Granada had been on my bucket list for years before I finally made it there during my summer in Spain. Here are the best things to do in Granada!

Note: When booking your accommodation in Granada, Spain, be careful to not accidentally book a place in Granda, Nicaragua – cause yes there is a city called Granada in Nicaragua as well
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Visiting the Alhambra

This one goes without saying. A visit to Granada would not be complete without a visit to Alhambra Palace, a UNESCO heritage site, situated on the top of a hill opposite the Albaicin neighbourhood. The name Alhambra comes from Arabic, meaning “The Red Caste” which is a reference to its red walls. Transformed from a fortress and into a palace in the 13th century, it became a royal residence. Now, the Alhambra is one of the most visited tourist attraction in Spain. The palace is stunning – there are so many incredible details, beautiful gardens, courtyards, as well as great views of the city.

Tickets must be purchased in advance, as the number of visitors allowed each day is limited. Tickets can be purchased here. The time on your ticket is the time you must enter the Nasrid Palace, which is the main attraction. I recommend showing up around 15 minutes before the time indicated on your ticket to get a good spot in the line. They check everyone’s ticket and ID’s so if you’re among the last people in the line for your time slot, you may end up spending a lot of time waiting. You must bring a physical ID (you can’t show them a photo of it on your phone) and it must be a government issued ID, such as a passport.

Once you have entered the Nasrid Palace, there are no time limits for the rest of your visit so you can explore at your own pace. I would allow at least 3.5 hours for the visit. After exiting the Nasrid Palace, there isn’t really a fixed route that will take you to the other parts of the Alhambra. Instead they have a bunch of staff whose job is to guide lost visitors through this “maze“. They could just put up signs, but often in Spain they don’t really care for doing things efficiently

Trying Arabic food

Arabic influence is present throughout Granada, and as such, it is home to a variety of Arabic restaurants. My favourite plate was the falafel I had at a restaurant called Puerta de Syria (the above photo in the middle). They offer very tasty Arabic food at a super affordable price (around 7€ for a meal and a drink). Here is a list of other top rated Middle Eastern and Arabic restaurants in Granada.

Enjoying the view from a rooftop bar

Visiting a rooftop bar during your stay in Granada is a must! We choose a place called Monasterio Chill-out Copas, which is located on the 7th floor on top of Hotel los Jerónimos. Their outside terrace has great views of the city as well as the cathedral, and the drinks were good and pretty affordable. Would definitely recommend it!

Other nice rooftop bars in Granada include B-Heaven at Barceló Carmen Hotel, Eurostars Gran Vía and Hotel Alhambra Palace.

Wandering around Albaicin

Narrow cobblestone roads, fascinating plazas and plenty of historical sites are some of the things you can expect to find in the Albaicin neighbourhood. This is also the old Moorish neighbourhood of Granada, and as such it has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage side. But that’s not all there is to Albaicin – because of its location in a hill opposite the Alhambra, you have views of the Alhambra almost everywhere you go. We loved wandering through this neighbourhood, admiring the cute narrow streets and sitting down at a picturesque plaza for some drinks.

Visiting Plaza de San Nicolas

Plaza de San Nicolas is situated high up in a hill at the heart of the Albaicín neighbourhood, requiring a fairly steep walk, but well worth it! This plaza is one of the most iconic viewpoints in Granada, featuring stunning views of the Alhambra, the city of Granada and the Sierra Nevada mountains. If you’re lucky you’ll get a space at the wall to sit down.

A little tip – make sure to also visit the plaza at night! Not only to see the Alhambra lit up, but also for the lively atmosphere as the locals gather at the plaza to dance and play music.

Sign up for guided tours

Exploring a city with a local guide is a great way to get to know more about the history & culture, as well as seeing things you otherwise might miss! Check out these tours to get to know Granada a little better.

Having a coffee at Tetería del Bañuelo

When you need a break from wandering around the Albaicin neighbourhood, this Moorish style tea room is the perfect place to do so. Here you can sit down, relax and take in the gorgeous views of the Alhambra while enjoying a drink and perhaps a crepé. We visited around 2pm and had the terrace to ourselves for the most part, which I believe was just luck. This was our favourite coffee stop in Granada, definitely a must try!

Indulging in one of the Arab bath houses

As a part of the Arab influence, Granada preserves some of the oldest Arab baths in Spain. Some are still functioning as such , while others have been turned into monuments. The Arab baths consist of steam rooms and baths that each have different temperature, offering a very relaxing experience. A visit to Baños de Elvira or Hammam Al Ándalus would be the perfect way to unwind after a long day of walking! You can even book a massage if you’re feeling a little extra.

Wandering through the Alcaicería market

The Alcaicería market is the biggest of its kind in Granada. It was once the market place of the Moors, now it’s a pretty touristy place, where you can find everything from souvenirs to traditionally painted ceramics to jewellery and even Moroccan teas. Although it’s the largest market in Granada, it’s not very large. You can expect to spend anywhere from 15-60 minutes browsing through it, depending on how closely you want to observe what the market has to offer.

