Alhambra Tickets: 300 Slots Every Half Hour, a Year in Advance

Alhambra tickets come cheapest straight from the state heritage board (Spanish: Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife): the Alhambra General ticket costs 22.27 euros there, and the sale opens a full year ahead. Look at the calendar two weeks before your trip and the Nasrid Palaces are usually a wall of grey boxes. That is where most Granada plans fall apart.

This guide walks through every ticket type with its price in euros, the opening hours by season, and the three points where visitors fail: the Nasrid Palaces time slot, the ID check at the gate, and the assumption that you can sort it out on the day. Every figure comes from the Patronato. Nothing is estimated.

Getting there and the practical bits

The hill looks worse than the climb turns out to be. Two city bus lines run up from the centre, the footpath goes through the Cuesta de Gomérez, and drivers follow the Ronda Sur signs to the monument car park. How you reach Granada itself sits in our travel section for Andalusia. This part covers the last kilometre.

By bus, on foot or by car

Two bus lines climb the hill. In its visitor questions the Patronato names the C30 up from Plaza Isabel La Católica and the C32 through the Albaicín. A single ride costs 1.60 euros under the city fare list, or 1.70 euros on night buses. Load 20 euros onto a Credibus card and the ride drops to 0.88 euros.

On foot, the Cuesta de Gomérez climbs from Plaza Nueva. By car you follow the ring road and the Ronda Sur signs to the paid car park at the monument. The Patronato publishes no tariff for it.

When to plan your Granada days

The Alhambra opens all year except on 25 December and 1 January. In summer it closes at 20:00, in winter already at 18:00. Check the season first. Which month suits the rest of the region is covered in our guide to the best time to visit Andalusia.

Arriving by train, you will find the booking routes in our piece on Renfe tickets in Spain. From the station you change. A city bus does the rest. The C30 and C32 only start their climb from the centre.

Alhambra tickets: every type and what it costs

Nine ways lead into the Alhambra, and what separates them is mostly whether the Nasrid Palaces are included. The table lists the areas and the price for each ticket, then every entry follows on its own. All prices are adult rates without reductions. They come from the Patronato de la Alhambra.

1. Alhambra General

Alhambra General costs 22.27 euros and is the only ticket covering all three areas: Alcazaba, Nasrid Palaces, Generalife. For most visitors it is the right choice. It carries the fixed time slot for the palaces, which is why it sells out so far ahead.

2. Gardens ticket

The gardens ticket is officially called Jardines, Generalife y Alcazaba and costs 12.73 euros. It covers Generalife and Alcazaba plus the Paseo de los Cipreses. The Nasrid Palaces are missing. Buy it hoping to see the palaces and you meet a barrier.

3. Nasrid Palaces night visit

Night access to the Nasrid Palaces costs 12.73 euros, without Alcazaba and without Generalife. The hours change with the season. From 15 October to 31 March it runs Friday and Saturday from 20:00 to 21:30. From 1 April to 14 October it runs Tuesday to Saturday from 22:00 to 23:30.

4. Generalife night visit

For 8.48 euros the gardens and Generalife open after dark. The Patronato runs this visit in three windows only: 1 April to 31 May and 1 September to 14 October on Tuesday to Saturday, then 15 October to 14 November on Friday and Saturday. In winter it stops.

5. Alhambra Experiencias

Alhambra Experiencias pairs the Nasrid Palaces night visit with a daytime visit to the Alcazaba, gardens and Generalife for 22.27 euros. Same price as Alhambra General. The visit is spread over two appointments. With two nights in Granada it is often easier.

6. Dobla de Oro

The Dobla de Oro costs 30.48 euros by day and 23.06 euros at night. It links the Alhambra with the Monumentos Andalusíes in the Albaicín, among them the Bañuelo. A standalone ticket for the Monumentos Andalusíes costs 8.48 euros. On Sundays entry there is free.

7. Granada Card 48h

At the Granada city tourist office the Granada Card 48h costs 55.00 euros, the 24h version 50.00 euros and the 72h version 60.00 euros, valid since 13 November 2025. It includes general Alhambra admission, five churches, museums, nine city bus rides and one tourist train trip. That is a lot for one card.

