Andalusia is the Southern-most region of Spain, famous for its hot temperatures, Flamenco, and architecture that combine both Roman and Arab influences. On our trip, we decided to visit three cities: Cordoba, Granada, and Seville. Seville, because it’s the capital of Andalusia and because we’ve heard it was a cool place. Cordoba, because it was a convenient stop on our train route from Valencia. And we added Granada on a spur of the moment only because we wanted to visit the world-famous Alhambra.
Getting There: One can get to Granada by bus, train, and, of course, airplane, depending on where you are coming from. It’s a quicker trip from Cordoba then Seville. Usually, you can take a high-speed train from either of those cities straight to Granada, however, when we were visiting, that line was not operational for some reason, so we had to take a train from Cordoba to Antequera and then get on a bus. It sounds complicated, but it was actually were easy, and the bus was clean, air-conditioned and nearly empty. Total cost for train/bus tickets was around 60€, and the total travel time was 2 hours 15 minutes.
The tourist center at the Granada train station was useless. In what we had come to expect as typical Spanish hospitality, the tourist center employee waived us away by saying that they had “no tourist information.” Not even a map. So, try to grab a map of Granada or googling the important stuff before you get to the city.
What to do in Granada: Of course, the main reason tourists visit Granada is Alhambra, or as Spanish call it – Conjunto Monumental de La Alhambra y Generalife, which seats on top of the hill. Alhambra is a combination of a medieval fortress (Alcazaba), a beautiful palace (Palacio Nazarez), and picturesque gardens (Generalife).
You have to buy your tickets in advance and for a specific time (don’t worry, you have a 30-minute leeway to arrive and we have never seen anyone turned away because they came at a wrong time or were too late). That is, you have to be at the palace at a certain time. You can tour the fortress, the grounds, and the gardens whenever. You don’t need to print your tickets in advance – just show up and they’ll print them for you (we just showed a credit card with which we bought the tickets). Tickets are 15.40€. We splurged on the audio guides (cash only, 7€), but they were boring and useless (as we have noticed is the case with many audio guides in Spain).
The self-guided tour takes about 2-3 hours. The palace is the most famous part of the complex because of its rich Arab architecture, but it’s pretty small and you can see the whole place in a half-an hour. I personally liked the medieval fortress the best because because it offers amazing views of the city. When touring the fortress, make sure you go up the Torre de la Vela – a tower which offers a 360-degree view of the city.
When you leave, if the heat doesn’t get you, you can take a hop-on/hop-off bus around town or do some shopping, but stay in the tourist areas because the local shops and cafes close for siesta between 3 and 5.
Food: Since we were there just for a day trip, culinary escapades were not our top priority, but if you get hungry after Alhambra, I would suggest grabbing some kebabs at one of the kebab shops on Reyes Catolicos, which is the main street you walk out on when you take a pedestrian path down the hill from Alahambra. We had kebabs at http://www.kebabgranada.com, which set us back 3€ (cheap and delicious!) and were able to grab a small table inside and rest without having to worry that a passerby might snatch a purse or a camera.
General Tips for Planning a trip to Granada:
- If you are coming from Seville or Cordoba by bus/train, the travel options during the day are limited, so, once you tour the Alhambra, you’ll probably have quite a few hours to kill before you can get back.
- If you are thinking of renting a car in the city, think twice. The traffic in Granada was the most frantic and chaotic mix of cars, buses and people we have seen in the whole Spain. Plus, taxis are really cheap, so I don’t think you’d need a car unless you were planning to take some day trips.
- Almost everything closes for siesta from 2 pm until 5 pm, so you’ll have 3 dead hours in the middle of the day. We could have gone shopping in one of the many touristy areas (those stay open during siesta), but we were so oppressed by the heat, that we ended up camping out at a hotel lobby bar and enjoying some tinto de verano‘s, before taking our bus back to Cordoba.
- The city in July is HOT. It was 104F/40C when we toured Alhambra, and after two hours in the heat, we were wiped out. Depending on how well you tolerate the heat, you might need to built in some down/air-conditioned space time (that’s where shopping comes in handy).
Our Schedule:
So, here it is. As you can see, while touring Alhambra took only 2 hours, the whole trip took an entire day because the only options for coming back to Cordoba were either on a 2 pm bus or a 6:50 pm bus:
9:07 am – 9:39 am – Train ride from Cordoba to Antequera
9:50 am – 11:05 am – Bus ride from Antequera to Granada
12 pm – 2 pm – Tour Alhambra
2 pm – 6 pm – Shopping and having some drinks at a hotel bar
6:50 pm – 8:10 pm – Bus ride from Granada to Antequera
8:30 pm – 9:07 pm – Train from Antequera to Cordoba
Reflections: So, overall, was Alhambra worth it? We didn’t think so. Granada itself is kind of chaotic, dirty and not very pretty. The most famous part of Alhambra – the palace – takes no time to see, and while there are other things do in the city, the heat can make the sightseeing almost unbearable. Once the high-speed train starts running from Cordoba and Seville, it might be worth having a half-a-day trip, but, hey an extra day in Sevilla might be just as good!
One Sunny Morning 