Secrets of the Alhambra: ticketing, crowds and alternative entry options

There is one vital piece of information that neither travel writers, web sites or Trip Advisor reviews seem to get across about tourism in Granada: Getting tickets to see the Nasrid palaces within the Alhambra is as challenging as snagging a table at a prized Michelin-starred restaurant.

A limited number of tickets go on sale every day exactly three months before entry. A large chunk of those are snapped up by tour companies. The rest go quickly to individuals, selling out in weeks for off-season slots and days for peak times. Pricier packaged tour options take a little longer to sell out. But if, oblivious to the scarcity of tickets, you decide about 10 days in advance to buy your tickets online to get a bit of holiday admin out of the way, you will be out of luck. Which is how I ... the architecture and history geek, the holiday advance planner who's been dreaming of seeing this paragon of Moorish architecture for decades ... ended up spending three days in Granada without getting in to its No. 1 tourist attraction.

The Alhambra is now Spain's No. 1 tourist attraction. And last year Spain jumped over the USA to become the world's second-most visited country by tourists (France is No. 1). While I'm frustrated by the general failure to communicate the scarcity of entry, I applaud the Alhambra's attempt to limit and better organise the 2.7 million people flowing through their doors every year. They're trying to prevent something I've discussed before on this blog when writing about Venice, Versailles and Mont Saint Michel: the world's great sites are becoming so over-crowded with tourists that we are destroying the experience of seeing them ... and, in some cases, the sites themselves.

The fact that the Nasrid palaces exist at all is a miracle. The interiors represent the height of Islamic architecture, complete with Koranic verses flowing through the ornate geometric and foliate wall panels. Legend has it that it was all so beautiful that even when the Spanish establishment was stooping to mass deportation and genocide to get Muslims out of their country, they couldn't bear to destroy their craftsmanship. By the time Washington Irving wrote his classic Tales from the Alhambra in the 19th century, however, the buildings were all but abandoned after sustaining bad damage in the Napoleonic wars, mouldering into ruin in a disorganised, increasingly impoverished country. Irving's writing, arguably, started their restoration and climb towards tourist super-stardom.

These days they're a must see for anyone beguiled by pattern, architecture, courtyard gardens and stunning views. (The complex tops a promontory at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, with dramatic vistas spreading out in every direction.) Increasing Asian and Oriental tourist numbers are adding to the crowds. But I think there are some other factors at work here. So much of the Islamic world is now considered unsafe for travel that this is one of the few easily accessible spots to revel in the glories of the architecture of its Golden Age. And the Spanish ... perhaps in penance for the Inquisition and all those centuries of being one of the most xenophobic countries on the planet ... are now playing up the wonders of Moorish Spain as a useful ideal for our own days. A time when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived and worked side-by-side, freely practicing their religions while also engaging in remarkable scientific discovery and thoughtful philosophy. This is the cultural zeitgeist that both Granada and Cordoba are promoting hard in their tourism. It's a comforting message in our increasingly polarised world. Even if it does ignore a great deal of political dirty dealing, internecine warfare and intolerance on both sides, even in the glory days. The Nasrids might have lived in exquisite splendour; their track record as rulers isn't so beautiful.

Turns out that you can still get a hearty taste of this splendour without getting into the Nasrid masterpieces. The Alhambra rambles over 26 acres on two hilltops linked by a bridge. Far more than a royal palace, it was a walled city-within-a-city embracing all the critical functions of government: administrative offices, military housing, reception rooms, bath houses, markets, craft workshops and housing for everyone who worked there from high to low. It's so big that the Generalife on the second hilltop was actually a garden palace where the kings of Granada could retreat to escape from their official, more centrally-located residences on the other hilltop.

Enter the Alhambra through the Gate of Justice and you can wander around through the site and look at all the buildings from the outside for free. You'll get stunning views and can see some of the better gardens from a distance. The ruins of the old city now feature a monastery and a couple of hotels. Lunch of traditional Spanish classics in the pretty, vine-covered courtyard of the Hotel America could make for a pleasant day out up here without doing any additional sightseeing.

For a bargain €7 you can buy a ticket that gets you in to all the buildings and gardens besides the three main Nasrid Palaces: notably the Generalife, the Alcazar, the Partal gardens and the palace of Charles V. Discovering this on your own, however, is unlikely. Google searches, Trip Advisor discussion groups and the Alhambra's own web site were no help; it took the city's tourism office to point me in the right direction. (The ticket booking page for this option is within the Alhambra's main web site, but not obvious to find.)

The Generalife is, at least judging from pictures of the Nasrid Palace interiors, a representative slice of both the architecture and the gardens you'd find in the main attraction. The gardens leading up to, and within the courtyard of, the residential villa overflow with colour in late April. Wisteria, iris, snapdragons, salvia, poppies and more are laid out to imitate the colour patterns of oriental rugs. At the end of a long courtyard with a water channel down the centre, flowers on each side and an arched arcade to the left giving dramatic views over the valley below, stands a pavilion covered with stone so intricately carved it's almost writhing. Indeed, it is partially alive as small songbirds live in and on the screen, piping a merry tune as you explore. The hall, niches, windows and ceiling beyond offer so much decorative detail to study it would take you a lifetime to properly see it all.

The Alcazar, at the other end of the Albambra complex, is the oldest part and was the military bit. What it lacks in decorative detail it makes up for in views from its towers.

In between, the Partal Gardens are similar to the Generalife (more gardens with water features terminating in a screen of ornamental architecture with views over the valley below), though the gardens here at this time of year are less impressive; mostly box-hedged parterres filled with plants that will be at their height later in the summer. At the bottom of this garden is the oratorio, a small chapel built into the outer walls with a jaw-dropping interior (below).

The Nasrid Palace tours end in this garden, while above it looms the much later palace of Charles V.Sitting on the streets of Madrid, Florence or Vienna it would be a gem: all Late Rennaisance bulk, elegance and classicism, the exterior cube made interesting by a massive, round internal courtyard with a double colonnade. Here, the Western style feels a clumsy, oversized interloper against the Islamic flights of fancy. Inside, there's an art collection upstairs and a museum of Nasrid finds below. Even without entry to the Nasrid Palaces, however, we had run out of the energy needed to explore these.

The decorative density of both the architecture and the gardens is so overwhelming up here that it burns your brain energy quickly. We just couldn't take in any more and appreciate it properly. I can't imagine that many of those who manage to get the Nasrid Palace tickets have both the time and the concentration to fully appreciate the rest of the site. Based on what I know now, I would book one of the organised evening tours to the palace and book the ticket for the Generalife et al as a second, daytime visit. If you're not that serious about the architecture, the sample you get in the €7 ticket may be enough for you.

From a visitor experience point of view, the Alhambra's ticketing strategy does seem to be working. Though the main Generalife garden and the courtyard outside the Nasrid Palaces were packed, we only waited in a few queues and the crowds were never so big as to destroy the experience. In most cases, stepping aside and waiting a few minutes would give me a clear, people-free shot of most things I wanted to photograph. This may be the future of all Tier 1 tourist sites. Thoughtful planning and advance booking will become essential. It will be helpful, of course, if attraction web sites make that clear.