Granada Travel Guide
With so many things to see and do in Andalusia, you want to plan an itinerary that lets you truly experience the region.
In this Andalusia travel guide, you’ll find:
- What to do in Granada,
- How to plan a 3-day Granada itinerary,
- The best sites to see in Granada,
- The best food and drink in Granda, and
- Important logistical information like how to get to the city and where to stay in Granada.
Our 3 Day Trip to Granada - June 2022
Having not been abroad for 3 years, I jumped at the opportunity when travel restrictions eased to book a summer trip to Europe. Visiting the Alhambra in Granada has been on my boyfriend's travel checklist for a while, so we set out in organising a trip together to Andalusia in Southern Spain, with Granada, Seville and Malaga on our itinerary.As the seat of the Moorish kingdom of Granada, Granada was the final stronghold of the Moors in Spain, falling to the Roman Catholic monarchs Ferdinand II and Isabella I in January 1492. Offering outstanding Moorish architecture, iconic artistic monuments, peaceful gardens, and more, Granada is a must-see.
In today’s blogpost, (part 1 of my Andalusia series) I wanted to share the places to see, eat and drink in Granada.
Getting to Granada from Manchester
With Granada airport being host to primarily domestic flights, we decided that flying into Malaga airport and getting a coach between cities would be the easiest and most affordable way to visit both Granada and Seville within our trip.
Due to the travelling between cities, we opted to book Flights, Coaches and Hotels separately through Tui, ALSA and Expedia, instead of opting for a package, and used TopCashback to get a % of money back from our booking.
If you’re not already signed up to TopCashback, you can get a £10 sign up bonus to TopCashback using my referral link.
Among the airline/ airport chaos, we flew with Tui from Manchester in the early hours of a Sunday morning, and flew back Sunday afternoon, which gave us 3 nights in Granada, 3 nights in Seville and 1 in Malaga, which was plenty of time to explore.
With Spain using Euros, we’d luckily had a few hundred euros in cash left from our last trip to Europe, and decided to add our additional spending money to a Monzo card.
If you’ve not got a Monzo card and want fee-free currency abroad, join Monzo using my referral link and you’ll get £5.
Getting to Granada
Once we had landed from our 2 and a 1/2 hour flight to Malaga , we had a bit of time to kill at arrivals before getting our first coach to Granada Bus station.We’d pre-booked our coaches online on the ALSA website. This was very easy to do, with the set up very similar to booking trains in the UK - there were cheap advance options with no flexibility, up to the most expensive bookings that allowed you to swap your booking up to 2 hours before. In all, we spent just under £45 each on 3 coaches, which I felt was a reasonable cost, compared to internal flights or trains.
ALSA do also offer ALSA tourist passes, which would enable you to save some more ££ when you book. We couldn't find enough information on this pass, so instead opted to book individual tickets instead.
Where to Stay in Granada
With a reasonably modest budget for our trip, we decided to stay at Hotel Macia Plaza near Plaza Nueva, reachable from the bus station on the 33 Bus from Juan Pablo II (or a 40 minute, VERY hot walk).
Situated approximately 25 minutes walk from the Alhambra, and within 5 minutes walk of restaurants and bars, we were easily able to get to the key sights on foot, without the need to use public transport during our stay. In fact, due to the size of Granada, aside from getting to and from the bus station, there’s no need to use public transport around the city, everything is easily reachable, so long as you aren’t averse to walking uphill!
Sights and Attractions in Granada - Our 3 Days in Granada
When in Granada, there are a number of both free and paid attractions you can visit. With 2 full days of sight-seeing, we wanted to make sure we spaced out the sights to see the most we could in a short space of time - the time we had in Granada felt like plenty, and still afforded us time to relax.
Must see Attractions in Granada:
- The Alhambra
- Mirador de San Nicolas
- Granada Cathedral
- Royal Chapel
Day 1 [Half Day in Granada] - Alcaiceria
On the afternoon that we arrived in Granada, we checked into our hotel and set out to explore Alcaiceria, an Arabic Market with gift and souvenir shops, and Calle Calderia Nueva, a quaint passageway selling Moorish-style goods.
After dinner, we walked to P.o de Los Tristes, where we watched flamenco being danced in the street, before walking to Mirador de San Nicolas.
