Our stay in Andalusia wouldn’t be complete without a weekend in Granada, where the beautiful Alhambra Palace has been waiting for us for centuries

Part 1: Travel Diary
Part 2: Practical Tips

Part 1: Travel Diary

How to get there

From Seville: By train or bus
There are works at the moment, preventing us from taking the train, that’s why we take the bus with the company ALSA
Departure: Plaza de Armas in Seville
Duration: 3h-3h30
Price: between 45€ and 60€/person/return from Seville

First day

We arrive at the bus station around 2:30 pm. We spot a stand offering segway tours and book for the same evening at 5pm (35 € the 2h tour per person instead of 50 €)

1.4€/person later and the SN1 bus takes us directly to the city center. We were recommended the restaurant La Milagrosa Irreverente. I loved my tortilla!

Time to check in at the hotel and empty our suitcase, it is already time to start our segway tour

The office of our agency Play Granada is right next to Plaza Nueva (you see the “PLAY” button on the wall? they are there, on the 1st floor)

We sign a document for the insurance and then our guide Antonio takes us to Plaza Nueva to teach us how to use a segway (advance, turn, stop). I was a little worried for the first few seconds, but after a minute of practice, all worry disappears on my face and Antonio’s face

Note: groups are 5 people maximum, but we are lucky enough to have a private tour. If someone in the group is really bad at segway, the agency will send 2 guides instead of one

We follow Antonio and discover the small, sloping streets of Granada. By the time we reach the top, we see the sunset spreading its last soft glow over the Alhambra

Small detour in the gypsy district, where the houses are built in caves

We climb slowly on the segway, without getting tired unlike the pedestrians who seem to have a really hard time… to reach the Mirador San Nicolas, which puts us at the same height as the Alhambra. Excuse me for the quality of the photo, but in real life, it’s beautiful

The time passes super fast, it’s already been 2 hours that we do segway, that’s 8km !!! I wouldn’t have liked to do this on foot. Antonio makes us test the segway in really tiny lanes in big slope, we pass the test without difficulty. We are pros now!

Second day

At the Plaza de Bib-Rambla, there are several churrerias, which sell breakfasts to fall. We choose one by the nose, the breakfasts here are really good (and cheaper if we sit at the counter). Basically, we get by for 6,5€ for all that! I highly recommend you (read more about the Andalusian breakfast here)

We then take the bus C3 (the C4 is good too) which drops us just at the entrance of Alhambra. We have already bought the tickets 2 weeks ago so we enter without waiting

The Alhambra is composed of several palaces. The other palaces can be visited at any time, but the entrance to the Nasrid Palaces is marked on the ticket. You can arrive late, but you can’t arrive too early 🙂

From the main entrance, we have to walk another 15 minutes to get to the Nasrid Palace where we can enter at 12:30 pm. It is 12:15 and we queue with about 50 people who also have an appointment at 12:30 to enter the palace

The interior does not disappoint us. If it looks smaller than the palace of Seville, the sense of detail is much more impressive here

There are plenty of “storage spaces” like this in the wall, which reproduce the structure of the room

Water is omnipresent, it can be heard everywhere. It is impressive knowing that we are at the top of a hill

It’s just… too beautiful!

We have visited several Andalusian cities but this is the first time we have seen a ceiling like this, which gives a very nice fractal effect

From the palace we have an impressive view of the whole city of Granada

We leave this palace to go to Generalife (it is pronounced khénéral-li-phé, in Spanish), it is the summer palace. It is higher, is all white and the gardens are nicer

We return on our steps to visit the Palacio de Carlos V, Alcazaba etc. but I am very tired after 3 hours of walk then we take the bus C3 to return

In the evening, we go to the Casa del Arte Flamenco to attend an incredible flamenco show that lasts 1 hour (15€/person). I liked it very much because the room is small, intimate and you can see very well

We dine in a restaurant/tapas bar well known by the locals Los Manueles. As usual, a tapa offered for each drink ordered. Due to the lack of chairs, we eat standing at the counter like locals

Third day

We follow the path along the riverside, parallel to the Alhambra. We visit El Banuelo, an old bath. The ticket of 5€/person gives us access to two other monuments…

…including the Casa Horno del Oro. This is the difference between the house of the rich and the house of kings. The decorations are less busy, the gardens less lush. The doors have sides at the bottom, so that in winter, you go out through the sides and don’t have to open the big doors

Some pictures of the streets of Granada

We end our stay in Granada by the tapas bar La Riviera which, fortunately, isn’t yet crowded at 12:30 pm. For 6€ for two, we eat our fill. If the food isn’t fabulous, the atmosphere is cool

Then we take the SN1 bus to the train station and then take the Alsa bus to Sevilla (3h in a bus that smells like a toilet, snif)

Part 2: Practical Tips

Budget

390€ for two for 3 days, from Seville

• Transport: Alsa bus (alsa.es), between 45€ and 60€/person from Seville
• City bus : 1,4€/person (SN1 station <-> city center; C3/C4 city center <-> alhambra)
• Hotel: Hotel Las Nieves, 35€/night during the week, 65€/night during the weekend
• Visits

  • Alhambra: 15€/person, general ticket (to be booked 2 weeks before for the weekend, and 1 week before during the week on https://tickets.alhambra-patronato.es)
  • Segway tour: 35€/person for 2 hours at Play Granada: http://playgranada.com/
  • El Banuelo + 2 other monuments: 5€/person
  • Casa del Arte Flamenco: 15€/person

• Restaurant: between 6€ and 28€ for two/meal, drinks included

Recommended restaurants

• Breakfasts at the churrerias at the Plaza de Bib-Rambla
• La Riviera tapas bar (for the atmosphere)
• Los Manueles tapas bar (for atmosphere and good food)
• Restaurante casa salvador (Calle Duante)
• Restaurant La Milagrosa Irreverente
• Bar los diamantes (Plaza Nueva) for seafood tapas