Home > Granada > Skip the Line: Alhambra and Generalife Gardens Half-Day Tour
USD $68.00
Skip the Line: Alhambra and Generalife Gardens Half-Day Tour
Granada, Spain
Explore Alhambra and the Generalife Gardens on this 3-hour skip-the-line walking tour, led by a professional local guide. With hotel pickup and drop-off from your centrally located Granada hotel included, this tour guarantees you'll have an Alhambra ticket (limited ticket numbers are allocated per day) and allows you to visit UNESCO-listed Alhambra with minimum fuss. Admire stunning Moorish architecture in the Nasrid Palaces and gain a glimpse into the lavish lives of the sultans who once lived here.
Your friendly local guide will pick you up from your Granada hotel by air-conditioned minibus and then whisk you away to La Sabica Hill to visit its most dramatic monument – Alhambra. Perched high on the hill overlooking the city, the incredible palace complex was first built as a fortress at the start of the 13th century. Successions of Spanish rulers made Alhambra their home, and the fortress grew into a medina (little hilltop city) with numerous palaces and lavish gardens.
Skip past the long entrance lines with your priority access ticket and walk around inside with your guide, hearing all the history of this fascinating site. Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Alhambra is a treasure trove of Moorish architecture and you’ll see several of its wonders as you tour its highlights. Admire decadent rooms inside the Nasrid Palaces like the Hall of Ambassadors (Salón de los Embajadores) and Myrtle Courtyard (Patio of los Arrayanes), and marvel at the architecture of Pedro Machuca at the Palace of Charles V.
Step inside the Hall of Abencerrajes to gaze up at its star-shaped domed ceiling, and hear the tale of the massacre that took place here during a 15th century banquet. You’ll also see Alhambra’s Royal Baths; plainly decorated, not ornate, in line with the belief that bathing was a religious requirement not a luxury.
After exploring the palaces, head to the Generalife Gardens to discover where the sultans and Moorish kings of bygone days once relaxed. Featuring abundant flora and distinctive water features, the gardens also comprise two further courtyards, which you’ll see, the Patio de la Acequia and the Patio de la Sultana.
At the end of your 2.5-hour Alhambra tour, your guide will drop you back at your Granada hotel by minibus.
This was an amazing experience and we are still talking about it. Loved our guide and the sites. Thank you!
Review by: Ico, April 2018
A very knowledgeable and articulate guide. Pickup at hotel is a must.
Review by: Christian M, April 2018
A really wonderful tour!! Our guide, Juan Antonio Diaz was very informative, knowledgeable and really nice. I will be honest, we were hesitant to book after reading some negative reviews about viator not this tour in particular and just decided to take the plunge anyway. SO, SO glad we did!! Thank you guys, you provided a great service and we got to see the amazing Alhambra which was one of the highlights of our entire trip to Spain. Advice to travellers - book at least two months ahead of time or you may be disappointed the Alhambra is just spectacular.
Review by: jahan024, April 2018
We did not get tickets for Alhambra so booked this instead. We were not picked up from the hotel so had to go to another hotel at 9:30 AM only to find out our tour will start at 11 AM! We were misinformed by customer service. Although there were only 11 people in our group, the tour guide failed to make it interesting or exciting with his very dry and casual commentary. Often rushed through not giving us enough time to enjoy the finer detail or take photos! He kept complaining about a large number of tourists coming to Alhambra! and weather instead of focusing on making the best out of the situation. I don't think they realise how much investment and effort people make reach here. We deserve better!! _br/_ I highly recommend fellow tourist either book direct tickets or get a Granda Card. Avoid at all cost.
Review by: Kobrosly, March 2018
Tour guide lacked needed qualifications.
Review by: Robert J, March 2018
Booked a week before and really well organised tour, picked up from hotel and a really smooth move through the queues._br/_ Victor our guide was full of information and facts all relayed well in English with a touch of humour in between, the 3 hour tour just flew by._br/_ I cannot recommend this tour and Victor enough.
Review by: Heidi P, March 2018
Enjoyable tour with entertaining guide however, combining an English with a Spanish tour definitely affected the overall quality. The guide had to repeat everything in Spanish so he didn't have time to go into much detail.
Review by: chaplinsky, March 2018
Everything about the tour was excellent. The tour guide was informative, and they have personal speaker system using earbuds, so you don't have to stay huddled in the group to hear the guide. The only improvement they could make is with communication regarding pick-up prior to traveling. An email, with pick-up address and time would have made the experience even better. We had to call for the information upon arrival in Granada.
Review by: thomas, March 2018
This tour was amazing!
Review by: John S, March 2018
Our guide was , knowledgeable, and patient with the group. I highly recommend this tour !
