The Alhambra ticket you want is the daytime “General” visit with the Nasrid Palaces: €21 at the public rate, €22.27 online. As of 6 October 2026, the palaces admit 300 people every half hour, the ticket carries your name and a fixed time, and anyone who misses it stays outside. When the official calendar is grey, you are left with guided tours that include a ticket, or the night-plus-gardens combination. Here is what else gets booked ahead in Andalusia (Alcázar, cathedral, Mezquita, flamenco) and what to check before you pay.
The essentials before you book (as of 6 October 2026)
In Andalusia, four places reward planning ahead: the Alhambra in Granada, the Alcázar and the cathedral in Seville, and the Mezquita in Córdoba. These are the numbers to know:
- €21 rate, €22.27 online for the Alhambra “General” (Nasrid Palaces, Generalife, Alcazaba). The €1.27 difference is the online booking fee.
- 300 people every half hour are admitted to the Nasrid Palaces. Your ticket shows the time.
- Your name is on the ticket. The original ID card or passport is checked at the entrance (expatandalucia.com).
- At most 10 tickets per person per month on the official shop (exploregranada.org).
- €15.50 for the Real Alcázar in Seville, €13 for the cathedral with the Giralda (online), €15 for the Mezquita in Córdoba.
- €45 for a flamenco show with a drink at Tablao El Arenal in Seville (tax not included).
Every figure comes from pages we read on 6 October 2026. Prices move: read them as a dated reading, not as an offer.
Alhambra tickets: prices and what each one includes
The Alhambra sells several tickets, and only one opens the Nasrid Palaces, the most famous part. The rates come from the Junta de Andalucía public price list (order of 17 July 2025); the online prices from lovegranada.com (page of 30 June 2026), cross-checked against expatandalucia.com (28 September 2026).
| Ticket | Rate | Online | What it includes |
|---|---|---|---|
| General (daytime visit) | €21 | €22.27 | Nasrid Palaces with a slot, Generalife, Alcazaba |
| Gardens, Generalife, Alcazaba | €12 | €12.73 | no palaces |
| Night visit, Nasrid Palaces | €12 | €12.73 | the palaces only, in the evening |
| Night visit, Generalife | €8 | €8.48 | the gardens only, in the evening |
| Alhambra Experiences | €21 | €22.27 | two appointments on two consecutive days: palaces at night, Alcazaba and Generalife by day |
Between the “General” and “gardens only” there is, online, 22.27 − 12.73 = €9.54: that is the price of the palaces. The reduced daytime rate (€14) applies, according to the Junta, to EU seniors from 65, European Youth Card holders, ages 12 to 15, large families and people with a disability of 33% or more. Under-12s are free but, per lovegranada.com, must be entered in the purchase: two adults and two small children pay 2 × 22.27 = €44.54.
Name, slot, quota: the rules that cost you entry
The Nasrid Palaces are the most tightly controlled part. The Patronato’s visiting rules (text from 2008, amended in 2010) set passes every half hour, 300 tickets per pass, and let the Patronato refuse anyone who turns up after the printed time. expatandalucia.com (28 September 2026) gives the same figure and adds: no tolerance in minutes is published.
- Be at the palaces checkpoint on time. What counts is the palaces control, not the main gate of the site (exploregranada.org, 4 September 2026). Missing your slot means no refund.
- Original ID. The ticket is “nominative, personal and non-transferable” (expatandalucia.com). A name change up to the day before is cited by that source alone: check it in the shop.
- No cancellation. Purchases on the official shop are final according to expatandalucia.com.
- Collect early. If a ticket has to be collected, the Patronato’s rules ask for at least one hour before the palaces slot.
- No street sales. The rules forbid selling or reselling tickets on the street.
When do sales open? The sources disagree: lovegranada.com (13 September 2026) and exploregranada.org (4 September 2026) say up to three months ahead, expatandalucia.com (28 September 2026) says a year. The official shop’s calendar settles it; its pages could not be opened by an automated tool on 6 October 2026. To fit the Alhambra into a week, see the one-week Andalusia road trip itinerary.
Sold out? Options from the night visit to a tour with a ticket
A grey calendar does not mean the Alhambra is lost. According to expatandalucia.com, guided-tour organisers hold their own allocations.
- A tour or ticket from an organiser. The search results of 6 October 2026 show several Alhambra listings on GetYourGuide, including “Alhambra and Nasrid Palaces Entry Ticket” and “Alhambra and Nasrid Palaces Tour with Tickets”. Read the title closely: there are also tours “without Tickets”, where only the guided visit is booked and entry is missing.
- The price gap. exploregranada.org (4 September 2026) puts the daytime entry through GetYourGuide at €24.59: 24.59 − 22.27 = €2.32, about 10% more than on the official shop. Guided tours there cost €40 to €60 per person. We could not open the listing pages themselves: compare the price on the listing.
- Cancellation. Terms differ by listing: some show “Free cancellation” up to 24 hours before or “Reserve now & pay later” in the search results, others a partial refund or none; on the official shop, purchases are final. A generous window helps if your dates are not fixed: read it on the listing.
- The combination. The night visit to the palaces (€12.73) plus the daytime gardens (€12.73) come to €25.46, which is €3.19 more than the “General”. “Alhambra Experiences” (€22.27) bundles night and day at the price of the “General”, spread over two consecutive days.
