If you’re considering taking a Granada city break then you’ll be happy to know that this is a truly excellent idea.

The southern Spanish city of Granada, is one of the most beautiful cities in Spain. It’s a small place with some big attractions. The biggest pull, of course, is the world famous Alhambra.

In this article I’ll share useful tips and information to ensure you make the most of your Granada city break.

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Why is Granada a good city break destination?

When planning a city break I take transport, activities, food and price into consideration. Granada scores highly for all these. It is extremely accessible from across Europe, it’s magnificently beautiful, not too expensive and yes, the food is great here. It’s also a good size city for a city break. It’s explorable on foot and has great public transport options for anyone wanting to explore a little further afield.

During the Middle Ages, much of Spain belonged to various Muslim kingdoms. During this period, Granada was the capital of the Muslim Nasrid kingdom. In 1492, Muhammad XII (King Boabdil) surrendered Granada, the final stronghold of the Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula, to the united Castilian forces of Isabella of Castilla and Ferdinand of Aragon. This is often called the ‘Reconquista’ although really it should be called the ‘Conquista’ since the land hand never belonged to these Catholic monarchs before the Muslims.

Getting to and from Granada

Granada is easily reached from many cities across the EU and the UK (ugh, stupid Brexit).

Where to stay on your Granada city break

This, of course, depends on your budget and how much you want to walk. We stayed outside the city centre because it’s much cheaper than staying within the old city of Granada. 

🗺 If none of these options appeal, why not use my interactive Granada accommodation map to find something more to your taste.

What to see on your Granada city break

⭐️ I created an easy to follow 2 day Granada itinerary, which you can find here.

The Alhambra

Obviously, if you’re coming to Granada, you’re planning on visiting the mind-blowingly beautiful Alhambra.

The Alhambra, along with the Albayzín (also written Albaicín) and the Generalife, constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is a palace/fortress complex dating from the 13th century when the Emir, Muhammad I Ibn al-Ahmar began building. Subsequent rulers added to the complex, most significantly Yusuf I and Muhammad V. After the emirate was taken by the Catholic Kings in1492, it became a royal court for Isabella and Ferdinand.

If you visit both the Alhambra and Sevilla’s Alcazar, you could be forgiven for wondering if they’re similar. Parts of Sevilla’s Alcazar were remodelled by Rey Pedro I in the 1360s after he visited the Alhambra and decided he wanted something similar for himself.

⏰ You will be required to choose what time you visit the Nasrid Palaces. My recommendation is to go as early as you can. When I went recently I was the first person in for the day. I’d booked the 8.30am slot and arrived just after 8am to be first in line. Yes, I hated myself for booking so early when I had to get up before everyone else but I promise you it was worth it.

📸 If you’re in early you get to take photos without millions of other people in them and you also get to experience the absolute stillness of the palace before everyone arrives for the day. There’s really nothing like walking around the silence of first thing in the palace. It brought me to tears. 

​🌖 It’s also possible to book to visit the palace after dark but this really does require advance planning. I wasn’t able to get a ticket for this on my recent and last minute trip to Granada. 

How to see the Alhambra (MexicoCassie style)

⭐️ I highly recommend buying a copy of Washington Irving’s magnificent book, Tales of the Alhambra, to read before or while you’re in Granada. This chatty book offers a glimpse into the history of the complex, the city and the people who inhabited both. ⭐️

There are 4 main sections to visit in the Alhambra, this is the order in which I visited them:

Palacios Nazaries (Nasrid Palaces) 

This is the highlight of the complex. It’s an incredibly beautiful palace with peaceful courtyards, intricately carved decorations, fabulous gardens and views over the city. It is one of the best preserved palaces in the historic Islamic world. 

The absolute highlights of this section are the Patio de los Arrayanes (above), the primary courtyard with a long water feature running through it, and the Palacio del Partal (below) & the surrounding gardens. 

Generalife 

The Generalife sits officially outside the walls of the Alhambra and was the summer palace for the Nasrid rulers. It sits a short walk uphill from the Nasrid Palace. Wandering through the Generalife gardens is an absolute joy. Not only is it utterly beautiful but the views down to the Nasrid Palace are also excellent.  It’s worth knowing that the gardens are not representative of the Nasrid period, they speak more to 19th and 20th century tastes.

Palacio of Emperor Carlos V

This large, circular palace houses the Museo de las Bellas Artes and the Alhambra museum. They’re worth visiting if you have time.

