Please advise on visiting the Alhambra in the morning or afternoon?
 

I am about to contact my hotel to book tickets for visiting the Alhambra, and would like to know the best time to go, and why. I'm not an early riser (especially after a late night!), so I am apprehensive about booking for the morning. But if that is absolutely the best time, I could make every effort to drag my butt out of bed.

So please advise - morning or afternoon, and why?

Your advice is much appreciated!

kc1

Depends how you feel about crowds. We were there first thing in the morning. The grounds were almost empty. By the time we left it was much more crowded. And in the late afternoon, viewing it from the San Nicolas viewpoint we could see tons of people up in the fort. The palace itself has timed entry so probably the crowds there are fairly well controlled throughout the day, but the rest of it (gardens, etc) will be more crowded mid and late in the day.

Depends on what time of year you visit IMO..if you enjoy being out in the heat, don't drag your butt out of bed.

I would recommend going midmorning. I'm not sure what time of year you are going, but when I was there for a month, we went a few times and it was never overly crowded. This was in July

I went in Jan, still some crowds in mid afternoon.

I would reccomend going in the morning. Avoiding the crowd is always best!

Have fun!!

This isn't really going to be that helpful, but any time spent at the Alhambra, morning or afternoon, is absolutely georgous!

Hello, this is kc1...

Our trip is in early October.

I had assumed that it would be more crowed in the morning, because everyone would be so gung ho to get there, but it looks like I guessed wrong.

Now I have another question....How much time should we allow for our visit to the Alhambra????

Thanks again for everyone's help.

kc1

Are you planning on taking a guided tour? A solo audiotape tour? Or are you just going on your own?

We took a guided tour last summer and really enjoyed it, but I've also heard good things about the audiotape tour. I think any way you go, you should allow at least two hours. I think we spent about 3-3 1/2.

For a leisurely pace I would recommend at least 3 hours.

In early October there shouldn't be the wait at the ticket pick up point which we experienced in July (when the wait just to pick up pre-booked tickets was an hour).

I really took my time at the Alhambra. I spent 4 hours during the afternoon, and didn't have as much time in the Generalife as I would have liked. I then spent close to 2 more hours in the Nazrid Palace at night. Enjoy!

KC1 - "Morning" means arrive just prior to the grounds being opened. There is always a long line of people who arrive early without reservations, so the crowd increases as they trickle in, and late morning is worse.

If you enjoy viewing gardens, allow 3 to 4 hours for that, and probably 1 to 2 hours for the Nazrid Palace. After entering the palace, hang back from the crowd you entered with, and enjoy some of the rooms to yourself before the next group is allowed in.

We enjoyed going first in the evening, and then in the morning the next day. Quite an experience to see it first at night! We had reservations for the morning, but didn't for the evening. This was in May of last year.

Just came back from Spain on Tuesday. Went to the Alhambra on Friday, started around 10Am not that crowded at all. the tour went till around 1ish. A nice leisurely pace. I really didn't get enough from a large group tour. There were about 20 of us and I hate having to try to stay close to the guide.

After this, I bought the audio-guide and walked through the WHOLE THING all over again. I shot three rolls of black and white film which I should have back some time next week.

So long story short, just go, crowds aren't that bad.

a few Alhambra pics are in here:



Canon 5MP camera
http://tinyurl.com/37a8u8

Sony 1MP camera built into my camcorder.
http://tinyurl.com/2ffzxg

Thank you waynehazle for sharing your beautiful pictures.

kc1 here again...

Thanks so much to everyone for their excellent advice, and to Wayne for his great pictures...I can hardly wait!

Another question...if you book morning tickets, do you have to leave at 2 p.m., or can you stay as long as you'd like? The guide books I have read on this subject don't really clarify this.

Thanks again to everyone!

kc1

Once you are in, you are in. ;)

I booked morning tickets and stayed till almost 5PM. Basically they said stay as long as you want, but there is no hand stamping and returning.