Things to do in Granada

Granada was the last Moorish kingdom in Spain, and it surrendered in 1492. The city sits at 738 metres, with the Sierra Nevada behind it. One hill and its palace organise everything else.

The Alhambra and how it works

The name is Arabic for the red fort. It is not one building but four things on the same ridge, and the ticket treats them differently.

• The Nasrid Palaces. The reason to come: carved plaster, tiled dados and courtyards built for water. Entry is by half-hour slot.
• The Alcazaba. The military end, older than the palaces, with the best view down over the roofs.
• The Generalife. The summer gardens on the slope opposite, terraced and long.
• The palace of Charles V. A round courtyard inside a square block, dropped into the site in the sixteenth century.

Roughly 6,600 people are let in each day, and the palace slots go weeks ahead. Names are printed on tickets and checked against a passport at the gate. Buying two is not a way around it.

Albaicín and Sacromonte

The old Moorish quarter faces the Alhambra across a small river valley. Its lanes are steep, white and badly signposted. The mirador at San Nicolás is where everyone watches the sun hit the walls.

Sacromonte carries on uphill into caves cut in the rock. People still live in some. Others hold zambra evenings, a flamenco form the local Roma families made their own.

Down in the flat part

The cathedral and the Royal Chapel sit in the middle of the shopping streets. Ferdinand and Isabella are buried in the second. Around them the Alcaicería keeps the plan of the old silk market, and the tea houses on Calderería smell of mint.

Practical

• The free tapa. Order a drink and food arrives with it, unasked and included. Granada is one of the last cities in Spain where this holds.
• Altitude cuts both ways. Summer afternoons pass 35C, and winter mornings can start below zero. Spring and autumn are the sane months.
• Alhambra tickets. Book before booking the flight. Sold-out days are normal from March to June.
• Skiing. Sierra Nevada is around 45 minutes up the road, Europe's southernmost resort, open roughly December to April.
• Feet. The Albaicín is cobbled and vertical. Small red buses climb it when you give up.
• Getting here. Most people arrive from Málaga by road or from Madrid by train. The airport is small.
• Prices. A guided walk of the Alhambra and the centre runs around 95 euros, a food tour a little more.