Granada - The Alhambra Palace and Generalife Gardens

Costa del Sol, Spain

Take a trip to Granada and the Alhambra Palace, one of the most beautiful architectural marvels in the world, on a day tour from the Costa del Sol. Granada is home to two of Spain's best-known UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the gardens of the Generalife and the exquisite Moorish architecture of the Alhambra Palace.

After a brief stop in Riofrio, you'll travel to Granada, an essential highlight of any trip to Spain. You'll visit the Alhambra, Charles V Palace and the gardens of the Generalife, framed by the stunning backdrop of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. From this ancient palace and its gardens, you'll enjoy stunning views of the beautiful city of Granada and the Gypsy quarter of the Albaicin.

You'll have time to enjoy lunch (additional cost) and explore Granada by yourself before returning to your Costa del Sol hotel.

Advance bookings are strongly recommended, as access to the Alhambra is strictly limited to a certain number of visitors each day.

USD $96.08

Traveler Reviews

Review by: Terry M	April 2012
Very interesting place. Well run tour very professional guides.

Review by: Michelle K	December 2011
Impressive and beautiful. Trip was well coordinated; tour of the Palace well explained. Granada is well worth the trip.

Review by: KAMARIAH O	November 2011
Excellent guide with great commentaries of the Alhambra and surroundings. Each of us was given a set of earphones and we are able to hear her commentary and instruction. There was ample time to wander on our own since we did not subscribe to lunch.

Review by: patti	November 2011
wonderful trip ---just perfect

Review by: Ginny S	November 2011
The local guide at the Alhambra Palace was excellent. Although he had to speak in two languages, while he spoke in the other language we took pictures of the palace and garden. However, we were only given 20 minutes after the tour for lunch and we ended up rushing and eating our sandwiches while rushing back to the bus. Also, after this we were taken to the Granada town where we were rushed 3 blocks and "dropped off" in a department store to "shop". My husband and I ended up hanging around this store just to kill time until it was time to walk back to the bus. We could have better used this 75 minutes to have had a more leisurely lunch at the Alhambra Palace and than should have just returned to Costa del Sol an hour earlier.

Review by: Elizabeth E	October 2011
Granada was my least favorite out of the tours we saw. The Alhambra was so crowded, our guide wasn't very informative, plus there were so many other tour groups/tourists there, it was difficult to even see anything. The free time in the city wasn't worthwhile. The city is so big and confusing that we had a difficult time navigating and ended up getting lost and almost missed our bus! It would have been more helpful if we got an overview/map of the city prior to our free time because we didn't even know what to see/do.

Review by: Jane A	October 2011
The Alhambra palace was fantastic and our tour guide for the palace was wonderfu. Not so for the bus tourguide. l would have much prefered to spend the whole time at the palace and the grounds rather than being bused to the city where all the shops were closed except 1 very expensive department store. Who doesn't know that Spain shuts down in the afternoon till 5? There were loads of "touristy" shops around the Alhambra and we could have had time for a proper lunch instead of being rushed to town.

Review by: rodrigue b	October 2011
Very satisfied with all aspects of the tour.

Review by: Karin W	September 2011
Comfortable bus, informative bus guide, rest stop provided. Tour guide at The Alhambra was excellent. Pace was intense, and we would have liked to head back to Malaga afterwards, rather than have an hour in Granada, whihc was not time neough to really do or see much after a tiring day.

Review by: Maya A	August 2011
Very knowledgeable guide. Spoke 5 languages!_br/_ Excellent tour.

Review by: Marta H G	August 2011
The visit to the Alambra was fine. However, the rest of the trip was bad. We arrived to the city around 3:00pm. The guide left us in the city and everything was closed, "la siesta"!, nobody told us anything about that. We could not do anything, and the afternoon was hot! After one hour we returned to the bus, and returned to our city. The afternoon was lost between walking and drinking water. I do not recomend this tour for more than a half day

Review by: kim	August 2011
Great trip and The Alhambra Palace and Gardens are remarkable. Wish we didn't stop in Granada. There is not much to see, just shopping again.

Review by: Alison H	June 2011
This was out 2nd trip with Viator having gone to Rhonda last year (which i would highly recommend). The Alhambra Palace and gardens are beautiful and definitely worth seeing, the guides on both the coach and at the Alhambra were very good and informative. My only complaints are that the pick up times were so early in the morning and that the time spent in Granada is pretty disappointing as it is siesta and nothing is open and we were not advised where we could spend the hour other than the department store, i would have preferred more time at the Alhambra and a later start to the day.

