Clifton

oceania,

I know I just commented on your Morocco thread on the Africa board, but I swear I'm not followin' you around

Just thought you hadn't mentioned hotels and such yet, but since you're going to Granada now, you might want a nice little, fairly inexpensive place to stay. About a 100 Euro and right between the main square and the Alhambra. Not flashy rooms, but clean, very convenient location and best, about the sweetest English speaking staff I've encountered in a hotel. Very helpful, always smiling, they pulled out a map for us and started with all there was to see and where the buses ran, etc before we'd even asked. Bags still at our feet. Free computers with internet on the first level up.

http://www.hotel-puertadelasgranadas.com/

Just in case you or anyone else are interested. Thought they'd earned their good word from me.

oceania

Ok I rearranged my itinerary (once again) and I'm able to fit everything in but allowed myself flexibility.

Madrid - 3.5 days
Toledo - 1 day
Cordoba - 1 - 1.5 days
Seville - 2 - 2.5 days
Italica - 1 day
Granada - 1 - 1.5 days (spending 2 nights)
Ronda - 1 - 1.5 days
Cadiz - 1 day

Just as a fyi - I'm not spending anytime in Tangier, just a point of entry, I'll be taking the next available train/bus to Fes for the next leg of my trip.

oceania

Thanks Clifton and everyone else! Really appreciate it.

100 euros, inexpensive? Hehehe...my version of budget is 20 euros

I stay at hostels and do the backpacking thing - my trip style is more in line with Lonely Planet or Let's Go but I don't like their travel boards. Fodor's travel style is high end for me but they've got the best board and the most helpful people

Clifton

Yeah... ok, that's a different budget. We do that sometimes. Well, not hostels since it's my wife and I traveling together, but some pretty low end rooms. Paid $5 a few nights on the trip before last, but that was a different part of the world. I'm getting too old for real backpacking now and was too poor to fly when I was young enough for it!

Have a fun trip and hope you meet some interesting folks along the way.

Clifton

Ohh - has anyone warned you to buy your Alhambra tickets in advance?

We got 'em online and when we went up in the morning, there were lines already as far as the eye could see. But the "will call" or whatever they call it line had 5 people ahead of us. The evil looks from the other line were kinda fun as we walked off for the gates and they hadn't started even helping that line yet.

oceania

That should have been $20 CAD, not euro ...well actually it's more like $25-30 but you know what I mean.

I just read about that this morning. I'll definitely book online in advance to skip that line...but I hear there's a 2nd line.

Clifton

There is. The ticket gets you into the Alhambra complex, but in reality, the time on the ticket is for entrance into an area down inside called the Nasrid Palace. People start lining up down there near the time on their ticket to get in where the main throne room and more famous features are located. Once you're in that area, there's no real limit on the time you can stay, but if you have an afternoon ticket, you can't go in until that time.

happytrailstoyou

Oceania, It is also very important to know what times and days the monuments and museums you want to visit are open and to plan your itinerary accordingly. In Spain many of them are closed on unexpected days and at unpredictable times. HTTY

fall06

I believe that if you want to visit the Alhambra at night you must purchase a separate ticket for that. It is worth it.

isabel

When I was there in March this is how the Alhambra worked - if you booked your ticket on-line when you got to the main gate you stood on one line - the "pick up tickets" line. There was a seperate one to purchase tickets for that day. I had heard that they sometimes sold out for the same day, and that that line was very long. At 8:30 in the morning there were no lines at either window. However, even though there were no lines at the "purchase tickets" window, didn't mean you could necessarily get in for the time you wanted, as they may have sold out. We had 10:00 tickets, entered at 8:30 and walked around for a while and went to the entrace to the palace itself just before 10:00, at 10:00 they let us all in, it wasn't so much a line as waiting till the time on your ticket. Clifton is correct that even though your entrance to the palace is timed, once inside you can stay as long as you want. In some cases though, you were not allowed to backtrack. In certain places there were guards and once you went through the door to the next area you couldn't go back.

I also went at night, and contrary to just about everyone else, I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. Most people feel the lighting is atmospheric, I just felt it was overly dark, you just couldn't see the detail, etc. And given that they charge the same price for a day ticket - which gives you access to the grounds, gardens, fort, Charles Palace, etc - and an evening ticket which only gives you access to the Palace - I really feel if you do only a night visit you are missing out on ALOT. But that's just me, most people love going at night. I guess I'm glad I saw it at night, but were I to go again I'd just do a day visit.

oceania

I purchased tickets to Alhambra online - the time given is 10:30am. What time should I be arriving to pickup the tickets? I hear there's a long queue at that window as well. I rather explore the rest of the grounds after visiting the Nasrid Palace.

Can we take photos? No flash? Thanks!

Katiemay

Since you don't like big cities,
I would stay 2 1/2 days in Madrid.
It was plenty for us.
Watch your wallet there.

kja

Hi, oceania -
Its been a while since I visited the Alhambra, but I would recommend getting there about an hour ahead of the time you want to enter. It might not take that long to get your tickets, but if you miss your time for the Nasrid Palaces, they won't necessarily let you in. When I was there, photography was allowed. Hope that helps!

annhig

Hi. oceania,

as you have tickets for 10am, you can enter when it opens. then you can tour the other sites waiting for your time to enter the Nasrid palaces - you have a 30 minute slot to do this, after the time printed, then they can deny you access.

after that, you can spend the rest of the day touring the other bits, having lunch, resting, etc. The gardens are just lovely to sit in and contemplate, and there's lots else to see in the Generalife too.

This is where a "morning" ticket scores over an afternoon one, because you could stay all day if you liked.

if you want to visit in the evening, you'll have to buy another ticket, though - I strongly recommend doing this, but obviously others didn't like it as much as we did.

regards, ann

bianca1975

one day in cordoba is fine -- don't skip granada -- it was amazing.

bianca1975

Also, when I did Cordoba/sevilla/granada I used http://www.charming-spain-hotels.com/en/ which was a great resource and then for seville, i stayed twice here: http://www.patiosdesevilla.com/ and in madrid i stayed here and loved it: http://www.suiteprado.com/

cmeyer54

Be sure to take a printed confirmation of your ticket order to alhambra. when we arrived, a woman was frantically trying to reach her hotel who had supposedly booked tickets for her but the office had no such record. If she'd had a confirmation number, she would have been fine - a photo ID and credit card weren't working.