LAS CASAS DE LORENZO, house rentals in Andalucia
ENGLISH.....ESPAÑOL.....FRANÇAIS
ADVICE ON GETTING YOUR RESERVATIONS FOR ENTRY TO THE ALHAMBRA PALACE IN GRANADA
For advance reservations, you must call (from Spain and Europe) 00 34 902 888 001 (from the US and Canada, dial 011 34 902 888 001) any day of the week from 8am to midnight European time, choose English language and speak to an operator. You will be given an identification code number to present at the Alhambra ticket office marked RESERVAS. Don't wait on the line with the folks who have not yet made a reservation. There are ticket punching machines but they are only for people who make their reservations within Spain and have a physical ticket with them.
You can also book through the site http://www.servicaixa.com and click on Alhambra at the bottom of the page. My advice is to use the phone, since the site is user-hostile and the English version can be confusing, not to say misleading. But don't despair - the Spanish make up for their complicated, rhetorical and high-flown way of stating things in writing with their very direct, helpful and patiently good-humoured way of saying them orally, even when their English isn't all that good!
However, remember - you must be there at least 90 minutes ahead of the time of your entrance to the Nasrid Palace. Although most visitors to the Alhambra are foreigners, most of the information explaining the ins and outs of getting tickets and using them is written in Spanish only, sometimes causing people to miss the most beautiful part of Granada's - perhaps Spain's - greatest monument, the Nasrid Palaces.
You will be given a 30 minute time-slot to enter the "inner sanctum" of the great citadel, known as the Nasrid Palaces, which is the restricted area. You should turn up at the main gate about 90 minutes before the time written on your ticket, so that you can explore the other parts of the citadel and get to the Nasrid Palaces on time - they are quite a walk from the main gate.
Do not accept a reservation for less than 1 hour before closing time (which varies from winter to summer) because you need at least 45 minutes to see the Nasrid Palaces properly. The Alhambra closes at 6pm from November to February, and at 8pm from March to October, so in winter try to get a ticket for 5pm at latest, and the rest of the year for 7pm at latest.
The cost is 13 euros per person. Children under 12 years of age don't pay, but you must request a free admission for them when you reserve.
Once you are inside the Nasrid Palaces you can effectively stay as long as you want, but you must enter within the 30 minute slot shown on the ticket.
The Nasrid Palaces are small and fragile constructions, and to minimize wear-and-tear the number of people entering them is restricted to 350 per half an hour, which means that a maximum of 8,000 people per day can enter the Alhambra. And you will see many more foreigners in the Alhambra than down in the city, because most of them are day-trippers who come up on package tours from the Costa del Sol. The result is that the unpreprared may have to wait on line at the ticket office, sometimes for hours, and then either find that they cannot enter the Nasrid Palaces until later in the day, or that they cannot enter at all (mercifully, this information is broadcast in several languages on loudspeakers, when the palace is full).
In this last case, don't try to buy tickets for the next day at the palace gate, because the Alhambra ticket office only sells same-day entrances. You can go to any bank of "La Caixa", just line up at any teller's booth and buy them there. You will find several outlets of La Caixa in downtown Granada. It might be faster and easier, though, to call the reservations office at 902 888 001 and do it over the phone.
You can only reserve three months in advance, so if you want to see the Palace on 15 July, call them on 15 April or later (but not much later!). No refunds are given if you decide to change your dates.
The Nasrid Palaces also open every night (with artificial lighting) except Sunday and Monday from March to October. The "visita nocturna" has a charm of its own and the crowds are usually much thinner than during the day. You should either buy in advance or get on line at 9.30 pm (the Alhambra re-opens at 10pm). If the first 30 minute time slot is taken, you will be sold the 10.30 to 11.00 pm time slot, but since they close at 11.30, this means you must enter at 10.30 sharp to have at least an hour inside, otherwise you will be thrown out before you have seen everything. The night time visit does not allow you to see the Alcazaba (military fortress, which has fantastic views over the city) so it should be thought of as a supplement to the day time visit.
WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS... if you are told that there are no more reservations available for the day of your visit, the only thing to do is go to the Alhambra ticket office very early in the morning and buy one in person. A certain number of tickets are set aside for "same-day sale", but you must be there at 8am or even earlier since the line can get very long, especially in August, Easter and end-of-year. I would suggest 7am, just to play it safe. You may not be given tickets for immediate entry but have to wait until the afternoon for your reserved admission to the Nasrid Palaces. In this case, spend the morning touring Granada and come back at least one hour before the time shown on your ticket.
visit the Casas de Lorenzo in Montefrio
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GRANADA, CITY OF MY DREAMS, a book for the curious traveller, written and illustrated by Lorenzo Bohme and published by Editorial Natívola (2003) is now in its 3rd edition. To read about it and Nativola's other publications, click here. |
Visit Lorenzo's website relating his travels in France and richly illustrated with his own photographs. The site includes Lorenzo's pen-and-ink postcards of Paris and Provence. Click on www.french-places.com