Granada city centre walk: from Plaza Isabel la Católica through the Cathedral, the Corral del Carbón and the Realejo to Plaza Nueva, with what is open each day

One of 2 self-guided walks in Granada. See every walk.

In this guide

💡 The Short Version: Start in Plaza Isabel la Católica and finish in Plaza Nueva: 2.5 km, about 40 minutes of walking and a day with the visits. Go on a Tuesday to Friday. The Cathedral opens on Sundays only from 15:00 and the Royal Chapel at 11:30, the Cuarto Real and the Casa de los Tiros are shut on Mondays, and the Madraza is shut on Sundays. The Corral del Carbón is free; the Cathedral is €10 until 28 November and €7 from 29 November, the Royal Chapel is €7 and allows no photos, and the Cuarto Real is €2. The old centre has no metro stop, so the walk starts and ends at bus stops. Or book a tour: the 3-hour Cathedral and Royal Chapel tourad is from €38 with both tickets included (GetYourGuide).

The route

Map of the walk numbered stops in walking order

Open the whole route in Google Maps - all the stops in walking order, set to walking directions, which is the version to put on your phone.

The route runs through the old Arab market and the cathedral quarter first, because the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel close at 18:15 and 18:30, and goes on into the Realejo, where the Cuarto Real and the Casa de los Tiros keep later hours on weekdays. It finishes at the foot of the Albaicín, where the Albaicín walk starts. Prices are the adult rate in euros from each operator, and hours are the winter ones.

Walk it with a guide

A guide adds the history. Only the first two of these include entry to the Cathedral and the Royal Chapel, which come to €17 together until 28 November and €14 after. Prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices, per person.

• Granada: 3-Hour Cathedral and Royal Chapel Tourad: from €38, 4.7 stars from 437 reviews, 3 hours, from Plaza Bib-Rambla, with both tickets included.
• Granada: Cathedral & Royal Chapel Tourad: from €36, 4.7 stars from 399 reviews, 2 hours, from Plaza Isabel la Católica, with both tickets included. The listing describes a Spanish-speaking guide, so check the language option before you book.
• Granada: Historic Center and Lower Albaicin Walking Tourad: from €14, 4.8 stars from 207 reviews, 2.5 hours.
• Walk in Granada runs a free, tips-based centre walk from the fountain in Plaza Nueva at 11:00 every day, by the Madraza, the Cathedral, the Royal Chapel, Plaza Bib-Rambla, the Alcaicería and the Corral del Carbón. Granada walking tours compares the free and paid walks.

1. Plaza Isabel la Católica

Free · always open · Plaza Isabel la Católica

The square is 190 m from Plaza Nueva along Calle Sancti Spiritus. The C30 minibus to the Alhambra has started in Calle Pavaneras, off the square, since 10 August 2026, and the C32 runs up to the Alhambra from the same street. Works in Calle Santiago have diverted both since 27 April 2026: how to get to the Alhambra has the footpaths.

The monument to Isabella and Columbus in Plaza Isabel la Católica. Photo: José Luis Filpo Cabana, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.

Walk to the Alcaicería: 280 m west.

2. The Alcaicería and Plaza Bib-Rambla

Free · always open · shops keep their own hours · Calle Alcaicería

The Alcaicería was the Arab silk market, a maze of narrow streets where silk was made and sold and merchants lodged in inns. It ran from Plaza Nueva to Plaza Bib-Rambla at the heart of the Islamic medina. Today its lanes hold souvenir and craft shops, among them Fajalauza pottery and taracea, wood marquetry. Plaza Bib-Rambla is the square at its western end, and Los Diamantes has a bar at No. 2.

Walk to the Cathedral: 70 m.

3. Granada Cathedral

€10 to 28 November, then €7 · Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 18:15, Sunday 15:00 to 18:15 · Plaza de las Pasiegas, Gran Vía de Colón 5

The Catholic Monarchs ordered the Cathedral built over the main mosque in 1501, and Charles V continued the project. The Archdiocese describes a monumental façade by Alonso Cano and a main chapel that can be seen from the central nave, and the museum holds painting, sculpture, tapestry and silver. The Cathedral and Royal Chapel page has the tickets in full.

