A plate of food with every glass
In Granada the drink buys the food. Order a beer or a glass of wine in almost any bar and a small plate arrives without being asked for, and the next round brings a different one. Three rounds in, dinner has happened and the bill is for the drinks.
The sunset crowd at San Nicolás, and resold Alhambra tickets
I would not plan the evening around sunset at the Mirador de San Nicolás. The view of the Alhambra is the famous one, and so is the crowd on the wall. Go in the morning, when there is room at the wall.
My second skip is any Alhambra ticket bought through a resale site. The official price list shows €22.27 for the General day ticket, and the Nasrid Palaces can only be visited at the time printed on it. Buy from the Patronato and pick your slot yourself.
Snails on Plaza Aliatar
For something locals eat and visitors walk past, go up to Bar Aliatar Los Caracoles in the Albaicín and order the snails, in a hot sauce with almonds and chilli. Walk up; the Albaicín is camera country.
Send the hotel your plate before you arrive
If your hotel is inside the Albaicín, the Realejo or the centre, email it your number plate before you set off and ask which entry to use. Under the city's rules, a hotel with an opening licence can register a guest's plate for the dates of the stay, and a hotel just outside can do the same when the only way in crosses a zone.
No registration, no drive-in. Some camera points only work at certain hours, and the sign beside each camera gives them. The classic mistake is following the satnav up the Carrera del Darro to a hotel that never heard your plate number. Under the 2014 ordinance an unlisted offence was a minor one at €100; it was replaced in 2025 and I could not read the new fine table.
The palace on a timed ticket, and the viewpoints across the valley
The Alhambra runs on the time printed on your ticket. The Nasrid Palaces let you in only at that slot, and you need the ID and bank card used to book. The Alhambra car park is beside the ticket office: Indigo lists €2.20 an hour as indicative, while guides quote €3.17 to €3.30; I follow the operator and read the board.
The Palace of Charles V is the square block with a round courtyard inside it. It was begun in 1526 and never finished, and it sits right against the Nasrid palaces.
The Silla del Moro costs nothing. It is on the Patronato's price list with a price of zero, and it is the one I add when the palace slots are sold out.
The Capilla Real holds the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella. It is next to the cathedral, a few minutes from San Agustín car park.
The Paseo de los Tristes runs along the Darro below the Alhambra walls. Walk it from Plaza Nueva in the evening, up the Carrera del Darro, with the palace lit above you.
Calicasas on Calle Elvira and fried fish on Calle Navas
The free tapa is the system, not a promotion: one drink, one plate. Sit at the bar, not a table, and it comes faster.
Bodegas Castañeda, on the corner of Calle Elvira near Plaza Nueva, is known for its cold and hot boards of cured meat, cheese and pâté, and for calicasas, the house mixed drink.
For fish, go to Calle Navas, one of the tapas streets of the centre, where Los Diamantes puts fried fish and prawns on the counter with each drink.
Holy Week in March, Corpus in May
Semana Santa runs from 21 to 28 March 2027, Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, with processions through the centre every day. Park on the side of town you are staying on.
The Feria del Corpus runs from 22 to 30 May 2027 at the Recinto Ferial de Almanjáyar, the fairground outside the old town. Thursday 27 May is a local holiday, when the Custodia is carried through the old town. Three weeks earlier, 3 May, is the Día de la Cruz, also a local holiday.
What's on
| When | What |
|---|---|
| 2 January 2027 | Día de la Toma: the city carries the royal banner from the Capilla Real and marks the surrender of 2 January 1492 |
| 21–28 March 2027 | Semana Santa, Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday: processions through the centre every day |
| 3 May 2027 | Día de la Cruz, a local holiday in Granada |
| 22–30 May 2027 | Feria del Corpus at the Recinto Ferial de Almanjáyar; Jueves de Corpus, 27 May, is a local holiday with the procession of the Custodia through the old centre |