Your decisive guide for exploring Granada’s Gem with the family, so you can all enjoy a great day out. Visiting the Alhambra with kids is totally doable – just be prepared with these hints and tips.
If you’re visiting Andalucia, Spain’s sunshine coast, then visiting the Alhambra with kids needs to be right at the top of your Spanish travel bucket list! We recently packed up our snacks, entertainment and sense of adventure and set out to explore this UNESCO World Heritage wonder. We missed out 11 years ago when we visited, so the expectation was high. It was every bit as enchanting as we’d hoped. Here’s everything we wish we’d known before visiting the Alhambra with kids, from tickets to parking to those all important snacks.
Getting There: Parking and Bus Tips
The Alhambra sits atop a hill overlooking Granada and offers a dedicated car park just a short and mostly shaded! stroll from the main entrance. The car park is well signposted, divided into 4 zones, and costs around €2.80 per hour. For families, arriving early means you’ll nab a spot close to the ticket office, just a 5 minute walk away.
If you don’t have a car then the city’s bright red minibuses (C30 and C32 lines) run regularly from central Granada to the Alhambra entrance, and return. Tickets cost about €1.40 per person each way and kids under four usually travel for free. The buses drop you right by the main gate, perfect for skipping any uphill complaints!
Tickets and Timed Entry—Don’t Get Caught Out!
Buying tickets
Here’s the golden rule when visiting the Alhambra with kids: Book your tickets as soon as you know your dates! We booked ours in April for a visit in July and there were already days unavailable. There are 3 main ticket types: The full package (including the palace, Alcazaba and General Life), just the Alcazaba and Gardens or an evening, twilight ticket if you prefer a cooler evening stroll. Entry to the Nasrid Palaces is strictly timed and often sells out weeks in advance, especially during school holidays and weekends.
There are many official website offering tickets, most of which include a guide, but with kids we’re not sure that is always needed – and the extra 80-100 euros for a family made the decision for is. For just normal tickets without any sort of guide, this is the website you need. Get your non-guided Alhambra tickets here. You will need your passport details to book your tickets.
Ticket prices
Standard tickets (including the Nasrid Palaces, the Alcazaba, and the Generalife gardens) are around €19 for adults and €12 for children aged 12–15, while kids under 12 enter free, but still need a ticket reserved for their time slot.
Times and timed entry
You’ll be asked to select a specific entry time for the Nasrid Palaces when booking. Arrive at least 15 minutes before your slot as late arrivals may not be admitted, and it’s a good 15 minute walk from the entrance to the palace itself where you join the queue. The entire site is open from 8:30 am to 8:00 pm (April–October), or until 6:00 pm in the winter months. Morning visits are usually quieter and cooler, ideal for families visiting the Alhambra with kids in tow.
Don’t forget your passport!
When you arrive head to the ticket office where you will swap your online digital ticket for your paper versions. REMEMBER your passport! You actually have to show your passport with your ticket at various entry and exit points so keep it safe but handy.
Exploring the Alhambra: Three Different Areas
There’s so much to see when visiting the Alhambra with kids, but it’s easy to focus your adventure around its three main areas. In fact, I can’t imagine little legs or brains allowing you to do more than that – we only managed two of the three core areas.
The Nasrid Palaces: A Fairytale Come True
We headed to the Nasrid palace first with a timed ticket entry of 8.30, and we had to queue for around 10 minutes. The Nasrid Palaces, the highlight for architecture lovers and history buffs alike. Delicate stucco work, brightly tiled courtyards, and magical reflecting pools make this a feast for the senses. There’s a strict one-way route and it is busy, especially at key photo points. Encourage little ones to spot lions, stars, and Arabic scripts hidden in the decorations. It is stunning – there’s no doubt about it.
However, Nyle in particular found this section quite overwhelming as it was busy, so he and I sped ahead to escape the crowds whilst Alicia and Stef explored slower. Alicia was even making little notes as she walked around. She was quite taken by it all.
If you do have a little one getting restless, there is one section towards the end which is like cave tunnels and they can run around, and there are also a few gardens where they can escape the line of people and stretch their legs a bit more. There is also a wooden walkway with stunning views over Granada where everyone is trying to get a photo. Skip this one and head down the stairs at the end where you essentially have the same view as you walk back on yourself – and everyone is stood upstairs above you!
The Alcazaba: Castles, Towers, and Incredible Views
Next up is the Alcazaba, the oldest part of the complex and a real-life fortress dream. It is located next to the entrance to the Palace. Kids can clamber up ancient towers, peer through arrow slits, and pretend to spot invaders. We had quite a few conversations about why castles are built like they are. For the adults, the views over Granada are breathtaking. With younger children, keep an eye on steep steps and high walls, but the sheer scale of this castle will set their imaginations racing.
There’s also a few areas where there are steps leading down (there’s a bolted gate so they can’t escape) and the walls offer some shade and sun relief. The tower at the end offers amazing views of Granada. Climbing the steps took about 1 minute – it’s a winding staircase and the steps are all different heights so very small children may struggle. At the top it is very safe with a large area, the walls are high enough to prevent height-anxiety and the views are awesome!
Generalife: The Garden of Life
Finally, the Generalife gardens (also known as the Garden of Life) offer a peaceful, green oasis perfect for a family pause. Kids can run along shaded walkways, listen to bubbling fountains, and enjoy the scent of roses and orange blossoms. This is actually the first area you come to from the ticket office but we recommend leaving it until the end and seeing how much stamina everyone has left – ours didn’t have a lot! The snippet we did see was beautiful though and so if you can spend 30 minutes here before heading home, I imagine it is well worth it.
Handy Extra Practical Tips for Families
- Strollers: Pushchairs are allowed in the gardens, but not in the Nasrid Palaces. A lightweight carrier is handy for little ones. There are a lot of steps around the palaces so keep hold of them.
- Facilities: There are toilets, a café, and picnic spots near the main entrance and throughout the gardens—bring plenty of water and snacks. There are free water fountains scattered around, and from one kiosk 4 ice creams, 2 cans and a coffee only cost us 12 euros which I thought was good. They also sell sandwiches, beers and even a G&T! There is one located between the Palace and the Alcazaba. There are also vending machines scattered around the site, mainly near the toilets.
- Picnics: There are some areas of the site where eating is strictly prohibited so stopping for picnics near the food kiosks is probably your safest bet.
- What to carry: Small rucksacks are allowed in, but around the palace you HAVE to carry them on your front rather than your back. I would suggest not packing the entire world in your backpack for this reason!
- Souvenirs: The gift shop offers cute keepsakes, including knight costumes and miniature palace models to keep the Alhambra magic alive long after you leave. There’s several shops around the site, the most prominent being as you exit from the Alcazaba. Swerve left to the ice cream kiosk if you want to avoid it.
- Attention span: to a near-7 year old, this place wasn’t quite doing it for him. I would suggest having some small toys they can hold in their hands as a distraction and something to entertain them with – obviously Nyle went with cars!
- Go early – avoid the crowds and the heat. by 11am when we had already done the Palace and the Alcazaba the queues were long, it was much busier and it was so much hotter! I’m glad we missed all of that.
Final Thoughts on Visiting the Alhambra with Kids
Visiting the Alhambra with kids is so much more than a tick on the sightseeing list—it’s an opportunity to enjoy architectural wonder, to climb castle walls, and to walk in the footsteps of sultans and queens. With a little planning, your family adventure can be smooth and fun.