Alcazaba

There isn’t much to see here but the spectacular views over Granada from the towers are well worth the climb. I recommend leaving this till last because you’re really only visiting for the spectacular views over the city so it doesn’t matter if there are crowds of people when you visit.

Getting to the Alhambra

Walk – it’s not a crazy idea to walk up to the Alhambra if you’re fit and healthy. I did it (obviously). The Alhambra does sit on a hill overlooking the city though so be aware it’s a walk UP. It took me about 30 minutes to walk from my hotel, which was on the other side of town.

Bus – there are buses that stop at the Puerta de la Justicia, which is one of the main entrances to the whole complex.

​Miradores

​

A mirador is a viewpoint. If you’re looking for the best view of the Alhambra, there are a few options and not all of them are official viewpoints you’ll find marked on the map. As you explore the city, particularly the Albaincín and Sacromonte neighbourhoods, keep on looking around you, the views are fab from everywhere.

Mirador de San Nicolás – excellent views from here. We enjoyed the walk (you can take a bus if you prefer) up here and the atmosphere was delightful. People were milling around, there were guys playing the guitar too. There are a couple of cafes here with terraces overlooking the Alhambra. 

Mirador San Michel – I overheard a guide telling her clients that this was the best place to go for excellent views of the Alhambra complex but I didn’t visit myself. She said it’s quieter than the Mirador de San Nicolás, so that could be a useful thing to know.

Museo Cuevas del Sacromonte – see below for details of this delightful museum. This museum is perched high up in Sacromonte, providing fabulous views over the city and Alhambra (photo above).

Watch a flamenco show

💃🏻 Granada is a great place to watch a flamenco show. Like Seville’s flamenco scene, Granada’s flamenco is passionate, excellent and very accessible. Whether you see a performance in the centre of the city or in the barrios of Sacromonte or Albaícin, you’re sure to be blown away.

The Sacromonte barrio is known as the “Gypsy Quarter” but actually, Arabs, Jews and Gypsies all lived here together. Since it is thought that Flamenco was born from a melding and expressing of the troubles of these three ethnic groups under an unforgiving Catholic Inquisition, it’s no wonder that this barrio (neighbourhood) is considered one of the best places in Granada to watch flamenco. A flamenco show in this area is called a zambra and if you do want to see one here I recommend booking in advance. 

Flamenco performances normally last around 1 hour and tend to be made up of 1 guitarist, 2 singers and 2 or more dancers. 

💃🏻 We saw a flamenco performance in the Palacio Flamenco in the heart of the old city and it was utterly magnificent. After the performance, we all left on an absolute high and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since. I give the performance a full 10/10 and highly recommend you see it.

Note on kids and flamenco: this was my kids’ first official performance. They’ve both had to sit through performances at school and hated it but my daughter absolutely loved this experience. She couldn’t stop grinning and was happily shouting “Olé” with the other Spaniards in the audience. My son, who was determined to hate everything, admitted he quite liked watching the dancers’ feet move so fast but he definitely doesn’t feel the need to go again.

→ Book to see a Palacio Flamenco performance

→ Check other flamenco options in Granada

➕ If you don’t want to pay for a flamenco show, you’re sure to find people performing for free on the plazas. I saw someone on Plaza Nueva every time I walked across it.

6 Museums to visit in Granada

​Museo Arqueológico

This extremely small museum gets mixed reviews and I can see why. My opinion is that the items it has are well displayed and interesting but it is oddly small given the long and incredible history of the city. 

It’s free for Europeans to enter and there’s a minimal charge for non-Europeans.

Museo de la Alhambra

Housed inside the Palace of Carlos V, this free museum has a nice display of items relating to the Alhambra.

Museo Palacio de las Bellas Artes

The top floor of Carlos V’s palace is a small art gallery with some delightful works of art. It is free for Europeans to enter and €1.50 for non-Europeans.

Museo Cuevas del Sacromonte

​It’s important to know that this museum is at the very top of a hill. You need to be willing (and able) to walk up to reach it.

Once you’re here you’ll find a delightful, small museum introducing you to the world of cave living – something that Granada is famous for. We learned a lot from the exhibits. The views from here over Granada and the Alhambra are also fabulous. 

It costs €5 per adult (and big kid – we paid for our 12 year old but not the 10 year old).

Inquisition Museum

The Palacio de los Olvidados (also the Palacio de Flamenco) is home to the excellent Inquisition Museum. We visited on a whim and I’m really glad we did even though it was really quite brutal to read some of the descriptions of medieval torture. If you’re interested in the Spanish Inquisition then this museum is unmissable. 

