Alhambra vs Istanbul

[janines]

We are discussing whether to take the excursion from Malaga to Granada. It is a 10 hr all day trip. We would like to see the sites, but the ship excursion includes a 4 course meal and Flamingo dance show. This makes the trip very pricey.

Viator has the same trip without the later items, pay for your own lunch for 1/2 the cost of the ships's excursion.

We have visited Istanbul and other cities in Turkey and Greece and saw many wonderful mosques and palaces.

The question is, is the Alhambra so very different from palaces, etc in the other countries.

janines

[cberge]

We are discussing whether to take the excursion from Malaga to Granada. It is a 10 hr all day trip. We would like to see the sites, but the ship excursion includes a 4 course meal and Flamingo dance show. This makes the trip very pricey.

Viator has the same trip without the later items, pay for your own lunch for 1/2 the cost of the ships's excursion.

We have visited Istanbul and other cities in Turkey and Greece and saw many wonderful mosques and palaces.

The question is, is the Alhambra so very different from palaces, etc in the other countries.

janines

Yes,do the Alhambra tour,BUT NOT the ship's.It is a nice drive as well,and do Viator.You do not need the 4 course dinner nor any kind of show.The palace and the gardens where they are sitting make for a lovely tour.Be sure to check out the caves that you can see on the hillside where some people still live.Interesting.I am sure you will have other replies as well.

[ab0si]

I think the Alhambra is the most beautiful palace and palace grounds in the world. In a strange way it is made even grander by the presence of a few truly ugly buildings that Isabella had built on the grounds. See it; it is a special place.

[CruisinGerman]

You may remember that Clinton came over here to Madrid for a NATO Summit and then went to Granada.

 

From the Alhambra, he made a comment that "This was the most beautiful place in the world."

 

Starting the next day, tourism to Granada quadrupled (just like when Disney released the film "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" years ago all of a sudden the lines to go up to the bell tower of Notre Dame went on for blocks and blocks and hours and hours in the streets of Paris).

 

It is a very special place. Whether it will meet the expectations surrounded by the sentence pronounced by Clinton is indeed very subjective, but it is a very, very special place.

 

Kind regards,

 

Gunther and Uta

[kestrel]

Alhambra is wonderful. It's not just the palace and garden -- the entire surrounding is very special. I am not sure which route you will take to go from Malaga to Granada, but the route that passes Sierra Nevada is absolutely beautiful.

[Wendy The Wanderer]

I would find out of the ship's tour or Viator take you into the city of Granada or not, and if that's where you'd have your lunch. It's a very pretty old city.

 

The Alhambra itself is really beautiful, and not much like the sights of Istanbul at all. Guess there'd be a slight comparison to Topkapi, if anything.

 

One warning about private tours--depending on the day of the week, traffic coming back from Granada to Malaga can be very bad. If you're on a private tour and you're late getting back to the ship, you're on your own. Literally. If you are with a ship's tour, you don't have that worry. We did private, and it was a Friday I believe. The traffic back to Malaga was terrible (people driving to the coast for the weekend.) So make sure the tour gets you back in plenty of time.

[jennywren46]

The Alhambra and its gardens are absolutely fantastic and IMHO a must see,its totally different from Istanbul.

 

I also agree that the traffic is really bad coming back to Malaga, we were on a ships tour and were late back, thankfully they held the ship. The tour we did was just to the Alhambra and its gardens ,but thats obviously changed.I know there is a ships tour that does Granada on your own ,so that might be something to look at . Im sure there will be taxis that can take you to the Alhambra

Whatever you decide either a private or ships tour youll have a fantastic time , its somewhere Id love to go back too.

[4774Papa]

We did the ship's tour from the NCL Jade and it was pretty good. It did not include a show, but did include a good lunch buffet.

 

For long trips like this one, I am always concerned about missing the ship, sometimes that is worth paying a little more.

 

Viator generally has good, but not wonderful tours. We will use them again, but be sure you know where to meet for the tour and how and where to exchange your voucher for the tour ticket. Some people have had problems in those areas. Viator actually has no tours of its own, it subcontracts out all its tours.

[janines]

Thanks to all that responded to this post

We have decided to take the Granada/Alhambra, etc tour with spaindaytours.com. They pick you up and drop off at the port. They only have 8-10 people on the tour that makes the tour time less, for a little more cost than viator.

Also, great reviews on Trip advisor.

janines

[new salt]

If at all possible try and take in the Cathedral in Granada itself, utterly magnificent.