Review by: Karen B, March 2018
The Skip the Line: Alhanbra and Generalife Gardens Half-Day Tour offered by Granavision was excellent from beginning to end. Granavision picked us up at our hotel and brought us up to their office where the half-day tour began. Our tour guide, Sergio, was knowledgeable, witty and charming.
Review by: paolo b, March 2018
Having your own guide gives this extra touch and you learn more of what you see - and Alhambra is a must see, if you are in Granada. The technology worked well, so even though we were 25 tourists on the trip, we could all hear what Gonzalo said. He is a good guide and spoke well English. With the steep price we paid for the tickets, it should not be necessary taking us to a shop halfway through the visit though.
Review by: Danielle M, February 2018
This tour was amazing!
Review by: Keith H, February 2018
Whilst the Alhambra is indeed very special and quite spectacular, I am afraid our tour guide did a very ordinary job of walking us through it. Yes it was a three hour tour but when you stop for 30 minutes for the guide to have a seat and Ice cream halfway through the tour and has rushed you past the other sites it was a little annoying to say the least. He was also rather dismissive to other tourists who asked questions which seemed beneath him to answer. The finale straw was that this was meant to be an English tour but another nationality joined us so he spent time translating for them too. Last but not least there were too many of us there should be a limit of the number of people one tour guide and accommodate in the tour. In short go and visit it is amazing to see, but check which company you are using for the tour.
Review by: Kyle P, February 2018
Highly Recommended! Great guide very knowledgeable!
Review by: Jacqueline W, January 2018
The Alhambra and Generalife Gardens were amazing. Our guide walked a bit too fast and the tour was both in English and Italian.
Review by: Cliff B, January 2018
It was great and if you want to go to the Alhambra you will need to book a tour as there are very few places open each day. It will not be easier as time goes on as demand will only increase. Coming from outside Granada we found it a little difficult to find the tour as the place is flooded with people. Our guide was good, we got history, his own view of philosophy and some insights on Spain and Spanish politics. Book it, you wont be disappointed. On returning to Australia we watched the movie Assassins Creed and recognised many of the rooms. Andalucia is a wonderful place and a trip to Alhambra is a must.
Review by: Sharonpllim, January 2018
My family enjoyed the tour tremendously. It was informative and not boring. The pace was just nice. The group size perfect. Will definitely recommend it ..
Review by: Cheri, January 2018
This is an amazing place, don't miss it - but the best part of this tour was the transportation getting there. It's a madhouse, so having help and direction getting through the entrance was valuable. Once we were in our guide was just so-so, which was surprising since most of the guides we have had through Viator have been outstanding.
Review by: Kate F, January 2018
The guide was so bored. He has probably done this a million times, and it definitely felt like it. He couldn't care less. Not recommended. Location was great. Tour was not.
Review by: Sally F, January 2018
I did this tour with my 15 year old daughter on Dec. 30 and can't remember our guide's name! Doing the Alhambra on a guided tour is a must. We learned so much from our guide and through conversations with her that we wouldn't have learned any other way. She was exceptionally knowledgeable about history and the location. Hands-down the most interesting part of our 11-city visit to Spain. Highly recommend this tour know that there is a great deal of walking due to the size of the Alhambra.
Review by: Non T, January 2018
Great tour and guide.
Review by: tpollard, December 2017
The Alhambra was amazing! On the plus side, the company was very accommodating as one of our party of four couldn't join us for the tour as he was ill. They were able to transfer his ticket to another day. On the minus side, we were with a group of mostly Italian speaking people. Although we enjoyed our tour guide, he often forgot to translate everything into English so I felt that we could have had a more valuable learning experience if we had just an English speaking guide
Review by: Mark L, December 2017
Excellent, beautiful site and the guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining. I would recommend this to anyone visiting the region.
Review by: Patricia E, December 2017
Probably one of the worst tours I have ever been on. They did not pick us up at our hotel, we had to walk about a mile to another hotel. They were very late picking us up. The group was larger than 15 people. The guide either had limited knowledge of the site or limited English skills as he constantly repeated himself and said everything was fantastic. When we finally got to the palace we had to wait to enter it as our entrance time was 5 PM the tour was scheduled to end at 5. Most of the group left because we were late and also because the limited sunlight made it difficult to see and take pictures. We were also encouraged to walk back to town because there were no buses. When I complained to the tour operator about the tour she did not seem to care and gave no explanation as to why we had an entrance time after the tour was supposed to be over. I would definitely NOT do this tour with this company.
Review by: Jeff B R, November 2017
Wonderful place to visit so it's hard to mess up the tour. The guide was knowledgeable but unfortunately this ended up being a bi-lingual tour and our guide generally seemed to cater to the Spanish folks in our group. She tended to often repeat herself when speaking in English.