• Tickets: €10 until 28 November 2026, while the Kerygma exhibition runs, and €7 from 29 November. Reduced is €8 and then €5; children up to 12 with an adult are free. Buy at ticketsgranadacristiana.com, the Archdiocese’s shop. The ticket includes an audio guide app.
• Hours: the doors close at 18:45. On Sundays and holy days of obligation the Cathedral opens only from 15:00. It is shut on 25 December, 1 January and Good Friday.
• Rules: no suitcases or backpacks, no eating or drinking, silence and decorous dress. Photos are allowed if they do not disturb prayer, and tourists are not admitted during services.

Walk to the Royal Chapel: 70 m round the corner into Calle Oficios.

4. The Royal Chapel

€7 · Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 18:30, Sunday 11:30 to 18:30 · no photos · Calle Oficios

The Chapel was conceived as the Catholic Monarchs’ burial place, beside the Cathedral but not part of it. It holds the remains of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, with Joanna I, Philip I and Prince Miguel da Paz, and a small crypt below holds the lead coffins. The City of Granada’s tourism site says no other funerary chapel in Spain rivals it in size.

• Tickets: €7, or €5 reduced, from the same shop. The six-monument ticket at €33 for 7 days includes it.
• Hours: the doors close at 19:00. It is shut on 25 December and 1 January.
• Rules: photos and video are not allowed.

Walk to the Madraza: 30 m across Calle Oficios.

5. The Madraza

Monday to Friday 9:00 to 21:00 · shut Sundays, public holidays, Holy Week, Christmas and August · Calle Oficios 14

The Madraza was founded by Yusuf I in 1349, in the Nasrid era, as the first university in Granada, where medicine, law and mathematics were taught. After the conquest its library was taken to Plaza Bib-Rambla and burned, and the building later served as the city’s first Christian town hall. It now belongs to the University of Granada and is its centre for contemporary culture, with exhibitions.

A balcony on the façade of the Madraza. Photo: Rumomo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

• Hours: the University gives Monday to Friday 9:00 to 21:00 for the building. On Saturdays it is open from 11:00 to 14:00 and 17:30 to 20:30 only while an exhibition is on. Exhibitions run Monday to Saturday 11:00 to 14:00 and 17:30 to 20:30.

Walk to the Corral del Carbón: 220 m by Calle Estribo and Calle Mariana Pineda.

6. The Corral del Carbón

Free · every day 9:00 to 20:00 · shut 25 December and 1 January · Calle Mariana Pineda

The Corral del Carbón was the Nasrid corn exchange, al-fundaq al-yadida, built in the first half of the 14th century as a store and market for wheat and lodging for the merchants who brought it. After the conquest it was sold at auction in 1531, became a theatre courtyard and then a neighbours’ courtyard, and its ground-floor rooms stored coal, which gave it its name. It was declared a National Monument in 1887 and restored between 1929 and 1931. A single horseshoe-arched door of scalloped brick leads to a courtyard with a central pillar, and the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife keeps its city information point inside.

• Tickets: free. It is also in the Andalusian monuments ticket, which is the one with the Bañuelo: see the Albaicín walk.

Walk to the Cuarto Real: 560 m, down Calle Mariana Pineda and through the lanes of San Matías by Calle Lepanto, Calle Horno de San Matías and the Placeta del Agua. La Botillería and Taberna La Tana are on the way: see Where to eat.

7. Plaza de los Campos and the Cuarto Real

€2 · free on Sundays · Tuesday to Saturday 10:00 to 14:00 and 16:30 to 20:00, Sunday 10:00 to 14:00 · shut Mondays · Plaza de los Campos 6

The Realejo is the old Jewish neighbourhood, Garnata al-Yahud, “Granada of the Jews” in the Arab period, and the Cuarto Real stands in its heart. It was a Nasrid palace built under Muhammad II (1273 to 1302), before the Alhambra’s palaces, and all that survives is the tower and its qubba, a reception hall, inside a 19th-century house. The Dominicans turned the qubba into the first church of their convent. The Ayuntamiento owns it, and it now holds exhibitions.

