Ticket types. The Alhambra General ticket, €22.27, is the one: the Nasrid Palaces at a fixed slot plus the Alcazaba, the Generalife and the Partal. The Dobla de Oro (€30.48) adds the Albaicín monuments. The night visit to the Nasrid Palaces is €12.73, Tuesday to Saturday at 10 p.m. in summer, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in winter.
Where and when to buy. Only on tickets.alhambra-patronato.es, where sales open about a year ahead; resellers and the ticket shops sell the same ticket for €40 and up. In spring, fall and Holy Week the General ticket is gone one to two months out; in January and February a week is enough.
The slot and the passport. Your Nasrid Palaces time is a 30-minute entry window; be in line ten minutes before it, because staff turn away anyone outside it with no second chance that day. Tickets carry your name and the gate scans the passport or EU identity card you booked with; a photo on the phone is refused.
Free tapas. Every drink at a traditional bar, about €2.50 to €3.50, comes with a tapa you do not choose. Order one drink at a time, stand at the counter, move after two, and three stops is dinner. Bars that hand you a menu first or charge for tapas are aimed at visitors. Calle Navas and Calle Elvira are the streets; they fill after 10 p.m.
The hills. The red minibuses do the climbs for €1.60 paid to the driver: C30 from Plaza Isabel la Católica to the Alhambra, C32 between the Alhambra and the Albaicín, C31 up the Albaicín, C34 to Sacromonte. A Credibús card (€2, then about €0.54 a ride) pays off from the fourth ride. Roadworks on Reyes Católicos have kept the C31 and C34 diverted along Calle Elvira through 2026; check the Rober notices for the current stops.
Getting there and the seasons. From Madrid the AVE, Iryo and Ouigo take about 3 hours 20, from around €20 booked early. From December to April the Sierra Nevada is white 32 kilometers away: the Tocina bus from the bus station reaches Pradollano in about an hour for €5 each way. Holy Week 2027 runs March 21 to 28; processions close the center every evening, and rooms and Alhambra tickets go months ahead.
On the day. Keep the Alhambra ticket on its stop in Waystop’s Documents and carry the original passport, water and a hat; there is little shade on the hill. Monuments outside the Alhambra close for lunch from 2 p.m., so the Madraza and the Bañuelo are morning stops.