Review by: Shoaib P, November 2017
Look elsewhere. Disappointed with this tour. We signed up for English guided tour, but tour happened to be mixed Spanish and English. Because the guide was repeating info in both Spanish and English, it left for alot of idle time. Guide info was blah. Time was rushed. 2 1/2 hours total in Al Hambra
Review by: Nancy E, November 2017
Great tour . Gus was an outstanding guide.
Review by: Nancy E, November 2017
Great tour . Gus was an outstanding guide.
Review by: mveldre, November 2017
Our guide Beqtrice was very professional and informative. Highly recommended!
Review by: Ralph M, November 2017
The Alhambra was amazing and the tour guide, Carlos, was fabulous.
Review by: John B, November 2017
Our guide was very knowledgeable and keep the tour moving along even since she was doing the tour in both English and Spanish.
Review by: OKSANA Y, November 2017
Very good trip. Highly recommender. August is quite a hot month BUT you will enjoy all tricks of east middle age architecture with all corridors, gardens and natural ventilation ! Always hire a good guide - it is the best ways of getting to know details and also feel the spirit of the attraction in compressed time.
Review by: Joanne H, November 2017
Great tour guide Alberto! A lot of walking involved to visit the Alhambra. Definitely a sight not to be missed.
Review by: Samantha M, November 2017
Our guide was great, it was well organised and left on time. :-
Review by: Timothy S, November 2017
Very well run. Pickup at hotel went smoothly. Guide was pleasant and spoke good English
Review by: Debbie, October 2017
Wow...this was a fantastic tour! Were picked up from a hotel not far from where we were staying as arranged and taken by bus to the Alhambra on the top of the hill. The tour guide was knowledgeable and it was an amazing tour. Really well organised, no waiting to get into the various sites, plenty of time to look around...amazing!!
Review by: Bob, October 2017
Alberto was superb!_br/_ We had been to the Alhambra 3 years ago off a cruise. This tour was far better. We saw things we had missed previously and Alberto controlled the group so that stragglers kept pace and chatterboxes stayed to the rear. His knowledge was exceptionable and his humorous asides made the tour even more of a pleasude.
Review by: donna.joyce1, October 2017
Loved this tour and our guide Marco was so entertaining, his English was wonderful and he knew the history. Well worth it!
Review by: eliorar, October 2017
The guide was very professional and provide historical, cultural information in each place.
Review by: Waleed K, October 2017
So worth it. Lines skipped. Detailed historical knowledge gained. Depends on the tour guide also. Marco was quite good, he did not oversell it and let's the audience soak in the Majesty of Al hambra itself.
Review by: Esther S, October 2017
Really good tour.
Review by: Robert M, October 2017
Meeting time was changed on short notice, had to get up very early. Guide was ok. Very crowded place.
Review by: john b, October 2017
Our tour was excellent and our guide Guillermo was superb. He patiently explained many details and history of the Alhambra. Highly recommended.
Review by: Ronit R, October 2017
Great tour and guide Carlos! We traveled with a baby and a toddler. Carlos made sure to help us out with our children. The tour itself is very informative, engaging and fun!
Review by: Cameron D, September 2017
Well organised tour with good communication from the tour company regarding changes. The guide Tarek was very good and knowledgeable and managed the group with good humour and grace it must be a challenging task guiding a group, explaining important elements all whilst knowing you have to keep to an assigned time to go through the palace. It was good to be able to stay in the grounds after the tour and revisit some areas at a more leisurely pace.
Review by: ALJUNDI, September 2017
Loved the fact the bus picked us up at hotel and returned us there. Knowledgable pleasant guide, BUT having to listen to Spanish and English was time consuming and annoying at times.. Guide had to talk fast to make up time.. AlHambra is .SPECTACULAR.
Review by: Katherine J C, September 2017
Our guide was very knowledgable and engaging with the group. The pace of the tour was just right. You had time to hear and then look, or look and then hear. At the end of the tour we were given a choice to walk back or ride the bus. We walked and it was longer than we anticipated, so I'd advise taking the bus. What an amazing place to behold! Well worth the time and money.
Review by: John A, September 2017
A last minute ( 3-day ahead) booking proved to be very enjoyable,well-priced and nicely guided by Marina; both engaging and informative. We lucked out on a group tour of 10 (could have been 30) depending on language demand. Marina helped also with a great restaurant tip to las Tinijas. Many thanks!
Review by: Sue A H, September 2017
We had an excellent guide who knew more than the typical guide book information. I don't need to comment on the buildings -- they stand on their own. All beautiful and the site is beautiful. The tour lasted the full three hours and we had a needed break in the middle. The difficult thing was the number of people in the Alhambra --it was difficult to get good photos sometimes because of the numbers of people, so if there is a private tour optionmeaning going before the whole facility opens to the public and it's a busy time of year, that would be a consideration.
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