• Tickets: €2, or €1 for students, pensioners, the unemployed and children from 6 to 16. Free on Sundays, and free with the Granada Card and the Dobla de Oro ticket.
• Hours: the hours above run from 15 October to 14 March. From 15 March to 14 October it is open Tuesday to Saturday 9:30 to 13:30 and 17:30 to 21:00, and Sunday 9:30 to 13:30. Shut on 25 December, 1 January and 6 January, and in the afternoons of 24 and 31 December.

Walk to the Campo del Príncipe: 570 m by Calle Paco Seco de Lucena and Calle Aguado.

8. Campo del Príncipe

Free · always open · Campo del Príncipe

The City of Granada calls it the most emblematic square in the Realejo, a large and popular square at the centre of the neighbourhood with a casual atmosphere and restaurants on the pavement. The Realejo’s other sights are small: the Corrala de Santiago, a 16th-century courtyard house that is now a University of Granada residence, and the Placeta de la Puerta del Sol, with its old washing place.

The Cristo de los Favores in the Campo del Príncipe at night. Photo: carlos corzo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Walk to the Casa de los Tiros: 450 m, by Calle Sacristía de Santa Escolástica. The Placeta de la Puerta del Sol viewpoint, which looks over the city to the Sierra Nevada, is a 100 m detour from the Casa de los Tiros.

9. The Casa de los Tiros

Free for EU citizens, €1.50 for others · Tuesday to Saturday 9:00 to 21:00, Sunday 9:00 to 15:00 · shut Mondays · Calle Pavaneras 19

The Casa de los Tiros is a 16th-century house at the entrance to the Realejo, where the first tourist office stood. Its tower was reworked by its owner, Gil Vázquez Rengifo, with a symbolic programme exalting the medieval hero. The museum opened in 1929 and today shows Granada in the 19th century. A statue of the Jewish scholar Judah ben Saul ibn Tibbon marks the way into the Realejo from Calle Pavaneras.

The Casa de los Tiros, with the stone figures on its tower. Photo: Maesi64, Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

• Tickets: free with accreditation for citizens of the European Union, students, over-65s, retired people and visitors with a disability of 33% or more; €1.50 for visitors from other countries.
• Hours: the hours above run from 16 September to 15 June, with the last entry at 20:30; plan at least 30 minutes. From 16 June to 15 September it is open Tuesday to Sunday 9:00 to 15:00. A Monday on the eve of a holiday opens on holiday hours. Shut on 1 and 6 January, 1 May and 24, 25 and 31 December.
• Bags: large bags, rucksacks, prams and umbrellas go in the lockers.

Walk to Plaza Nueva: 280 m by Plaza de Cuchilleros.

10. Plaza Nueva

Free · always open · Plaza Nueva

The end of the walk is the start of the Albaicín walk, which climbs from this square along the Carrera del Darro. The C31 and C34 minibuses start here and the C32 stops here, and Los Diamantes has a bar at No. 13, open every day from 12:00 to 23:30. The Cuesta de Gomérez climbs from the square to the Alhambra.

Where to eat

Los Diamantes

Plaza de Bib-Rambla 2 · every day 12:00 to 23:30 · no reservations

At the second stop. A fried-fish bar: expect to stand and queue. Best tapas in Granada has what to order, and free tapas in Granada explains the free tapa that comes with a drink.

La Botillería

Calle Varela 10, Realejo · every day 12:30 to 23:45

Between the Corral del Carbón and the Cuarto Real. A grill restaurant that pairs vegetables from the Vega with charcoal-cooked meat; its site lists artichokes, habas con jamón (broad beans with ham) and lamb chops. It takes bookings through its site and is open every day.

Taberna La Tana

Placeta del Agua 3, Realejo

Beside La Botillería on the same lanes. A wine bar: book through tabernalatana.com or by phone, or arrive early for a place at the bar. Where to eat in Granada lists the restaurants.

The best day to go

The timing that works, Tuesday to Friday in winter: Plaza Isabel la Católica at 9:45, the Alcaicería at 10:00, the Cathedral when it opens at 10:00, the Royal Chapel at 11:15, the Madraza at 12:15 and the Corral del Carbón at 13:00. Lunch in the Realejo from 13:30, the Cuarto Real when it reopens at 16:30, the Campo del Príncipe at 17:15 and the Casa de los Tiros by 18:00.

