Is 8:30 Nasrid Palace at Alhambra doable without preprinted tickets?
 

Hi all,

Thanks for all your help with our Spain trip so far! I have had to totally reroute the order of our trip as we are now meeting up with relatives from Europe for a few days.

This has forced our day at the Alhambra to be on a busy Sunday (National Day weekend.) The best availability seems to be at 8:30 am for the Nasrid Palaces, or the afternoon (which I am told to avoid since Sunday afternoons are also free for Granada residents.)

My question--will we really be able to get to the Nasrid Palace by 8:30 if the gates don't open until 8 and I have to print/pickup my pre-paid tickets? All the guides say get there an hour ahead (can't if gates don't open!) and many guides say the machines don't work with American cards. Plus we will want to rent audio guides.

Please advise. Don't want to order and screw it up.
We may also be able to go to the Palace at noon.

Thanks so much! Hax

Please advise. Don't want to order and screw it up.
We may also be able to go to the Palace at noon. >>

does this mean that slots to see the Nasrid palace are available for noon as well as for 8.30?

if so, that would seem to sort out your problem.

if not, you should remember that so long as you get to the entrance to the palaces within 30 minutes of the time printed on the tickets, they will let you in ie you will need to get there by 9am if you have 8.30 am tickets.

i don't know the answer to the question about the automated machines not taking american cards [do you mean c/cards issued by american banks or american express cards?] I do know that spanish automated ticket machines only work with the same credit card that you used to buy the tickets.

the ticket office opens at 8 am so you should have enough time to get to the entrance to the palaces by 9am - from memory it's a 20 minute walk. you have to walk through a bit of garden, then past some shops, and the Nasrid palaces are down the slope in from of you and then turn right.

here's a link to the website:

http://www.alhambradegranada.org/en/...eningtimes.asp

have a great time!

The thing about the automats with the cards is this: You need to insert the exact same card with which you purchased the ticket online - it is not for another purchase this time but only for identification/verification. So if your purchase had gone through successfully, then the automat will recognize the card and print the ticket.

Go there a while before 8AM and find those machines in a low-slung building past the main entrance, on the right behind a kind of shop - it looks like a bare hall with glass doors, and inside are simply a few machines that look like ATMs.

Also do this: Print from your home computer the screens that show your transaction, and a screen of your credit card's transaction record. IF the automat should fail to recognize your card (it happens - the mag strip might be deficient, or whatever...), then take everything you can show to the souvenir shop next to the ticket-takers at the entrance, ask for the manager, and explain your predicament - they will have to do a bit of paperwork etc., but you'll get your ticket if you have enough proof.

They have to do that for folks who had to get a replacement card between making the purchase from home and arriving in Spain - it's a hassle for them and for you, but you won't be the first one.

So hurry and book the 8:30 slot, you have til 9AM to actually enter the palace itself. Be there before 8AM, get the ticket, and you'll be ahead of the hordes that come after breakfast in the tour buses.

I thought I said that! [well most of it].

isn't it irritating when someone comes along and says virtually the same thing as you but ignores you completely?

Never mind, hax, you've got the info twice now, so it must be right!

Thank you both so much! Bought four tickets for 8:30 (took me a couple of tries--I'm on a Mac. Safari didn't work but Firefox did, and I had to switch credit cards.) Can't wait!

annhig, I'm ever so sorry (I think) to have trod on your frail sensibilities. What a rogue I must be!

And I just want to add that I was able to use my US card to pick up pre purchased tickets at the Caixa machine we randomly passed on the street the day before our visit. So don't worry you should be fine! Enjoy the Alhambra!!

Thanks, travelingaunta--did you need to set up a pin?

Do you mean a pin for my credit card? No. I just used the card plus the confirmation emailed to me. It was on 2011 though so it is possible they now require a pin.

You can also pick up your tickets in the afternoon before your reservation from the bank of machines located near the main entrance.

annhig, I'm ever so sorry (I think) to have trod on your frail sensibilities. What a rogue I must be!>>

apology accepted - I think.