Situated next to the bustling square ‘Plaza de San Nicolas’ on the top of a steep hill, with unmissable views of the Alhambra on the one side, and San Nicolas Church on the other, the viewpoint is a must-see, particularly at sunrise or sunset. Although we didn’t visit the church, we went to the viewpoint at 9pm when it was slightly cooler and the square was buzzing with music and people wanting to catch a glimpse of the sunset. We then explored more of the Albaicin Quarter, taking another glimpse of the city's surroundings at the Mirador Ojo de Granada.
Day 2 - Granada Cathedral & Royal Palace
For our first full day, we opted to visit the Granada Cathedral (€5), a lavish renaissance cathedral built by Queen Isabella immediately after the conquest of Granada, and Royal Chapel (€5), the burial place of the Catholic Monarchs.
After having lunch, we decided to venture further out of the town, walking to Plaza de Mariana Pineda, San Matias Realjo and visiting Frances Garden before seeking shade until the early evening. When they reopened at 5:30pm, we visited 3 Andalucian Monuments that form an additional part of the Alhambra complex - Palacio Dar al-Horra, El Banuelo and Casa Horno D’oro (€5 for all 3 sites).
Although it was great to explore the other Andalucian Monuments, if you’re short on time in Granada, I’d advise skipping our Day 2 Afternoon activities in your itinerary.
Day 3- The Alhambra
For our final full day in Granada, our schedule was left open, in favour of our scheduled trip to The Alhambra. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Islamic world, in addition to containing notable examples of Spanish Renaissance architecture. We’d seen photographs and marvelled at videos before our visit, but no camera can do the place justice.
I’d strongly urge you to book tickets well in advance to the Alhambra, and if possible, as early as you can. We opted for the 8:30 ticket to the Alhambra Nasrid Palaces (€14), which allowed us to be the first cohort to visit the palaces. Tickets advise you to show up an hour before your allotted time for the palace, however, if you are in the first slot, the gates to the Alhambra complex only open at 8:15, so something to note to avoid getting there too early!
It’s easy to access the Alhambra on foot. As much as Google Maps likes to send you on a longer diversion, you can access the Alhambra via Cuesta de Gomerez, directly up a hill from Plaza Nueva. It took us just over 20 minutes, uphill, and was just under a mile away to walk.
It’s likely that if you are visiting Granada, it is to see the Alhambra. But if not, make it your priority to visit and allow yourself plenty of time to explore the whole complex - we ended up spending 4 hours there, with a couple of breaks to sit in the shaded gardens and have a drink overlooking the Alcazaba.
Food & Drink Recommendations in Granada
It would be wrong not to dedicate a whole section to Food and Drink in Granada.Going for tapas is one of the most ingrained local traditions in Granada, and was something we were keen to plan into our itinerary.
It is customary in Granada to serve Tapas free of charge with an alcoholic drink, so we allowed ourselves time to do a tapas-crawl within our trip. This concept could not have been better for our last full day in the city. We spent the morning strolling in the Alhambra and the afternoon going for a stroll through the city, soaking up the sights while enjoying the drink and tapas on offer. It is most common for the restaurant to choose the tapas, however, in one of the bars we visited, we were able to choose the tapas from a list.
I thought there may be time limitations to this, but we were still served tapas with an evening drink at 10pm!
In Spain, it is quite common to see sweet, red vermouth: vermút rojo on the menu. Vermouth ended up being my tipple of choice throughout the holiday, and although I struggled to pronounce it, I found how it was served on ice with a slice of lemon super refreshing. With vermút having its own variety of spices used, at some restaurants, it’s almost like a cold mulled wine!
A few of the Tapas bars we’d recommend include: Los Manueles - Monjas del Carmen (close to Plaza Nueva), Om Kalsum ( where you could pick your Tapas) and El Delirio (a Mexican restaurant).
Something to note when visiting Spain, and something we only noticed on our second night was how late dining out culture is, particularly in Granada. We headed out at around 8pm on our first night, but noticed restaurants only start getting busy much later than at home, at about 9:30pm, so don’t be put off by empty restaurants if heading out in the early evening - they’ll get busier as the night goes on!
The restaurants we ate at were Teteria Alfaguara (a Moroccan-inspired tea-room restaurant), Restaurant Alarique ( a hotel restaurant on the hotel rooftop with views of the cathedral and the Alhambra), La Bella Fondoa (where we opted for an affordable set menu for lunch in their outdoor seating) and La Piccola Carmela ( a lovely Italian restaurant).
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