Review by: George S	June 2011
Best trip of the time

Review by: BARBARA B	June 2011
Shuffling people from one bus to the other - return trip no bus to take us back to hotel had to wait 20 min in the sun for the bus. The guide Rafael was difficult to listen to babbling in 4 languages about unimportant stuff. People should've been given/told about the option to stay in the Alhambra after the guided tour was over - while others ate lunch. We did not know we could stay longer and were ushered out of the gardens when the guided tour was over. None of the tour guides used an umbrella to see where he/she was headed - was difficult to follow along in the crowed. Not enough time given in Grenada - the guide Rafael marched everyone off the bus into a department store (again difficult to follow thru the city) and ONLY THERE he told us the place and time of pick-up. He could've announced it on the bus before getting off. He did not indicate which way the old town was, but we only had 45 min. anyway - why isn't lunch organized in Granda so others can sightsee while the rest sits in a restaurant???? Just another stupid way of organizing this trip.

Review by: Karim R	May 2011
Great tour and value for the money. The Alhambra is amazing and the tour was very well organized and executed. I just wish we would have had more time to spend in the old town of Grenada...to watch the gypsy flamenco show and look around. All in all it was a very good experience and great value for the price.

Review by: William V	May 2011
Very interesting how much Islam is a part of Spain and how well it all seemed to go together in the beauty of mixing cultures...but could have had the same tour out of our condo for less money and including lunch.

Review by: Ariel V	May 2011
Fascinating...I truly enjoyed this tour. I even had free time to see the city on my own. Just spectacular. A must do tour....

Review by: Anthony N	March 2011
Alhambra was wonderful. Local guide was superb. Free time was poor. Julia travel guide dumped us in a department store with vague description of sights and disappeared.

Review by: Marilyn S	March 2011
It was a great day. Everything worked like clockwork: telephone confirmation was easy and clear; pickup was prompt; the coach comfortable and the guide informative. On arrival at the Alhambra the handover to the tour guide was smooth and his commentary superlative. We had plenty of time to look around and take in our surroundings. Departure was to time and the return journey equally efficient. Our only regret was that as our time in Granada city was during the afternoon siesta we were unable to visit the cathedral and surrounding sights. Other than that it was a memorable day.

Review by: Elizabeth Lynette J	February 2011
Wonderful tour! Our guide within the Alhambra was fabulous and had a great personality. Our guide and driver from Malaga to Granada were also very good.

Review by: Yiwen C	January 2011
We have a very friendly tour guide, Barco. He is the reason I am giving this tour a "3". Too bad I cannot rate tour guide separately. I would give him a "5".

Review by: ROSALIND Y	January 2011
Very interesting and professionally conducted

Review by: Marybeth P	November 2010
Excellent guide for the Alhambra. Offering the segment in Granada -- very disappointing to be just dropped off downtown.

Review by: Peter C	October 2010
This trip had bus problems and we waited 2 hours for bus replacement. This made us have to be rescheduled for our Alhambra entrance. Our guide at the site was extremely knowledgable and helpful. He was helpful, when he saw my wife and I had difficulty walking long distances. Tour participants should be told how much uphill and uneven roads must be traversed. The speed of the tour was a little fast, but now I come to the most arrorgant guide we ever had in all the years of our travels. He gave very little information about the Granada area, and on the return home trip talked only to the bus driver. When we arrived at an intersection in Granada, he gave no instructions, just said follow him as he literally ran down the street and lead us into a department. The he said we had free time for shopping or eating and left us. All shops were closed at this time, if I had wanted to shop in a department store, I would have stayed in the states. If anyone books this tour be aware the Alhambra is great the rest of the tour is nothing!!

Review by: Randall J	October 2010
The Palace is breathtakingly beautiful. The tour started crazy early and the bus ride made me queasy. I was violently ill in the bathroom at the break. The tour was a little long, but lovely. Sadly, when I asked to sit in the empty seat up front on the return next to the tour guide to avoid vomiting she said there wasn't room. But when the seat wasn't full of bags as she implied - I really wished I could have thrown up on her. Oh well. Luckily I made it back to our hotel to rest and didn't get sick anymore. I did, however, cancel our trip to Morocco to avoid this happening again. If you don't get car sick...and are REALLY well rested - sign up! Otherwise, do an independent tour (just make sure to buy your tickets in advance).

Review by: Richard M	October 2010
We just got back from our trip to Spain & this was one of the highlights.Everything went according to plan & the English speaking tour guide at the Alhambra was excellent.I was impressed how everything was so well organized with all of the groups & others who were there the same day.The bus made the appropriate number of rest stops to and from and we had a chance to get some food if necessary. I would recommend this tour.

Review by: SUSAN W	October 2010
Great local pick up. Trip was well organized and the place was really very interesting

Review by: Mary C	October 2010
great city guide and stories

Review by: Ralf T	October 2010
We had a lovely day in Granada and Alhambra with wonderfull guides. Just do it!!!

Review by: Karen C	September 2010
the palace and gardens are beautiful, however, i felt a bit rushed and it was difficult to get good pictures since there were so many visitors about.

