Andalucia - Granada

[scrumbrum12]

Long story but I have mucked up our trip for October on many levels. For this particular cock up, can anyone advise? Alhambra is completely booked out (I was looking at the wrong site keeping an eye on tickets) and so I don’t see the point in going to Granada, what can we do instead? We don’t have a big budget for excursions and trips so needs to be all independent/on the cheap. Thinking we may actually get bored!

Flying in Malaga, out Seville, travelling by bus

Original plan was
Malaga x3 nights
Granada x2
Seville x3

any ideas?

I'm hoping to get tickets but no availability at the mo for my dates. Darn it. If I get lucky....Would people suggest getting the ticket that also includes the Andalusian monuments?

@scrumbrum12 did you manage to get in?

Oh I found that ! Didn’t realise that they were famous for it 😂

hello, thank you all for helpful messages. Here’s how it went, self catering (not high end), bus between cities, teens:
Malaga - we loved, we stayed a bit out of the centre but still walkable and appreciated the local cafes and supermarkets (best of our trip).
day 1 - We wanted some beach time to unwind so got the easy train to Furengirola, went to beach then bus to Mijas village which was lovely. Just wandered and visited the quirky miniatures museum (other galleries etc were closed)
day 2 - Picasso museum (dh and I loved, kids tolerated, not too big), then bus to Nerja for more beach, best tapas of the holiday then home. Just walked past the sights of Malaga at night
day 3 - bus to Granada, stayed in centre. Went on a “free” guru walking tour which was great. It was hot and sunny and we loved Albaicin
day 4 - Garden tickets for Alhambra. It was stunning (once we’d worked out exactly where we could go with our tickets). Then our best lunch out in a square in Albaicin, then walked to Cave museum in Sacramento (well worth it)
day 5 - bus to Seville. DD and I went to a flamenco show (a highlight) and the men chilled at the flat as was chucking it down.
day 6 - went to Alcazar with pre booked tickets at 930. We all loved it, especially as we found ourselves alone in the Palace part for the first 30 mins :) . Placa espagna in afternoon which is stunning but didn’t want to go back. Cathedral and tower are stunning but we hadn’t bothered booking tix as I knew kids and Dh would run iut of sightseeing capacity!

day 7 - temperature dropped and we were all a bit tired and coldy. Felt ripped
off at Triana food market. Didn't like los Setas much.
day 8 (evening flight) - rained really heavily all day , spent loads on hot drinks and food to shelter. Overall we would have been satisfied with just one day in Seville (although a day trip
to Cordoba sounds nice). We had bad luck with food in Seville and found it much more expensive than Malaga and Granada, even with my Sevillian friend’s recommendations. Maybe if we had started in Seville and the weather had been better it would have been different!

… also loved wandering Granada streets and finding bars and cafes for a rest, found the locals friendly!

oh and we loved the Atarasanas market in Malaga - got decently priced olives and nuts compared to rip off prices in Triana market. Fruit in both markets was yummy

Handy thread - have just booked flights in and out of Seville for a fortnight next September, so will be taking note for route and things to do!

Definitely book tix for palaces in advance and also Camino de Rei (which once we had decided we wanted to experience had sold out). We did Marta’s guru Walk in Granada which was great.

Ditto. Got accosted by a shoeshine in a cafe who proceeded to shine my friends shoes without consent, and then was furious when we didn’t pay his obviously silly price, as I speak Spanish I obtained the correct price from locals. Also had a Spanish friend who moved there from another town in Andalusia and said the locals were unfriendly to her because she wasn’t from Granada!

Husband still reminisces about the sandwich he had at Grenada bus station probably early 2000's. We didn't go to the Alhambra and didn't feel any the poorer for it.. We did get offered a lot of drugs though - weed I think for some reason, 2 more unlikely people to take drugs you couldn't meet.