Granada travel guide: how many days and where to stay
Late in the afternoon the walls of the Alhambra turn the colour of terracotta, and for much of the year the snowfields of the Sierra Nevada still catch the light behind them. Across the narrow valley of the Darro, the white houses of the Albaicín climb the opposite hill, their gardens hidden behind lime-washed walls. As evening falls, church bells mix with guitars on the viewpoints and the clink of glasses in the tapas bars, where a drink usually still comes with a small plate of food. This guide helps you divide your days between the palaces, the old quarters and the mountains, and tells you where to stay and what to do when the weather turns.
Two hills and a river: how Granada fits together
Granada spreads over the plain of the Vega at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, but the part you have come for is gathered around two hills and the little river Darro that runs between them. On the southern hill, the Sabika, stands the Alhambra with the Generalife gardens above it. On the northern one climbs the Albaicín, the old Moorish quarter, and beyond it, along the same slope, the cave houses of Sacromonte.
At the bottom lies the flat centre: the cathedral and the Royal Chapel, the old silk market of the Alcaicería, Plaza Nueva, where the Carrera del Darro begins, and the two main streets, Gran Vía de Colón and Calle Reyes Católicos. South of Plaza Nueva, below the Alhambra, is the Realejo, the former Jewish quarter.
Everything that matters on a first visit is within walking distance, but the walking is mostly uphill. Small red minibuses climb to the Alhambra, the Albaicín and Sacromonte; the transport page explains which line goes where.
How many days to spend in Granada
- Two days are enough for the essentials: one for the Alhambra and the Generalife, one for the cathedral, the Royal Chapel and an afternoon walk up through the Albaicín to the sunset at San Nicolás. You will have to leave Sacromonte and the night visit for another trip.
- Three days suit a first visit best. The third day gives you time for Sacromonte, the Arab baths and Moorish houses along the Darro, a monastery or two, and an evening of flamenco or a return to the Alhambra by night.
- Four days leave room for a full day outside the city: up to the Sierra Nevada, to the white villages of the Alpujarras, or by bus to Córdoba and its Mosque-Cathedral.
Granada in three days
Day one: the Alhambra and the Generalife
Book the earliest entry you can get, so that you walk the gardens in the cool of the morning. Everything turns on the time printed on your ticket for the Nasrid Palaces, so plan the rest of the visit around it. If your slot is late, start with the Alcazaba and the view from its watchtower, then the Palace of Charles V; if it is early, go to the palaces first and finish in the gardens of the Generalife. Leave the hill on foot down the Cuesta de los Chinos, a cobbled path that drops to the Paseo de los Tristes on the Darro, and spend the evening over tapas in the Realejo.
Day two: the cathedral quarter and the Albaicín
Spend the morning in the flat centre: the Royal Chapel, where Isabella and Ferdinand are buried, the cathedral next door, and the narrow lanes of the Alcaicería, a short walk from the Corral del Carbón, a fourteenth-century merchants' inn. After lunch walk from Plaza Nueva along the Carrera del Darro, look into the Arab baths of El Bañuelo, and climb into the Albaicín. Take your time in the lanes and the small squares, and aim to reach the Mirador de San Nicolás an hour before sunset, when the light turns the Alhambra opposite red.
Day three: Sacromonte, the monasteries and a night at the Alhambra
Take a minibus or walk up into Sacromonte, where houses are dug into the hillside, and continue to the Abbey of Sacromonte at the top of the valley. Back in the Albaicín, the Nasrid palace of Dar al-Horra and the Moorish house of Horno de Oro are rarely crowded. In the afternoon leave the hills for the monastery of San Jerónimo, west of the cathedral, or the Cartuja on the northern side of the city, with its lavish Baroque sacristy. End the trip with a night visit to the Nasrid Palaces, or with flamenco in one of the cave venues of Sacromonte.
What to do when it rains in Granada
Rain in Granada is a matter of the cooler half of the year: from November to April it falls on about six days a month, while summer is almost always dry. A wet day changes the order of the plan more than it spoils it. The Nasrid Palaces are largely indoors and just as rewarding under a grey sky, but the gardens of the Generalife and the ramparts of the Alcazaba are far better in sunshine. Since the Alhambra has to be booked weeks ahead, long before any forecast is reliable, choose a day in the middle of your stay rather than the first morning: that way you can still swap the other days around it when rain is on the way.
In the Albaicín, take extra care: the pebbled lanes and stone steps become slippery in the rain, and it is better to ride the minibus up and walk down only once the paving has dried.
- Morning: the cathedral and the Royal Chapel, with Queen Isabella's crown and sceptre in the sacristy.
- Afternoon: the Cartuja monastery, or the Parque de las Ciencias, a large science museum that suits children well.
- Evening: a flamenco show in a Sacromonte cave, or a long sit in one of the tea houses on Calle Calderería Nueva.
- Any time: the Andalusian monuments under one ticket: El Bañuelo, the Corral del Carbón, Dar al-Horra and Horno de Oro.
Where to stay in Granada
- Centre: the cathedral and Plaza Nueva
- The most practical base, flat and close to everything, with the minibuses to the Alhambra and the Albaicín starting nearby. Busy streets by day; ask for a room away from Gran Vía.
- Albaicín
- Old houses with patios and gardens, some with a view of the Alhambra from the terrace. Quiet at night and full of character, but the lanes are steep and most cannot be reached by car, so pack light.
- Realejo
- The former Jewish quarter below the Alhambra, residential and lively in the evening around Campo del Príncipe. A short walk to the centre and a direct, if steep, way up to the Alhambra.
- The Alhambra hill
- A handful of hotels stand on the hill itself or in the woods below its walls. Very quiet in the evening and the closest you can sleep to the palaces; the centre and its restaurants are a walk or a minibus ride down.