The palaces
Nasrid Palaces tickets: the timed slot, and the ticket that leaves them out
Two facts about the Nasrid Palaces cause almost every problem people have at the Alhambra. There is a cheaper ticket that does not include them, and the ones that do carry a fixed entry time that is enforced to the minute. Everything else about a visit is negotiable. These two are not.
Quick answer
The Nasrid Palaces are the royal residences at the heart of the Alhambra, and they are the only part of the complex with a timed entry slot. The time is printed on your ticket, the Alhambra enforces it, and there is no re-entry once you leave. A general ticket exists that covers the Alcazaba and the Generalife but not the palaces. Every tour on this site includes them, from $57.
The Nasrid Palaces, at a glance
- What they are
- The royal residencesMexuar, Comares and the Palace of the Lions
- Entry
- Timed slot, enforcedprinted on the ticket
- Re-entry
- Noneonce you leave, that part is finished
- Time inside
- About 45 minuteson a guided tour
- The ticket trap
- A cheaper one excludes themand it is sold openly
- On this site
- Included on all fifteenfrom $57
- The famous rooms
- Court of the Lions, Court of the Myrtlesand the Hall of the Abencerrajes
- The walls
- Carved Arabic textQuranic verse, poetry and the Nasrid motto
- Built
- 13th–14th centuriesunder the Nasrid dynasty
- Photography
- Permitted, no flashand no tripods
The two rules that decide your visit
A slot you cannot move, and a ticket you must read
A half-hour window, enforced. And a cheaper ticket that leaves the palaces out.
The slot. Every ticket that includes the Nasrid Palaces carries a half-hour entry window. You may enter at any point inside it. You may not enter after it. Staff at the door check the time on your ticket and turn people away, every day, without exception and without refund. It is the single most enforced rule in Spanish tourism and it catches people who assume it is advisory.
This is also the strongest practical argument for a guided tour. The guide has built the entire three hours around delivering the group to that door inside the window, and they have done it several hundred times. Alone, with a bus to catch up the hill and a complex you do not know, it is genuinely easy to misjudge.
The ticket. The Alhambra sells more than one kind. The general ticket includes the Nasrid Palaces. Other combinations — gardens-only, Alcazaba and Generalife — are cheaper and do not. They are legitimate products for people who have already seen the palaces or who only want the gardens, and they are bought unawares constantly.
Everything on this site includes the palaces. Anywhere else, look for the words “Nasrid Palaces” in the inclusions, and if they are not written down, assume they are not included.
What is actually inside
Three palaces, built in sequence, each with a different job
Mexuar, Comares, Lions. Administration, ceremony, private life.
The Nasrid Palaces are not one building. They are three, built in sequence across the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and you walk them in the order the court would have.
The Mexuar came first: the administrative rooms where the sultan heard petitions and dealt with state business. Plainer than what follows, and much altered after the reconquest — there is a Christian chapel embedded in it.
The Comares Palace is the formal one, built around the Court of the Myrtles with its long reflecting pool. At the far end is the Hall of the Ambassadors, the throne room, with a domed wooden ceiling of some eight thousand pieces representing the seven heavens of Islamic cosmology.
The Palace of the Lions was the private residence, built around the Court of the Lions: twelve marble lions holding a fountain, with a poem by Ibn Zamrak carved around its basin, written in the voice of the fountain itself. Off it opens the Hall of the Abencerrajes, whose muqarnas vault is built to fragment light into thousands of facets rather than to carry any weight at all.
Every trip, current fare
Every tour, all of which include the palaces
Fifteen tours, all three hours, and every single one includes the Nasrid Palaces. That is not true of tickets sold elsewhere.
