time.

Look for "Catedral de Granada" and "Capilla Real de Granada" with sort of a seal as the icon. You can even play through it at home and note the parts that interest you. Some of it does get into excessive detail. There is also a "kids" version of each (I assume) labeled "version infantil"

Other sights in Spain also had the same scheme, I think the pandemic did away with a number of handheld audioguides.

Thanks Paul for the tip. We did download the app for the Sagrada familia already but I didn’t think to check other websites. Going to do this today. One week to go!

OMG! The light show! I was there for it. It’s… kind of silly—almost campy. But a hoot!

They really just shine lights on parts of the alter with some musak, and open/close a “hidden” reliquary door. There’s almost a Disney-esque quality to it. Last 5-6 mins, tops. Double-check the time. Pretty sure it was 16:30, 4:30pm. (Not 6:30). Could be wrong.

I hope you will post your itinerary and a report when you return. It sounds like a great trip.

I’ll double check the website for the times, thanks. And yes, I do journal when I travel so I will do a report when we return. We just purchased our soccer/football tickets for a Real Madrid game, have Alhambra and Sagrada Familia booked, have cooking class booked, going to a bullfight, a horse show, a Spanish Cirque du soleil show, going to book a Flamenco dance class and show (not with us in it, lol). Going to try for a Zarzuela show if we can fit it in too. Getting really excited.

One of the highlights of Granada for us was a visit to a hamman. Beautiful Arabic soaking pools with candle lit areas and 3 soaking pools hot, cold, warm and steam room, followed by amazing massage. Highly recommend. The one we went to was Hamman al Andulus Granada. Google pics and info. What an experience!

I'm a bit late to this thread. I hope you had/are having a wonderful time, Barbara. Please come back and let us know.
I have a questions about the need to buy tickets in advance (online) for the Royal Chapel, Granada Cathedral and Basilica de San Juan de Dios, but especially for the Basilica. My husband and I will be there at the end of December and beginning of January. How safe is it to just buy the tickets at the venues when we want to visit?

Lindy- Tickets for those sites can all be bought at the door, no problem.

Thank Scudder.

Audioguides for both the cathedral (catedral de Granada) and the royal chapel (capilla Real Granada) can be downloaded from the Apple App Store when you have WiFi (just in case one is traveling without data). Both sights have done away with the physical audio guide. The Royal Chapel guide takes about 40 minutes and I thought they did a thorough job. The Basilica de San Juan de Dios has a physical audio guide that, I feel, is a bit long-winded. It is included in the price of admission (7 euros for general admission).