Final thoughts on Granada

I think Granada is well worth a visit. It’s a fun mix of Spanish and Arabic culture that you won’t really find elsewhere. It’s perfect to combine a trip to Granada with other interesting destinations in Andalucia, such as Sevilla, Cordóba and Málaga.

If you are planning a trip to Spain, you might also want to check out:

• Best coffee shops in Madrid
• 8 Amazing day trips from Valencia
• Most Instagrammable places in Valencia
• Best hostels in Spain
• How to get around Spain
• Best cafés to work from in Valencia

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What a normal day looks like

Although no two days are the same, a typical day for me in Valencia looks something like this. I usually wake up around 9 by the sun shining into my room. Getting up fast is really not my thing. It takes me at least 15 minutes to actually get up haha. Which feels so much better than waking up to an alarm and having to jump out of bed and rush to work :)) By that time my roommate is already off to work so I have the apartment to myself. I don’t really like to talk to people before I’ve had my coffee and had a moment to properly wake up so this works out just fine lol. So obviously I start by making some coffee & usually have some kind of rice cracker thing with hummus/avocado & dates. Then I spend about an hour having breakfast and just chilling, reading up on news related to the stock market, watching Friends, pinning to my new Pinterest account that I made for my presets. I’ve never been very active on Pinterest so I’m not quite sure what I’m doing, but at least I’m doing something haha.

Around 10.30, when I have managed to properly wake up, I usually head to the gym. It takes me about 5 minutes to bike there, love how easy it is to get around here. The program I have at the gym takes me about 1,5 hours, although it often takes me longer if I stay on my phone too much, or if there is something “happening” on the stock marketing and I need to be watching it closely and buying/selling. When I get back home I make a smoothie bowl (so goood)- well except for the month or so my blender was being repaired. It broke down sometime in May, and just like pretty much everything in Spain, it took a ridiculously long time for no apparent reason, but eventually it got done :)))

Then it really just depends on what I feel like and what day is what I do after getting back from the gym. Sometimes I meet up with someone at a café, either to “work” or just to chill. Other days I go the beach or to the centre. Always watching the stock market from my phone though haha. It’s not uncommon that I’ll be walking somewhere with someone and then I’ll be like ah we need to stop for a moment I need to buy/sell this one stock the price just went up/down. Then other days I just stay home and maybe work on this blog or procrastinate or whatever. I’m not gonna make this sound like I’m always super productive and using my time wisely – some days it’s 6pm and I’m just like wow where did this day go?! What happened to 2 o’clock and 3 o’clock and all the other o’clocks :)))

A lot of my friends here work during the day so often we’ll meet up in the afternoon for a drink or dinner or something. Going out for drinks here is sooo cheap it’s almost ridiculous haha, especially when compared to Iceland where you pay about 8-10 euros for a beer lol. A beer or a cider here is about 2 euros and cocktails around 5-8 euros. Then I go to the supermarket around 3 times a day for no good reason haha. I don’t know why I just always forget something or I get a random craving and/or I can’t decide what I wanna eat until the moment I’m gonna eat. I’m a mess. I try to go to sleep no later than midnight but well, doesn’t always happen. Sometimes I stay on my phone until I start dropping it on my face repeatedly. Luckily I’ve never happened to be two years deep into someone’s instagram feed and accidentally liked a family christmas photo from years ago :))) But yeah that point it’s really time to go to sleep lol.

The not normal days

So that was pretty much what an average day has been like. But other days I’ve been out exploring – doing day trips, weekend trips, beach days and stuff like that. And I gotta say that Spain really keeps surprising me. Even though I’ve been to Spain probably about 20 times and have visited all the major cities as well as some smaller ones, there is so much I haven’t seen. Montanejos was probably the one that surprised me the most, it reminded me of Switzerland at time while other parts looked a lot like Asia!

Montanejos

So in June I went on a day trip to Montanejos with a few other people & lots of dogs!! A dream :)) It’s about 1,5 hour drive from Valencia, however there are no buses or trains that go there – but luckily one of my friend has a car so off we went! It’s a pretty big area, with lots of hiking trails and a hot spring where you can go for a swim. We followed one of the hiking trails, or well we did our best to Like many other things in Spain, it was not very clearly marked and we ended up getting lost several times. It wasn’t all bad though cause the views where so worth it. But we walked a looot and I ended up having to rest throughout the next day haha.

Enjoying some beach time

I’ve probably had a few people’s share of beach time this summer. It’s one of the privileges of spending a summer in Valencia. We usually just go to the beach here in Valencia, which is actually a pretty nice one. Surprisingly, it’s a lot better than the beach in Barcelona, in my opinion. It does get pretty crowded, especially on weekends, but you can still manage to find a pretty quiet spot. During the middle of the day it gets very very hot, so we normally try to go around 3pm, stay for a few hours and then grab a drink or two before heading back.