There are good views of the Alhambra from the museum too.

We paid €24 as a family of 4 to enter, not cheap but definitely worth it.

Parque de las Ciencias (Science Park)

This is a truly excellent science museum and an absolute must visit if you’re in Granada with the kids. We spent an entire day here exploring, playing and learning. However, I don’t know that I’d visit if I were in town without kids. 

Explore the historic centre of Granada

As you might expect, the city is a maze of narrow, cobblestone streets, small markets, and plazas full of restaurants and tapas bars. Granada isn’t a big city to its not difficult to find your way around. The main areas people tend to explore are the historic centre, Sacromonte and Albaicín.

👣 You can pick up a free walking tour of Granada

🚐 Take the hop-on-hop-off mini-train (with audio commentary in multiple languages)

⭐️ Book a segway tour of the city

Alcaicería

🛍 This is the market area in the heart of Granada. What you see today is not the original Muslim bazaar, which burned down in 1843, but a rebuilt street market built to give the feeling of shopping in an Arab souk (something it actually does quite well). Here you can pick up souvenirs such as ceramic pomegranates (Granada is the Spanish word for pomegranate), Arabic style lamps, leather goods, clothing and more. 

Catedral de Granada

The cathedral, as you might expect, is large and imposing. It is built in the Renaissance style and is apparently famous for its stained-glass domed chapel. The Capilla Real (Royal Chapel) is a mausoleum for royals and today, houses a small museum.

Carrera del Darro

This extremely narrow road shouldn’t be missed while you’re in Granada. It runs from the Plaza de Santa Ana and the Plaza Nueva until it becomes the Paseo del Padre Manjón and Paseo de los Tristes. It’s one of the routes into Sacromonte. Along here you’ll find tourist shops, restaurants, ice cream bars and wonderful views. It’s a delightful narrow street that is often hectic thanks to the small buses (C31, 32, 34) that fly down here ferrying tourists and locals up to the barrios on the hills above. 

Where to eat in Granada

Granada is absolutely teeming with restaurants but I don’t generally like recommending places to eat because it’s so subjective and obviously I’ve only tried a handful of restaurants in the city. Instead, I recommend you use google maps, search for restaurants and read the reviews there. I tend to look for restaurants with a rating of over 4.6 from over 1,000 people. Sort your search by most recent and see what appeals to you.

We always find excellent restaurants this way. In Granada we had wonderful meals at

Restaurante Galena (not in the city centre) – excellent food and the kindest, most thoughtful waiter you could imagine.

Noodlerest – decent Japanese in the centre of the city

Restaurante Qadima – we wanted to eat here because it looks absolutely incredible but for 4 people it was just too expensive (for us). It is a highly rated tuna restaurant located on a gorgeous plaza

🍔 If you’re travelling with kids, you should definitely use my guide to kid friendly tapas and meals to help ensure you can find menu items they’ll enjoy too.

Day trips from Granada

If your city break to Granada is longer than a couple of days, then you will most likely have time for a day trip because the city is pretty small.

Sierra Nevada

Granada is located in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains so whilst you’re in the city you’re surrounded by breathtaking views of the mountains. If your city break allows it, a day trip into the Sierra Nevada is a really exciting option. If you’re visiting during ski season it is even possible to book a day’s snowy adventuring (skiing, snow boarding or snow walking).

→ Book a day hike in the majestic Sierra Nevada mountains (for non snowy days)

Pueblos blancos

Granada, like the other provinces of Andalucia, is home to some beautiful small villages. Take a day tour to explore the Alpujarra mountain villages of Lanjarón, Pampaneira, Trevélez & Capileira.

→ Book a day trip to explore the mountain villages

Guadix

Guadix is one of the most interesting small (tiny) towns I’ve ever explored in Spain. In Guadix you’ll find whole neighbourhoods of cave houses. There is a very informative small museum here and the surrounding Geopark is magnificent too.

⭐️ Read more about how to get to Guadix and what to do there

→ Take a day trip to Guadix and the Geopark

Head to the beach

One of the fun things about Granada is that it’s possible to visit both the snowy mountains and the beach in one day. From Granada it’s an easy drive to the beach. One excellent choice is to take a tour to Almuñecar & Nerja where you can check out the Balcon de Europa, play in the Mediterranean and then visit the Nerja caves on the way home.

→ Book a day trip to the beach from Granada

So there you have it, a full guide to taking a city break in the wonderful city of Granda. But where else could you visit after?