A Sunday, in reverse: Plaza Nueva, then the Casa de los Tiros at 9:00, the Cuarto Real at 10:00 while it is free, the Campo del Príncipe, the Corral del Carbón, the Royal Chapel from 12:15, lunch, and the Cathedral from 15:00. The Madraza is the stop to leave out.

What closes:

• Mondays: the Cuarto Real and the Casa de los Tiros.
• Sundays: the Cathedral until 15:00, the Royal Chapel until 11:30, the Madraza all day, the Cuarto Real after 14:00 and the Casa de los Tiros after 15:00.
• Saturdays: the Madraza, unless it has an exhibition.
• After 18:15: the Cathedral, with the doors closing at 18:45; after 18:30: the Royal Chapel, with the doors closing at 19:00; after 20:00: the Corral del Carbón and the Cuarto Real.
• 25 December and 1 January: the Cathedral, the Royal Chapel and the Corral del Carbón; the Cathedral is also shut on Good Friday. Holy Week, Christmas and August: the Madraza.

What does not close: the streets, the squares, the Campo del Príncipe and the Plaza de los Campos.

Getting there and back

• To the start: Plaza Isabel la Católica has city-bus stops, and the C30 and C32 minibuses leave from Calle Pavaneras off the square. Granada public transport has the fares, and Granada airport to the city has the way in from the airports.
• From the end: Plaza Nueva has city-bus stops, the C31 and C34 minibuses start there and the C32 stops there. The Metro de Granada does not reach the old centre. The C31 climbs the Albaicín: see the Albaicín walk.
• Surfaces: the streets are paved and the Realejo is hilly. The operator of the free centre walk rates it low difficulty, and says neither pushchairs nor wheelchairs can do its Albaicín walk.

What to do with the rest of the day

• The Albaicín: the Albaicín walk starts where this one ends, in Plaza Nueva, and climbs by the Carrera del Darro to the Mirador de San Nicolás.
• Inside the sights: the Cathedral and Royal Chapel has the tickets and the six-monument ticket, and La Cartuja and San Jerónimo covers the other two paid churches.
• Free: free things to do in Granada lists the Corral del Carbón, the Sunday-free monuments and the Junta museums.
• The days: 3 days in Granada fits these sights onto the days they are open, and what to book before you go to Granada has the closed days for every sight.
• Guided walks: Granada walking tours sets the free walks against the paid ones, and the hop-on hop-off train covers the centre without a guide.
• Where to sleep: where to stay in Granada compares the areas.

Common questions

How long is the Granada city centre walk?

2.5 km from Plaza Isabel la Católica to Plaza Nueva, measured along the streets: about 40 minutes of walking. The Cathedral, the Royal Chapel, the Cuarto Real and the Casa de los Tiros each take their own visit, so allow a day with a long lunch.

Which day is best for the Granada city centre walk?

Tuesday to Friday. The Cuarto Real and the Casa de los Tiros are shut on Mondays, the Madraza is shut on Sundays and open on Saturdays only when it has an exhibition, and the Cathedral opens on Sundays only from 15:00. The Royal Chapel opens at 10:00 on weekdays and 11:30 on Sundays.

Is the Granada city centre walk free?

The streets, the squares and the Corral del Carbón are free. The Cathedral is €10 until 28 November 2026 and €7 from 29 November, the Royal Chapel €7, the Cuarto Real €2 and free on Sundays, and the Casa de los Tiros is free for citizens of the European Union and €1.50 for everyone else.

Can I do the Granada city centre walk on a Sunday?

Yes, in reverse. Start at the Casa de los Tiros at 9:00, as it closes at 15:00, take the Cuarto Real before 14:00, when it is free, the Corral del Carbón and the Royal Chapel from 11:30, and keep the Cathedral for after 15:00. The Madraza is shut.

Where does the walk start and finish?

It starts in Plaza Isabel la Católica and finishes in Plaza Nueva, 190 m apart, and both have bus stops. The old centre has no metro stop, so the minibuses and city buses are the way to the start and from the end.

Do I need to book anything for the walk?

Nothing has a timed slot. The Cathedral and the Royal Chapel sell tickets in the Archdiocese's shop at ticketsgranadacristiana.com, and the streets, the squares and the Corral del Carbón need no ticket.