The catch sits in the small print. When you buy, you must fix the start date plus the date and time of your Alhambra visit, and none of it can be changed later. The card secures no access you could not get elsewhere. It sells the same time slot in a bundle.

8. Free entry

Children under twelve pay nothing, but their ticket has to be booked in the same transaction as the rest. The Silla del Moro and the Torres Bermejas are free to enter. That is the whole free list. The Patronato lists no general free day for the monumental complex, whatever the internet repeats.

Reduced tickets go to people over 65 from the European Union, holders of the Carnet Joven youth card and people with a disability of 33 per cent or more, per the official price list. You show the proof at the gate. The Patronato publishes no euro amounts for these rates.

9. Guided tour

Operators buy their own separate allocations and pass them on as a guided tour. The operator price therefore sits above the official ticket, and the gap is not only the guide, it is the slot. Access has a price. This route gets interesting the moment the official calendar runs dry.

What the visit really costs

On top of the ticket come the ride uphill, the walk itself, and possibly a second night in Granada. Budget for all three. A couple with two Alhambra General tickets pays 44.54 euros, and two bus rides each way at 1.60 euros bring the day to 50.94 euros. That is the honest figure when nothing goes wrong.

Three hours go on the circuit. Treat the Alhambra as its own item in the day plan, not as a stop between two cities. It sits near the top of our list of the best places to visit in Andalusia for good reason.

Come down off the hill and you will be hungry. Plan the meal for afterwards. Eat down in the city. What belongs on the table in Granada is in our piece on traditional Andalusian food.

Entry, ID and the Nasrid Palaces time slot

This is where most people come unstuck. Every ticket carries a time for the Nasrid Palaces, and it is not a suggestion. The Patronato admits 300 people every half hour, and once the slot has passed the right to enter that area is gone. No tolerance in minutes is published.

The ticket is nominative, personal and non-transferable. In its note on the moment of the visit the Patronato requires an original DNI or passport at the access points, and staff may ask for the ticket at any time. A phone photo does not count as ID.

You can change the name on a ticket until the day before the visit. Cancellation is not provided for, and purchases are final and binding. Leave slack for the climb.

Sales run from one year to two hours before the visit. The box offices release same-day tickets subject to availability, and only up to two hours before the Nasrid Palaces slot. Luck decides. There is no official waiting list and no official resale.

Is buying direct worth it? The reality check

With Alhambra General at 22.27 euros the Patronato is the cheapest route, though not always the most practical: a guided tour at Klook came to 56.29 US dollars in the US view of 21 September 2026. The columns set it out. The left column argues for the Patronato, the right against it, each with its number.

Both columns point at the same thing: the Nasrid Palaces slot. Book early and you get a choice. Which hour is worth choosing depends less on the price than on how many people share the hall with you.

Sometimes the best price is no help. If the Patronato calendar shows nothing but grey boxes for your dates, the official route is shut, and the box offices have nothing either. Operators hold their own allocations and can often still reach slots for the Nasrid Palaces.

Frequently asked questions

One holiday often sits between a ticket purchase and a relocation plan. If you are weighing Granada as a place to live, the climate and daily life are covered in our piece on life in Granada. This article stays with the visit.

Anyone working out how often a day like this would pay off is thinking a step further already. For the rest of the region, our seven-day Andalusia road trip does the planning. Granada is rarely the last stop.

Verdict: 22.27 euros and a time you have to keep

Three numbers decide this visit. Alhambra General costs 22.27 euros from the Patronato de la Alhambra, the calendar opens a year ahead, and the Nasrid Palaces admit 300 people every half hour. Everything else in this guide answers what you do once those places are gone. Book early and the question never arrives.

One thing here is irreplaceable: the slot. Miss it and the palaces close to you, with no refund, because cancellation is not provided for. Then there is the passport: the original gets you in, a phone photo does not. For other dates worth building a Granada week around, see our Andalusian festival calendar.