Granada

Booking the Alhambra's Nasrid Palaces before anything else

Book the Alhambra before anything else. Entry to the Nasrid Palaces is limited to a half-hour window printed on your ticket, and tickets sell out weeks ahead. Buy on the official site once your dates are settled; if it shows sold out, look again just after midnight, when a fresh batch is released.

The Granadacard (valid 24, 48 or 72 hours) bundles the Alhambra with the cathedral and Royal Chapel plus a handful of bus rides.

Two full days suit most visitors. A third takes you up into the mountains or down to the sea.

• Alhambra day: the Nasrid Palaces at your slot, with the Generalife gardens before or after. Walk down through the Albaicín in the late afternoon and wait for sunset at the Mirador de San Nicolás, the classic free view back across to the palace.
• Lower town and caves: the cathedral and Royal Chapel in the morning, then the souvenir lanes of the Alcaicería. Soak at the Arab baths on Calle Santa Ana, and climb to the caves of Sacromonte for flamenco after dark.
• Third day: the Sierra Nevada, with skiing in winter within thirty kilometres of town by bus. The other option is the Costa Tropical, 50 km away, with beach towns such as Salobreña and Almuñécar.

Moving on is easy. Málaga is the obvious next stop and has far more flights. Córdoba pairs naturally with Granada on an Andalusian loop, and Seville works better as an overnight trip than a day out.

A hire car pays off only for the Sierra Nevada and the mountain villages, so collect it as you leave town.

Granada below the Sierra Nevada, colder winters and drier summers

March to June and September to November are the kindest months in Granada. The city stands at 738 m at the foot of the Sierra Nevada, which makes it colder in winter and drier in summer than the coast 50 km away.

Snow in the streets is rare, a once-in-a-few-years event, while the ski runs above the city open for the winter season. Most of the rain falls between November and January.

Summer flips that. July and August average 34°C and barely see a shower, and the July 2017 heatwave reached 45.7°C. Choose an early palace slot and carry water up the hill. Many students go home and locals leave for the beaches, so nightlife goes quiet.

Autumn mirrors it on the way down, from 29°C in September to 17°C in November.

Holy Week is the busiest festival time. Granada has its own twist on it: in Sacromonte, the Roma community sings and dances in the procession of the Crucifix of Risueño. The city also hosts an International Festival of Music and Dance. In the second half of January, look for the hearty pot of San Antón on local menus.

Free tapas with every drink on Calle Elvira and around Plaza Nueva

Order a drink in most bars here and a plate of food arrives with it at no charge. Three or four rounds easily make a dinner, which is why the city's large student population eats out so much. Calle Elvira and the streets north of Plaza Nueva have the densest run of tapas bars.

Calle Navas, a pedestrian street south of the town hall, is lined with restaurants. Up in the Albaicín, Plaza San Miguel Bajo has cheaper tables outside. Bodegas Castañeda is a traditional wine bar known for its montaditos, small open sandwiches; don't confuse it with Antigua Bodegas Castañeda around the corner.

The cooking still carries the spices of its Muslim and Jewish past: cumin, cinnamon and honey turn up in local recipes. Later Christian rule made pork central. Ham from Trevélez, in the mountains of the province, is the local pride. Habas con jamón, broad beans with ham, is the signature plate, while the tortilla del Sacromonte is an omelette made with brains. In the Albaicín, Moroccan places such as Arrayanes serve mint tea and no wine. For sweets, buy from the convents. The nuns sell pestiños and other pastries.

Drink Cerveza Alhambra, the local lager, or a tinto de verano of red wine topped with lemon soda. Shops close for a long afternoon siesta and nearly all of them on Sundays.