A Trip to Granada in Photos

It’s been a while since our trip to Granada, but I really want to show you some of what we saw, and tell you a little bit of what we loved about this cool Spanish city. I’ll mostly focus on photos, since it is such a beautiful place. Forgive me for being short on narrative this time, but I’m afraid I’ll never get this posted if I wait until I have enough time to do it verbal justice. I hope you’ll understand… and enjoy!

We found a wonderful little apartment right in the center of the city. This was the view from the balcony, where you can see that panels are put up over the street to offer some shade and much-needed relief from the heat of summer. This is the view we woke up to each morning. This view pretty much set the tone for out time there– it was all about beautiful, interesting, and varied architecture, all over the city.

I mean, seriously. I could have just gawked at buildings for a month.

Our host recommended that we have a coffee at a certain hotel near the Alhambra, where we could take in the best view of the city. He was so right, and we thanked him for letting us in on this little secret. If you visit the Alhambra or the Generalife Gardens, be sure to stop at the Hotel Alhambra Palace.

Although we were not able to get tickets to the Alhambra (buy them far in advance, people!) we did thoroughly enjoy the gardens and enjoyed the view of the Alhambra from afar while we walked all over the very cool Albaicín district. There were a few restaurants in the area that offered beautiful views like this of the Alhambra.

In all of our walking through neighborhoods, it was the little details that I swooned over most. I loved the indigo blue accents against the white stucco walls in the Albaicín.

In the middle of town, it was much more grand, of course. So many huge churches and very important-looking buildings, surrounded by antique, classic apartments. I particularly loved these colors.One thing that Granada is famous for is the free tapas that come with drinks. This was not true for every bar we visited, but our host had a nice list of places to visit where they DO serve free (good!) tapas with the drinks. Some of the spots on his list were closed when we visited (many places take the month off after tourist season) but I made a point of remembering one to mention that was particularly good: El Pescaito de Carmela. Go there and sit in their courtyard in the back!

What to Do on Your Trip to Granada

So, here are my top recommendations for visiting Granada– the things I’m really glad we did.

• Find a little apartment to stay in, preferably in the center of town where you can walk to everything. (The streets and driving situation are really kind of nuts!) We almost always go with airbnb (here’s why) and have had such great experiences. If you haven’t tried it yet, you can use this link to get a nice discount on your first stay.
• Visit the Albaicín district and just walk around there– you’ll find plenty of good restaurants there, too.
• Buy your Alhambra tickets in advance. If you can’t get tickets, don’t sweat it– you can always get into the Generalife Gardens, which we enjoyed for a few hours. We honestly wouldn’t have had the bandwidth to do both in one day! While you’re in the area, go have a drink at the Hotel Alhambra Palace and enjoy a spectacular view of the city.
• Enjoy the food and the free tapas that come with your drinks. Keep in mind that not everyone offers them, so it’s worthwhile to do a little research on the best tapas bars beforehand.
• If you like to shop, you will enjoy the bazaar-style markets, where you can find all kinds of cool stuff from North Africa– tea sets, leather shoes and slippers, rugs, ceramics, etc. Just be very aware of your belongings, as there is a lot of petty theft in these spots. Both Jeff and Amelia got some great leather slippers for just a few euros!

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of this really beautiful and fascinating city through our eyes! We really loved it and can’t wait to go back again, hopefully soon. There is so much more that we would like to explore, and it’s a city that just feels good to be in. If you are coming to Spain, definitely try to plan a trip to Granada!