Eating (tacos) & drinking (mostly Aperol)

I would say wine & dine, except I don’t really drink wine. And also it just sounds a little fancier than what I’ve been doing. I’m not really a fan of fancy food. The portions are usually tiny, and more importantly, I don’t know what half the stuff on the menu is Anyway. I’ve been going out for food and/or drinks pretty frequently. Aperol being my number one choice for a drink. I will also never say no to tacos

Visiting Málaga

At the end of June I went to Málaga with one of my friends. Originally we were only planning to go to Granada, but as it turned out, our only realistic option to get to Granada was to fly to Málaga, we figured we might as well spend a day or two there. And I’m so glad we did.

We only had one and a half day in Málaga, but I feel like we managed to do quite a lot. Málaga is not to big and it’s easy to explore by foot. It’s a “typical” Spanish city, with a bit of Mediterranean vibes mixed with some Andalucian/Moroccan style architecture.

I also loved roaming around the historical centre. Just like other cities in Spain, it’s very cute & colourful – with plenty of cafés and terraces to sit down and enjoy the views.

Granada

After spending two nights in Málaga, we jumped on a bus and headed to our next stop, Granada! A city that has been on my bucket list for far too long! Granada is mostly famous for the Alhambra – a palace constructed a very long time ago, between 1238-1538 to be exact The Alhambra was the main reason I wanted to visit Granada, which I think you’ll understand once you see what it looks like!

A part from visiting the Alhambra, we walked around the city a whole lot, admiring the Alhambra from different angles In the Albaicin neighbourhood, there are a variety of cafés and restaurants with terraces that offer views of the Alhambra. I literally could have spent days just hanging out at all of them and taking in the views!

Day trips to Pinedo

One of the best things about spending a summer in Valencia is Pinedo! A very cute and pretty quiet beach town not too far from Valencia. Although it’s only a 10 minute drive there, it actually takes about 45 minutes by public transport. I have close to no experience with public transport within Valencia as I bike or walk everywhere, but this bus never arrives on time. It can be up to 30 minute late for no clear reason, so that’s kinda the only drawback about visiting Pinedo But it’s such a pretty beach, and doesn’t even get crowded on weekends. I will add that this isn’t the main beach in Pinedo, that one is indeed very touristy, this one is called Playa Autocine and is much prettier! Actually one of the best beach I’ve been to in Spain. Usually we bring picnic and just chill on the beach, but there are also a few restaurant in Pinedo.

Museums

I’m honestly really pushing by using the plural. I have visited two, that it is if you count both the one we visited mostly for the pretty pink court yard and another one that wasn’t really a museum, but the ruins of the “old Valencia”. So yeah I guess museums is kinda stretching it, but I think I’ll just go with it

Day trip to Port Saplaya “little Venice”

So the actual Venice is of course in Italy, but there is a “little Venice” just outside of Valencia. It’s called Port Saplaya, but due to its similarity to Venice, it’s often referred to as little Venice. We went on a day trip there at the end of May, it was quite a struggle to get there by public transport, but eventually we made it haha. Someone asked me afterwards why we didn’t just take a taxi, and honestly we didn’t even think about it, I’m just not used to taking taxis so often I forget they exist haha I wasn’t really expecting it to look a whole lot like Venice, but you can definitely see why it’s called little Venice. It sure managed to make me feel like I was in Italy for a day

Chilling in the park

So in Valencia we have this giant park, that runs throughout the city. It’s huge – 9km long to be exact. Clearly it has lots of greeneries, palm trees, with views of the city, bike paths, cafés, all of it. A lot of people go there for running.I do not. I go there all the time to sunbath, chill, have a picnic, go for drinks, meeting doggos and whatnot. Usually I try to sit close to someone with a cute dog, not so close that it’s very obvious, but close enough so the dog can come over to me so I can pet him

Benicassim & water park – a must when spending a summer in Valencia

Spending a summer in Valencia wouldn’t be complete without going to a water park! When my friend told me that there was a water park about an hour away from Valencia, I knew I had to visit. I hadn’t been to one in years so I was already way too excited about it haha. Then we finally found a day to go there, and boiii was it fun. After spending the day there I came to the conclusion that I should spend more time in water parks and less time not in water parks :)))

So this is pretty much what my summer has been like! It’s been one of the best summer I’ve had, filled with lots of summer-y things I’m writing this in past tense because I’m actually headed to Iceland in the first week of August, so who knows if it will be summer there haha. You really can’t count on it. But I hope so! As for the rest of the year, I have no concrete plans and have no idea where I will be. My life is kind of an uncertain mess haha. But I feel like that’s what makes it exciting. People keep telling me things like “oh I can’t wait to see where you end up next” and I’m like “yeah me too” cause I honestly don’t know. Since Asia and Australia are still out of the picture, I figure I’ll be somewhere in Europe. Portugal, Croatia, Italy, Greece and Malta are some of the countries that are on my list. Although I’ve been to all of them except Greece, I feel like there is so much I haven’t seen. As an Icelandic passport holder, traveling in Europe is very easy and I don’t need a visa or anything like that. Then I might just as well visit Mexico or Colombia, I’ve been dying to go back there. Who knows.

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