Official first

Official ticket site: tickets.alhambra-patronato.es

On sale
No fixed release date published. Unsold tickets can be released later.
Price
€22.27 general day ticket, plus a booking fee online. €12.73 for gardens only or the night palaces.
Named ticket
Yes. Original ID document checked at entry.
Timed entry
Nasrid Palaces: one 30-minute slot, 300 people per slot.
Free entry
Under 12s (a ticket is still required). 16 November open day, by invitation.

Start with the official shop

The Alhambra appears twice on Spain's list, and both entries come down to one thing: a ticket issued by the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife. Its shop at tickets.alhambra-patronato.es is, in the Patronato's own words, the only official and guaranteed channel, and the one that always charges the official price.

This is a planning guide, not a report of a recent visit. Every rule and price below comes from the Patronato's own pages, checked on 25 October 2026. If you already hold a ticket and want to plan the day around it, read Build your Granada day around the Alhambra entry instead.

Why it sells out

The bottleneck is the Nasrid Palaces. The Patronato lets in 300 people every half hour, and a general ticket gives you one fixed slot. Miss it and the palaces are gone for that ticket, although the rest of the monument stays open to you until closing: 08:30 to 18:00 from mid October to March, 08:30 to 20:00 from April to mid October.

Part of the capacity never reaches the public shop. Authorised agents, the companies that bring in guided groups, hold 39% of the annual ticket capacity, and another share is set aside for institutional and educational programmes. The Patronato does not publish a date when each day goes on sale. Its only advice is to buy in advance, because demand is high.

Official options first

  1. Check the official shop again, and keep checking. Under article 3.2.5 of the visiting rules, the Patronato can release tickets that the institutional channel did not use. Its FAQ says plainly that a day can show no availability and open up again later, and recommends checking the site periodically.
  2. Try on the day. The ticket offices at the monument sell same-day tickets only, subject to availability, and only up to two hours before the Nasrid Palaces slot. The online shop follows the same rule for the palaces: tickets can be bought until two hours before the slot, if any are left.
  3. Switch to another official visit. The night visit to the Nasrid Palaces (€12.73) is sold separately from the day ticket. Alhambra Experiences (€22.27) pairs a night visit to the palaces with a daytime visit to the Alcazaba, the gardens and the Generalife. If the palaces are gone on your date, the Gardens, Generalife and Alcazaba ticket (€12.73) still covers most of the hill.

Tours and resold tickets with entry included

Authorised agents hold their own share of the capacity, so a guided tour with entry included can still have places when the public shop shows none. Expect to pay more than the €22.27 ticket, and the operator sets the time. Resold entry tickets exist too; compare them with the official price.

Alhambra tickets are named and checked against an ID document, so any seller has to issue yours in your name. must30's advice: if a listing does not ask for each visitor's full name and ID details before the visit, skip it.

If you book through these links, must30 earns a commission at no extra cost to you.

Alhambra tours with entry includedGuided visits run by local operators. Check that the Nasrid Palaces are listed as included before you pay.
See it on GetYourGuide
Guided Alhambra visit with Nasrid Palaces entryGuided tour with the Nasrid Palaces entry included; the operator sets the time, and you bring the ID you booked with.
Check dates and prices
Alhambra entry ticketsResold tickets. Compare the price with the official €22.27, and expect the seller to ask for each visitor's name and ID.
See it on GetYourGuide

Timing that helps

Night visits to the palaces run on Friday and Saturday evenings from mid October to March, and Tuesday to Saturday from April to mid October, so a weekend trip in winter has two chances at them. If your dates can move, a winter weekday faces far less competition than an Easter weekend, in must30's view, and moving Granada by a day costs nothing. Whatever you book, collect or buy at the monument at least an hour before your palace time, as the Patronato asks.

What not to do

  • Do not buy from a site that looks official but is not tickets.alhambra-patronato.es. The Patronato names its own shop as the only guaranteed channel with the official price.
  • Do not use a ticket issued to someone else. Tickets are personal and non-transferable, and the monument runs ID checks. A visitor's name can only be changed in limited cases before the day, and not at all once the ticket has been printed at the monument.
  • Do not count on changing your time. Date and time are fixed once you pay, and there are no refunds unless the visit fails for a reason attributable to the Patronato.
  • Do not reach the Nasrid Palaces late. The half-hour slot is the whole allowance.

Keep planning