To compare Alhambra tickets, guided tours and flamenco shows, search “Alhambra” on the Spain page of GetYourGuide.
Seville and Córdoba: Alcázar, cathedral, Mezquita
These three sites sell their own tickets. A guided tour makes sense if you want a guide: entry, time and meeting point are then in one booking.
| Site | Price | Hours and notes |
|---|---|---|
| Real Alcázar, Seville | €15.50 (Cuarto Real Alto +€5.50) | Oct–Mar 9:30–17:00, Apr–Sep 9:30–19:00; online or at the Patio de Banderas ticket office (from 9:00, card only); no refunds |
| Cathedral and Giralda, Seville | €13 online, €14 at the office | Mon–Sat 10:45–19:00, Sun 14:30–19:00; about 75 minutes; prices since 1 January 2026 |
| Mosque-Cathedral, Córdoba | €15 | 10:00–19:00 in early October; Mon–Sat 8:30–9:30 free; night visit “El Alma de Córdoba” €25 |
Alcázar. The official page mentions neither a time slot nor a quota. The ticketing platform did list, on 6 October 2026, a “Lunes Gratuito” (free Monday) visit, the 2026 theatrical night visits and the archaeological crypt, all three shown as sold out: special formats go fast. The standard ticket is sold online or at the office. To sleep within walking distance of the Alcázar and the cathedral, read where to stay in Seville: the neighbourhoods.
Cathedral. The Giralda is part of the visit; entry is free on Sundays from 16:30 to 18:00, with limited capacity. The page says services can change the hours without notice.
Mezquita. The free hour from Monday to Saturday, 8:30 to 9:30, excludes groups. Last entry is half an hour before closing, after which no more tickets are sold. For the evening, “El Alma de Córdoba” has two departures a day on the official page, at 21:30 and 22:30 (times vary with the season).
Flamenco: where, how much, when to book
UNESCO inscribed flamenco on its intangible heritage list in 2010: an art of song, dance and guitar that began in Andalusia. You see it in the evening, in a tablao.
Tablao El Arenal in Seville gives a one-hour show and lists three packages: €45 with a drink, €71 with tapas, €86 with dinner. For the first two the page says “Tax not included”; the dinner package carries no tax note. Photos and video are banned during the show, and booking is online. In Granada, Cueva de la Rocío in the Sacromonte (Camino del Sacromonte 70) lists shows at 20:00, 21:00, 22:00 and 23:00; its page shows no price.
Plan the show for the evening after a day of sightseeing, and book online as soon as your date is fixed.
Distances and a day’s budget
Seville, Córdoba and Granada link up by train. Rome2Rio gives, as estimates on 6 October 2026: Seville–Córdoba 140 km, train 44 minutes (€10 to €35); Córdoba–Granada 161 km, train 1 h 47 (€28 to €60), bus 2 h 45 (€15 to €25); Seville–Granada 238 km, train 2 h 38 (€40 to €65), bus 3 h (€20 to €50).
For one adult’s entries alone: Alhambra €22.27 + Alcázar €15.50 + Mezquita €15 + cathedral €13 = €65.77, and €110.77 with a €45 flamenco show, before transport, meals and hotel. What a whole week costs is worked out in the one-week Spain trip budget. According to expatandalucia.com the Alhambra closes at 20:00 in summer and 18:00 in winter; to choose a season, see when to visit Andalusia to avoid the heat. And if you have time between two cities: the most beautiful white villages of Andalusia.
The traps and how to avoid them
- A ticket without the palaces. “Gardens, Generalife, Alcazaba” is cheaper but does not open the most famous part. lovegranada.com advises checking before you buy that the Nasrid Palaces are included.
- A tour “without Tickets”. The guide is booked, entry is not. Look for “with Tickets” in the title.
- A middleman’s markup. exploregranada.org cites 15 to 30% on guided products and about 10% on bare tickets. It does not buy faster entry.
- The wrong gate, the wrong time. At the palaces checkpoint, the printed time is what counts. Allow for the walk from the car park or bus stop.
- A name or ID that does not match. Write the name as on the passport and list every traveller, children under 12 included.
Can you trust the organiser? On Trustpilot, GetYourGuide stands on 6 October 2026 at 3.9 out of 5 with more than 56,600 reviews, 68% of them five-star and 19% one-star. That is not a top score: recent criticism concerns tours cancelled by the organiser, refunds, customer service and the wrong type of ticket. Hence your checklist: read the cancellation terms, read “with Tickets” in the title, keep the confirmation and the meeting point.
Before you pay: the checks
Every point can be read on the listing or in the confirmation:
- Does the listing expressly include the Nasrid Palaces and entry (“with Tickets”)?
- Is the palaces slot shown on the listing, and does it suit your bus or train arrival?
- Do the names and their spelling match the passport, and is every traveller entered, children under 12 included?
- What cancellation window is written, for example “Free cancellation” up to 24 hours before? Or is the purchase final?
- How far does the price sit above the official shop’s €22.27? At exploregranada.org the gap was €2.32 for the bare daytime entry. Is a booking fee added?
- Are the meeting point, the time and the language of the guided tour stated?
If the answers add up, you can open the listing that matches your date. The closer the date, the fewer slots remain: book the Alhambra first, then the hotel and the train.
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