Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Granada
From the cathedral to the Alhambra in six hours
The royal tombs, the cathedral, the old silk market, a Nasrid merchants' inn, lunch in the Realejo and the palaces on the hill.
Granada after 1492 built its Christian monuments in the flat town below the Alhambra, and this route starts among them, at the tombs of the monarchs who took the city. It then crosses the old Moorish trading quarter, stops for lunch in the Realejo and climbs to the Alhambra for the afternoon. Book the Nasrid Palaces for an afternoon time slot before you set out; it is the one part of the day you cannot move.
The route, stop by stop
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Capilla Real
The chapel Ferdinand and Isabella built for their own burial; they lie in lead coffins in the crypt under marble effigies. The sacristy museum holds Isabella's crown and sceptre and her collection of Flemish paintings.
30 min here Walk here → -
Catedral de Granada
Begun as a Gothic church in 1523 and finished as a Renaissance one by Diego de Siloé, with a white interior and a gilded main chapel. The façade is the work of the painter and sculptor Alonso Cano.
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Alcaicería
The Moorish silk market, rebuilt in a neo-Moorish style after a fire in 1843. Today it is a few narrow lanes of lamps, tea sets and souvenirs.
15 min here Walk here → -
Corral del Carbón
A fourteenth-century Nasrid inn for merchants and their goods, the only one of its kind in Spain to survive whole. The courtyard behind the carved horseshoe arch is free to enter.
15 min here Walk here → -
Campo del Príncipe
The main square of the Realejo, the old Jewish quarter, lined with tapas bars under the trees. It was laid out for the celebrations of the wedding of Prince Juan, the Catholic Monarchs' son, in 1497.
40 min here Walk here → -
Alhambra
The Nasrid palace-city on the Sabika hill: the Alcazaba, the Nasrid Palaces, the Palace of Charles V and the Generalife gardens. Arrive at the Nasrid Palaces on your ticket's time; entry is refused after the slot.
More walks in Granada
More in Granada
Every walking route in Granada, the full Granada guide for where to stay and what a day costs, or walks in other cities.