Granada in 2 days, on foot

This 2-day self-guided walking plan for Granada covers 25 narrated sights in an easy day-by-day order. Each day is split into a morning and an afternoon loop, and every stop has a two to three minute audio story in the Gingerguide app.

You set the pace: this is a suggested order, not a schedule. Walk it in 2 days, or stretch it out. Reorder freely; Granada rewards a detour.

Day 1

Morning

1. Alhambra Palace: The most visited monument in Spain, a UNESCO World Heritage Moorish palace of incomparable beauty, where the last Muslim rulers of al-Andalus created the finest Islamic architecture in the Western world.
2. Generalife Gardens: The summer palace and gardens of the Nasrid sultans, terraced gardens of roses and cypress trees, fountains and water channels, overlooking the Alhambra and the city of Granada below.
3. Albaicín: The ancient Moorish quarter of Granada, a hillside labyrinth of white-walled houses, carmenes (walled gardens), and narrow cobbled lanes facing the Alhambra across the Darro valley.
4. Sacromonte: Granada's flamenco heartland, a hillside of cave homes above the Albaicín, inhabited since medieval times by the gitano community who created the Zambra style of flamenco unique to Granada.
5. Granada Cathedral: A magnificent Renaissance cathedral begun in 1523 on the site of the Great Mosque of Granada, with one of the finest Renaissance interiors in Spain and the attached Royal Chapel housing the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella.
6. Nasrid Palaces: The royal apartments of the Nasrid sultans within the Alhambra, three interconnected palaces of extraordinary refinement: the Mexuar audience hall, the Comares throne room with its soaring tower, and the intimate Court of the Lions.
7. Alcazaba: The oldest part of the Alhambra, a 9th-century military citadel whose towers offer the finest panoramic views over Granada, the surrounding plain, and the snow-capped Sierra Nevada beyond.

Afternoon

1. Mirador de San Nicolás: The most celebrated viewpoint in Granada, a hilltop terrace in the Albaicín from which the full length of the Alhambra is seen against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada, most beautiful at sunset.
2. Carrera del Darro: The most picturesque street in Granada, a riverside promenade running along the Darro River between the city centre and the Albaicín, with the Alhambra rising on the hill directly above.
3. Royal Chapel of Granada: The funerary chapel of Ferdinand and Isabella, founders of unified Spain, a Gothic masterpiece attached to Granada Cathedral containing the tombs, royal regalia, and personal art collection of the Catholic Monarchs.
4. Alcaicería: The ancient silk market of Moorish Granada, a labyrinth of tiny shops selling ceramics, textiles, and crafts, rebuilt in the 19th century on the footprint of the original Nasrid bazaar destroyed by fire in 1843.
5. Palace of Charles V: A monumental Renaissance palace built inside the Alhambra complex by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, notable for its unique circular courtyard, one of the most original architectural ideas of the Spanish Renaissance.
6. Paseo de los Tristes: A broad plaza at the bend of the Darro River, backed by the cliffs of the Alhambra hill, where funeral processions once gathered, now Granada's most atmospheric outdoor café terrace facing directly up to the red palace walls above.

Day 2

Morning

1. Monastery of San Jerónimo: A magnificent 16th-century Renaissance monastery, the first built in Granada after the Christian reconquest, containing the tombs of the Great Captain Gonzalo de Córdoba and his wife, with a gilded interior rivalling any church in Spain.
2. Monastery of La Cartuja: The most extreme Baroque interior in Spain, a former Carthusian monastery whose sacristy achieves an intensity of decorative ornament so dense it seems to deny the existence of bare wall, ceiling, or flat surface.
3. Calle Calderería Nueva: The Tea Street of Granada, a narrow lane linking the Cathedral quarter to the Albaicín, lined with Moroccan tea houses (teterías), spice shops, and craft stalls that preserve something of the Moorish commercial character of the old city.
4. Plaza Bib-Rambla: The historic heart of central Granada, a broad flower-filled plaza surrounded by café terraces, just off the Cathedral, where the city's public life has centred for over 500 years on the site of the original Moorish market.
5. Silla del Moro: A ruined Nasrid watchtower on the hill above the Generalife, an uphill hike rewarded with the finest panoramic view of the entire Alhambra, city, and Sierra Nevada, away from the main tourist crowds.
6. Carmen de los Mártires: A romantic 19th-century garden on the Alhambra hill featuring ponds, fountains, peacocks, and sweeping views over Granada, a free public park that most visitors miss while queuing for the Alhambra nearby.

Afternoon

1. Parque de las Ciencias: Andalusia's largest science museum and interactive technology park, a world-class educational attraction with a planetarium, butterfly vivarium, observation tower, and dozens of hands-on exhibits covering space, biology, and physics.
2. Huerta de San Vicente: The summer house of Federico García Lorca, preserved as a museum, a modest 1920s villa surrounded by a garden where the poet wrote Blood Wedding and Yerma while living with his family in the summers before his murder in 1936.
3. El Realejo: The former Jewish quarter of Granada at the foot of the Alhambra hill, a quiet neighbourhood of whitewashed houses and hidden gardens, now home to tapas bars, antique shops, and the characteristic cármenes of the Alhambra slopes.
4. La Madraza: The Nasrid royal college built in 1349, the first university in the Iberian Peninsula, its Arabic prayer hall survives with exceptional tilework and plasterwork, concealed behind a later Baroque façade just opposite the Royal Chapel.
5. Alhambra Forest: The ancient woodland surrounding the Alhambra palace, planted by the Nasrid sultans using a mountain irrigation system, now a cool green refuge of elms, poplars, and oaks offering peaceful walks with Alhambra views.
6. Plaza Nueva: The principal public square of central Granada at the junction of the Darro and the main city, the starting point for all excursions to the Alhambra and Albaicín, with the Royal Chancery building and a lively terrace café culture.

Full Granada guide and all stops → · Other itineraries: 3 days