Alhambra guided tours compared: eleven 2.5 to 3 hour tours from €35.70 to €84.50 with the ticket included, and the listings whose headline price leaves it out

💡 The Short Version: The Alhambra’s general ticket is €22.27 from the Patronato’s shop. A guided tour with that ticket included is from €45 to €56 for about 3 hours on the main GetYourGuide listings, so the guide costs roughly €23 to €34 on top. The guide adds the commentary and the booking: the operator buys the entry and sets the Nasrid Palaces time, and the Patronato has no priority lane for anyone. Two best-selling listings at €19.90 and €19 do not include the ticket. The ticket is named: every traveller’s name, date of birth and ID go in at checkout, and the original ID is checked at the gate. Prices are in euros. Or book now: the small-group tour with ticketsad is from €49 and the guided tour with the Alhambra ticketad from €50 (GetYourGuide).

The official ticket first

The Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife sells the entry itself, at tickets.alhambra-patronato.es, its only online shop: the general day ticket is €22.27 for the Alcazaba, the Nasrid Palaces, the Generalife and the Partal. The Patronato does not offer guide services. Groups must be led by an accredited, licensed guide, and the guided tours here are sold by tour operators from the share of tickets the Patronato allots to accredited agencies. Alhambra tickets has the prices and the rules, and Alhambra sold out? the other ways in.

The Patio de la Acequia in the Generalife. Photo: Daderot, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

The tours compared

Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices for one adult in the standard option, and move with the date. Each lists the Alhambra entry in the price; read the option you pick. “Largest group” is the biggest group the listing offers.

Languages: Special Plans offers English, Italian, French, Spanish and German; Granada a Pie English, Spanish, French and German; Granada Online English, French and Spanish; Andalucia Travel Experience, Viaternum and Naturanda English and Spanish; ADIPATOURS English, Arabic, Chinese, French and German; Crown Tours English, Arabic, French, Italian and Korean; Passepartours English, French, German, Italian and Spanish; City Wonders English only. The tour runs in the language chosen at booking.

What a guide adds, and what it does not

A tour is a 2.5 to 3 hour walk through the Nasrid Palaces, the Alcazaba and the Generalife with a licensed guide. It gives no priority entry: the Patronato says there is no priority lane for anyone. The tour saves the booking: the operator holds the entry, and the Nasrid Palaces time is fixed on the ticket the operator buys.

The Cuarto Dorado façade in the Mexuar courtyard of the Nasrid Palaces. Photo: Palickap, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

• The Nasrid time is the operator’s. The palaces open only in the half hour printed on the ticket, and a tour starts around that slot. Passepartours’ listing says start times can vary in high season with the Nasrid slots available.
• The ticket is named. The listings ask for each traveller’s full name, date of birth and ID number at checkout, and one says tickets may not be guaranteed without them. Carry the original passport or ID card.
• Refund terms differ. An official ticket cannot be changed or refunded. A tour booking often can be refunded in part: 50% to 24 hours before on most, 60% to 2 days before on Andalucia Travel Experience’s, a full refund to 61 days before on Granada a Pie’s, and none on ADIPATOURS’.
• Accessibility. Several listings say they are not suitable for wheelchair users or visitors with mobility impairments; Passepartours’ says wheelchair users follow a dedicated accessible route.

Listings whose price excludes the ticket

Two of GetYourGuide’s most-reviewed Alhambra listings show headline prices of €19.90 (7,455 reviews) and €19 (2,951 reviews). The low price is for a guided walk of the Alhambra’s surroundings, and the listings say the option does not include entry tickets; the ticket is priced into the other options. Compare the option with the ticket against the tours above before you book.

GetYourGuide also lists plain tickets without a guide above the Patronato’s prices: €28 for the general ticket against €22.27, and €17.50 for the Gardens ticket against €12.73. Buy those from the Patronato.

Which to choose

• The cheapest guided tour with the ticket: City Wonders, €35.70, in English, up to 25 people.
• The shortest: Crown Tours, 2.5 hours, €45.
• A small group: Passepartours, up to 16 people, €84.50, or the small-group and private options on Special Plans’, Granada a Pie’s and Crown Tours’ listings.
• The most flexible refund: Granada a Pie, with a full refund to 61 days before.
• The most reviewed: Special Plans, 4.7 from 24,254.
• A night visit: the Alhambra night visit page has the Friday and Saturday Nasrid Palaces slots and the guided options.

Before you go

• ID: the original passport or ID card, in the name on the booking.
• Bags: nothing larger than 40 x 40 cm goes in; there are free lockers at the access pavilion and the Puerta del Vino building while stocks last.
• Hours: the day visit runs 08:30 to 18:00 from 15 October to 31 March and 08:30 to 20:00 from 1 April. The Alhambra is closed on 25 December and 1 January.
• The one thing that ruins a tour: arriving after the Nasrid Palaces slot. Miss the half hour and the palaces are not entered.

Coming from Seville or Málaga? The tours that leave from those cities are on the Seville page for Granada. How to get to the Alhambra covers the walk up and the minibuses, and the Granada Card is the other source of an Alhambra ticket. What to book before you go to Granada lists the sights that need tickets, and where to stay in Granada compares the areas.