Review by: Maureen B G	August 2010
Great tour guide, very knowledgable. After the Alhambra we went to the city but many things were closed for siesta. The timing was not good, we were unable to see much of Granada.

Review by: Steven G, United States of America	July 2010
Excellent value and and amazing place to visit. Tour was on time and very professional. Recommend that you do not have meal with group.. The bar with food inside the main hotel was outstanding. The scenery and views of The Alhambra Palace are exquisite

Review by: Nancy K	July 2010
I was somewhat disappointed. I was expecting the Alhambra to be more interesting. We were picked up with one bus and then we had to transfer to a second one. Enough time spent at the Alhambra but then we were dropped off close to Granada and told to walk. The temperature out was close to 98 and by the time we got there it was siesta and most everything was closed. Very disappointing.

Review by: Sarah C	July 2010
Great place to visit. The only thing I would have changed was the hour we spent hanging out around the local mall in Granada afterwards. I would have preferred to spend more time at the actual tour site.

Review by: HANNELORE E, Canada	June 2010
Very interesting to stand in the same room as Christopher Columbus did in 1492. Definitely a "must" for visitors to Spain.

Review by: Antonia T, Canada	May 2010
Tour guides were informative and pleasant. Would have liked more time to absorb the Alhambra, but we had to keep moving along to the next section. Did not get much out of the stop in downtown Granada to shop in the department store. Would have preferred a local market with handifcrafts from artisans of the area.

Review by: Anonymous	May 2010
Granada is definitely worth going to and the pick up from the hotels is definitely convenient. BUT, depending on where you stayed...our pick up and drop off cost us approx at least 6 hours of our time of the whole trip! I'd prefer if smaller groups went and therefore didn't waste our time on a coach and therefore no need for early pickups and late drop offs.

Review by: Jim S, United States of America	April 2010
It was very interesting. A lot of walking but worth it.

Review by: JIM S	April 2010
It was very interesting. A lot of walking but worth it.

Review by: Alison D, United Kingdom	February 2010
Another place I had always wanted to visit. Going at this time of year must be better than in the heat of the summer season, fewer people and so much easier to look around. The guide on the coach and the guide at the Alhambra Place were both excellent and made the experience so much more interesting.

Review by: James C, Panama	October 2009
This tour was well organized. We were even given the option to buy our own lunch at a restaurant, had some time before leaving to shop, but not much. We definitely learned a lot about the palace which we would not have learned if not on a tour. The stop in Granada afterward was disappointing, however. Our guide gave quick instructions, then left us to explore. We missed most of the interesting stuff and ended up in a department store.

Review by: Anonymous, Romania	October 2009
This was a great tour!

Review by: Denise P, Canada	October 2009
A long day, but interesting. The Palace was great and we managed a quick trip around Granada. The guide was fluent.

Review by: Carmel L, United States of America	October 2009
From pick-up to drop-off, everything runs smoothly. The guide on the bus and at the Alhambra are informative and interesting.

Review by: Kadir M, United States of America	September 2009
I highly recommend this tour! The architecture, the designs, and the natural landscape are one of the kind and you have to see them at least once in your lifetime to appreciate them! Our tour guide spoke 3 languages perfectly and was very nice and cordial to the group. The only downfall of this tour is that by the time they take you to the city IT is nap time 'siesta' and every single shop closes their doors. as long as you don't expect to buy anything or see much during the stop at the city then you will be fine.

Review by: Vlad D, Canada	August 2009
The Granada trip was 10 hours, with about 3.5 at Alhambra, 2 if lunch is not included, and 1 unguided in Granada during siesta time. The Moorish Alhambra is amazing! Reasonably short trip Torremolinos is at the short end of the pickup and drop-off list of this trip. The guide not bad, but used sexually-oriented humor. The Alhambra tour started with the palace and ended with the Generalife gardens. As the tour doesn't include lunch, we had more than 1 hour to spend there by ourselves, but the visiting ticket allows only one entry in each section, so we had to spend it in the gardens. The palace would have been more interesting. The guide was totally unresponsive to bus seating issues. I'm 6'6" and just don't fit in most of the seats in the bus. Being left for less than 1 hour by ourselves during siesta time, in a distant corner of the historical area of Granada, is counter-touristic at best. We grabbed something to go to one of the cathedrals to see its exterior, but we had to run to be able to get back in time.

Review by: Irene H, Israel	October 2008
Excellent local guide who was accurate and well versed historically. The date was changed at the last minute to Friday. Fortunately, I was still on holiday.

Review by: Andrew D, United States of America	November 2007
The tour guide on the bus is great! Whole trip to Granada is well organized. Excellent!

Review by: Stephen G, United Kingdom	November 2007
Alhambra is a beautiful place and well worth the visit. The Architecture is amazing and the views from the battlements breathtaking. Our guide was very knowledgeable of the history and had a good few stories to fill in the long travel time to the Palace.