The Alhambra

The Alhambra is an Arabic palace and fortress complex. Its name means red castle and refers to the colour of its walls and the soil of the mountain where it lies. It is one of the best preserved Arabian palaces of its era and the most visited monument in Andalucía (Spain).

Although the first historical documents known about the Alhambra date from the 9th century, it reached its more glorious period in the 13th and 14th century with the impresssive constructions made by the Nasrid dinasty. In 1492 it was conquered by the Catholic Kings who built the San Francisco monastery inside its walls. The emperor Charles V ordered later the demolition of a part of the Alhambra complex in order to build his own palace.

It is very important to book in advance in order to avoid the long queues. It normally takes around 3 hours to visit the whole monument and there are 3 main parts you can visit:

the Alcazaba fortress

the Nasrid palaces

the Generalife gardens

There are mainly 3 different ways of visiting the Alhambra:

1) you may book Alhambra tickets through the official booking website of the Alhambra.

2) you can book a group guided tour of the Alhambra monumental complex and join a group of maximum 30 people during 3 hours if you prefer to know more details about the history and architecture of the Alhambra. There are different companies selling these tours online and through the hotels.

3) there are also private tours in several languages where you can fully interact with your guide.

For further information, contact us:

Phone number: +34651058646

Email: info@tourismgranada.com

Visiting the Alhambra normally takes a whole morning or a whole afternoon. There are also night visits, most recommended in the spring / summer months when the weather is mild at night, since you will spend most of your time there outdoors. Granada has a very pleasant weather and the sun shines most of the year. However, the mountains are very close to the city and when the sun goes down the temperatures may drop abruptly.