How to Visit Granada
We are lucky enough to live just one-hour from Granada, so we’ve been able to visit the historical and wonderful city on several occasions. As a result, we’ve been able to come up with a dialed-in tour of the city. If you’re planning a trip to Granada and wonder how to experience this marvelous city, then read on!
A pro-tip: we recommend downloading the Google map of Granada before your trip and marking each of the locations we link to on your map. You might find delight by how some things fit together!
Also don’t forget to check out our highlights about Granada on Instagram to see some of what we mention here!
The Alhambra is perhaps Granada’s most iconic historical landmark, and no trip to Granada would be complete without at least viewing it. After all, it is among the most beautiful castles in Europe. So let’s start our tour with a viewing! There is a neighborhood in Granada called Sacromonte, which sits on a hillside opposite of a chasm to the Alhambra, and simply wandering around the neighborhood will afford you multiple views of the castle. Our favorite view is at Mirador de San Nicolás. We recommend going at sunset to enjoy an even more breathtaking view and possibly one or two street guitarists.
Besides the incredible scenery, Sacromonte is low-key home to a series of caves in which homes, hotels, and restaurants have been built, like you do with caves. During our first visit to Granada, we stayed in an Airbnb that was itself a cave! While you’re there, don’t pass up the opportunity to book an unforgettable flamenco show at Cueva La Rocio; a free drink of your choice is included in your ticket price!
Sacromonte is roughly a 15-20 minute walk to our next destination, Calle Calderería Nueva, so you can use it to marvel at the Alhambra and find myriad photo opportunities. Don’t fill up your Google Drive full of photos just yet however, as you’ll want to take… *checks McGreene Google Drive* …thousands more, beginning with when you arrive at Calle Calderería Nueva, a narrow walking street lined with the most colorful shops and restaurants imaginable. It is easy to lose oneself dipping in and out of shops and taking a break at one of the many tea shops, but we can’t stop here forever! After you pick yourself up a new dress or sweater, make your way down the street and to the left, to yet another of Granada’s gems: Bar La Riviera.
Before now, I’ve yet to touch on one of Granada’s most delightful features: the tapas. You see, many, many places in Spain sell tapas, but there are a few cities in which it is common practice for restaurants to give you tapas. Like, for free, when you order a cold drink. Bar La Riviera is one such restaurant, which on its own probably sells you on it to visit. But the crazy part is that Bar La Riviera’s tapas are, in a word, huge. One is literally an entire hamburger, and you can even pick which tapa you would like.
Now that you have a moment to sit down and digest, it is the perfect chance to bring up Granada’s handy-for-tourists Hop-on, Hop-off Train, a set of trains that take a repeated loop around the city, stopping at or near many of the locations we’ve already touched on and will touch on! Bring your own plug-in earbuds or purchase some for about 1€ to hear the history of all the stops along the way. On our first trip to Granada, we got tickets to the train as mode of transport, which worked wonders, as the train not only stops at key historical locations, but traverses most of the city, so odds are good that you’ll be able to find a stop a reasonable distance from where you are staying!
Whether you decide to take the street train for a loop around the city or want to continue on foot, you can move on to one of the most unforgettable sites that Granada has to offer: the Basílica de San Juan de Dios. The sights you will experience there are literally stunning. Feel free to look up photos of the place beforehand, but no set of photos truly prepared me for this basilica’s tear-inducing beauty, which we learned from our audio guide is by design, as the basilica was built and decorated the way it is specifically to evoke emotion from its visitors, and even after 264 years, we can attest to its success.
Since you may need a few moments to emotionally reset after the Basílica de San Juan de Dios, why not go to a park? You can walk, bus, taxi, or take the Hop-on, Hop-off Train to the Parque Federico García Lorca, a beautiful outdoor space complete with a café and playground space for the kids, the perfect place to unwind and take a break from your busy day.
So there you have it! Granada has a lot to offer visitors. As a final note, some of these locations are discoveries we ourselves made by simply wandering the city and letting ourselves get a certain measure of lost. In short, follow your curiosity. You might find delight and be able to share some kindness in the end!