| Tour | Length | Price | Group | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Granada: Alhambra & Generalife Fast-Track Guided TourFast-track entry, and 8,529 reviews behind it | 3 h | $57 | Standard | $19.00 | 4.7 · 8,529 |
| Alhambra: Nasrid Palaces & Generalife Gardens 3-Hour TourBuilt around the Nasrid Palaces and the Generalife | 3 h | $57 | Standard | $19.00 | 4.7 · 1,341 |
| Granada: Tour of Alhambra, Generalife, and Nasrid PalacesAll four parts of the complex in three hours | 3 h | $59 | Standard | $19.67 | 4.4 · 2,370 |
| Granada: Alhambra Guided Tour with Nasrid Palaces & GardensThe whole complex with a guide, our top pick | 3 h | $60 | Standard | $20.00 | 4.6 · 2,284 |
| Granada: Alhambra, Nasrid Palaces, & Generalife Guided TourA capped group, which matters in small rooms | 3 h | $66 | Small group | $22.00 | 4.6 · 258 |
| Granada: Alhambra and Nasrid Palaces Small Guided TourA small guided group through the palaces | 3 h | $97 | Small group | $32.33 | 4.6 · 158 |
| Granada: Fast-Track Alhambra & Nasrid Palaces Guided TourFast-track entry and a longer window | 3–4.5 h | $105 | Standard | $28.00 | 4.8 · 438 |
| Granada: Full Alhambra Premium Guided Tour with TicketsThe full complex, rated 4.9 | 3 h | $107 | Standard | $35.67 | 4.9 · 1,129 |
| Alhambra and Nasrid Palaces Guided Tour with TicketsTickets bundled, rated 4.9 | 3 h | $108 | Standard | $36.00 | 4.9 · 1,236 |
| Granada: Private Full Alhambra Tour with Nasrid PalacesA private guide, and the cheapest one here | 3 h | $148 | Private | $49.33 | 5.0 · 178 |
| Alhambra with Nazaries Palaces Private TourA private tour built around the palaces | 3 h | $152 | Private | $50.67 | 5.0 · 16 |
| Alhambra: Private Guided Tour with Nasrid Palaces TicketsA private tour with the tickets included | 3 h | $153 | Private | $51.00 | 5.0 · 269 |
| Alhambra: Full Private Tour with Official Tour Guide and TicketsA full private tour with an official guide | 3 h | $164 | Private | $54.67 | 4.9 · 10 |
| Granada: Alhambra and Nasrid Palaces Private TourA private tour at the top of the market | 3 h | $306 | Private | $102.00 | 4.9 · 246 |
| Granada: Alhambra, Nasrid, and Generalife Private TourThe full complex privately, everything included | 3 h | $317 | Private | $105.67 | 4.9 · 327 |
The Generalife is a separate part of the complex, up the hill, and some cheaper tickets leave that out too.
The Generalife→Inside the palaces
Six things to look for while you are in there
Forty-five minutes goes quickly. These are the ones worth stopping for.
- The poem around the Lions fountain
Ibn Zamrak wrote it in the first person, as the fountain, describing itself. Ask your guide to read a line of it; it changes the object entirely.
- The Nasrid motto, everywhere
“There is no victor but God”, carved thousands of times across the stucco. Once you can recognise the shape you will see it in every room.
- The Hall of the Ambassadors ceiling
Around eight thousand pieces of wood, laid out as the seven heavens. It is the most ambitious single object in the complex.
- The muqarnas in the Abencerrajes
Thousands of small niches built to break light up rather than to support anything. Stand under the middle of it and look straight up.
- The reflecting pool in the Court of the Myrtles
Designed so the facade doubles in the water. Photograph it from the short end, not the long one.
- The Christian additions
A chapel in the Mexuar, an emperor’s palace next door. The site did not stop being used in 1492 and the layers are visible if you know where to look.
Common questions
Nasrid Palaces tickets, answered
Are the Alhambra and the Nasrid Palaces the same?
No. The Alhambra is the whole walled complex; the Nasrid Palaces are the royal residences inside it, and the only part with a timed entry slot.
Is the Alhambra worth it without the Nasrid Palaces?
Honestly, not for a first visit. The Alcazaba and the Generalife are excellent, but the carved rooms are what people picture when they picture the Alhambra.
How long do you need in the Nasrid Palaces?
About forty-five minutes on a guided tour, and you could spend ninety alone without repeating yourself. There is no re-entry, so do not leave early.
What happens if I miss my Nasrid Palaces slot?
You do not go in. The time is enforced at the door, there is no refund, and in high season there is unlikely to be another slot that week.
Can I take photographs inside?
Yes, without flash and without a tripod. Tripods are refused at the gate and the rooms are too crowded for one anyway.
What does the Alhambra general ticket include?
The general ticket includes the Nasrid Palaces, the Alcazaba and the Generalife. Cheaper combinations exist that cover only the gardens or only part of the site.
Go deeper
More on visiting the Alhambra
What an Alhambra tour costs
Fifteen tours priced per person and per hour, from $57 to $317.
The tourThe Alhambra guided tour
What three hours with a guide actually covers, and in what order.
VerdictThe best Alhambra tour
Fifteen tours ranked for one decision, with a straight answer at the end.
GeneralifeThe Generalife gardens
The summer palace, its water architecture, and why it is a separate ticket.
PrivateA private Alhambra tour
What a private guide changes, and what it does not.
Skip the lineSkip-the-line at the Alhambra
What fast track actually skips, and what it cannot.
