A trip to Granada: Places to visit in the Spanish City - Part one

Granada is a Spanish city rich in history and beautiful sights, so here is a little recap of our trip to Granada, Spain, along with the sights you can explore.

Last month, I took a trip to Granada, Spain, with my sister. It was our first holiday abroad in a good few years, and it was our first proper city break.

We first discovered Granada when my sister lived there for her year abroad back in 2019. Back then, I was only able to visit for three days, but I've always wanted to go back and explore more of the city.

Here is a little recap of our trip to Granada, and the different sites that you can visit in the Spanish City. This will be part one of the guide, as the next instalment will focus solely on La Alhambra.

A trip to Granada

My sister and I visited Granada for six nights, Monday to Sunday. We chose those dates because they were the best flights – an early flight on the Monday and a late flight on the Sunday, which allowed us to have the most time in the city.

Across the seven days, we managed to pack lots of exploring and activities into our itinerary, and whilst it was tiring, we are so glad we saw everything we wanted to see and more.

As we visited lots of sights, I'll break this guide down into the different days and what we did.

Monday - Centro

Once we'd landed at Malaga, my sister and I headed to our hotel via a holiday taxi and unpacked. Then we changed into shorts because the Granada weather was already in the late 20s, and headed out.

Our first day was spent exploring the area around our hotel, finding out where the nearest Carrefour was. We also revisited places my sister spent time at during her year abroad.

So, we headed to Plaza de Bib-Rambla, which has lots of restaurants in the square. We went to La Cueva de 1900 for a glass of Tinto de Verano and a plate of tapas.

Then we headed past El Corte Inglés (a department store) towards Fuente de Las Granadas. After seeing the accommodation where my sister lived, we walked along the Rio Genil, which was a lovely stroll in the Spanish sunshine.

For dinner that evening, we headed back to Calle Navas, the street where our hotel was located, and stopped at Casa José Ristaurante for a lovely dinner.

Tuesday - Albaicín and Flamenco

For our first full day in the city, we headed up towards the Albaicín and Sacramonte. We wanted to explore this region before our flamenco show later that evening.

We set out along Carrera del Darro, walking past the Real Chancillería (Royal Chancellery of Granada) until we came to Kubik Coffee. We stopped here for breakfast and had a tostada con mermelada de fresa y melecotón.

After that, we kept on walking up the hilly streets of the Albaicín and exploring more of the area. We walked down street after street, stopping at a café for a cold drink before popping into some of the different shops and cafés along Calle Panaderos.

One thing on my Spanish bucket list was to visit one of the lookout points within the Albaicín. There are quite a few of these lookout points across Granada, but the one my sister and I went to was El Mirador de San Nicolás.

This had absolutely stunning views of La Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada too.

Credit: WriteWatchWork

Afterwards, we headed back down to the centre of Granada, grabbing an ice cream on the way, and got ready for our flamenco show. There are quite a few different flamenco shows you can see, but the one we chose and the one I'd recommend is Cueva los Amayas.

This flamenco show is up in Sacramonte and takes place within a cave. The dancers literally perform less than a metre in front of you, and you can even buy a ticket to have a drink during the show — tickets can be purchased here.

It was a spectacular show to watch, and I'm so glad that we saw it.

We then got a taxi back to El Mirador de San Nicolás and had dinner at El Balcón de San Nicolás, looking out over the city and La Alhambra.

Wednesday

On the Wednesday, my sister and I took it a bit slower. We went for a walk to El Parque de Federico García Lorca – the famous Spanish writer.

I, in particular, wanted to visit this park because I had studied Lorca at A-Level. Whilst there, my sister and I explored the gardens and sat by the pond, looking out as the ducks waded in the water.

We then headed for the different university campuses, which my sister visited back in 2019. Whilst Granada University is a city uni, there are different campuses across the city dedicated to different areas of study.

First up was Facultad de Ciencias – the science faculty. Then we went to the E.T.S. Ingenieria de Caminos Canales y Puertos building, which I believe is the architectural/engineering building.

Next up, heading back towards the centre, we went to Facultad de Traducción e Interpretación, where my sister had her classes as she studied translation and modern languages.

Of course, we couldn't not visit the bookstore near the faculty – Librerías Picasso – and then we stopped for dinner and churros at Alhambra Churrería at Plaza de Bib-Rambla.

Thursday

The fourth day of our trip, my sister and I spent the day at La Alhambra - the royal palace and fortress within Granada. The UNESCO World Heritage Site is breathtaking and deserves a whole blog on it, so for now, continue to read on for more about my trip to Granada and come back next week to hear more about La Alhambra.

Friday

We had an early start on Friday as we needed to get to the Granada bus station for 9am to catch our bus to the Sierra Nevada – the mountain range/national park in Granada.

After the 45-minute journey to the Sierra Nevada on the coach, we landed in the mountains. We arrived at the tourist area, where in the winter months it is full of ski activity, only to find that in the middle of May, it was pretty much a ghost town at 10:30 in the morning.

However, after a little exploring, we found a local café to have breakfast at. We then found some toilets in the underground parking – it felt a bit like a horror movie until the sensor lights turned on – before heading up into the mountains.

My sister and I managed to find a little path onto the mountains, and were able to take photos of the stunning views of the Sierra Nevada, which still had some snow, and got some selfies too.

Credit: WriteWatchWork

In the heat, we desperately needed more drink and food, so we headed back to the original café we found earlier for lunch. It was then that we saw another Bistro open and serving customers, so we went there for another drink before catching our coach back to the city.

That evening, we decided to have dinner along Calle Navas again and this time we ate at Perremedio before heading to Plaza de la Trinidad for an ice cream.

Saturday

As Saturday was our final full day, we decided to take it easy. We began by having breakfast at Starbucks before visiting La Catedral. We then had lunch at Puerta Bernina, having another tostado con pavo (turkey baguette).

In Granada, there is also the Granada City Tour train. We hopped on the train outside Puerta Bernina along Calle Alhóndiga and stayed on it all the way round, seeing sites like La Alhambra, El Mirador de San Cristobal, and more.

After heading back to the bookstore to buy a book, we had dinner at Gallio in Plaza de Bib-Rambla, during which we saw a rap battle, and then had churros at Gran Café Bib-Rambla.

Sunday - Departure Day

Sunday was our final day in Granada, so we had a slow morning. We had breakfast at our hotel, and then took a stroll to Puerta Bernina for lunch and then an ice cream before our taxi picked us up to take us to the airport.

Part Two: La Alhambra

As mentioned above, Thursday was spent at La Alhambra. Because there is so much to see at La Alhambra, and information to share, I will be sharing a part two to my guide/recap about Granada, focusing solely on the royal palace and fortress.

If you're interested in history or would like to visit Granada, make sure to subscribe to receive an email when part two is published.

Until next time, or as the Spanish say:

Hasta luego...