Alhambra

[old dude]

We will be going to Malaga soon. A well known side trip is to the Alhambra. Can anyone tell us how much walking is involved and how many steps are there? Do you need to park a long distance from the site? Are you able to walk at your liesure?

[IheartNCL]

We did the excursion to the Alhambra on a 2009 cruise on the Jade. The bus ride is a couple of hors long, but a lot to see. The Alhambra tour was almost all flat, and the guide kept us on a timeline that kept all groups moving. Not strenuous, the buffet meal in town was like going to a wedding reception!

 

We loved the long days journey.

[Sauer-kraut]

Have you looked at the SPAIN ports of call board? There might be a lot of information over there as well to help you plan your excursion.

[OceanDreaming2]

We will be going to Malaga soon. A well known side trip is to the Alhambra. Can anyone tell us how much walking is involved and how many steps are there? Do you need to park a long distance from the site? Are you able to walk at your liesure?

 

We took a private excursion to Alhambra and saved $$$ over the NCL price. Our tour price included the roundtrip bus, admission and tour guide but no meals, beverages, etc. Sorry, I do not remember the name of the company as it was arranged for another party on our ship. (NCL Gem)

 

We were able to exit the bus fairly close to the entrance. The guide met us at the entrance and let us use the bathrooms before we began our 4 hour tour. There was a LOT of walking, some stairs and not much time to rest. Several people in our group had a hard time keeping up and our guide didn't really care, saying "they'll catch up".

 

I *think* you can do a self-guided tour as I saw some people wearing headsets and didn't seem to have a guide. Keep in mind if you choose this option you need to be aware of how much time you have in order to catch the bus and your long ride back to the ship.

[UKBayern]

If you want to DIY, please remember time slotted tickets are issued. The thing to do is prepurchase them online, by time you will get to the ticketoffice all the tickets for that day will have been given away. It will be tricky to determine what time you will arrive at the Alhambra. It is a long way from Malaga, you are looking at 2 hours each way, and that is without roadworks, picking up the car in Malaga etc. Last year we rented a car in Malaga, there were an unbelievable amount of road works around the central station in Malaga, which is the nearest rental location, a good 20-30 minutes hike from the port.

 

DIY is tricky, because the long drive involved back and forth to Malaga. The Alhambra is not ideally situated for a side trip from Malaga. I would opt for a ships excursion, thus having the ship wait for you if something goes wrong, and of course they arrange the tickets. We are extreme DIY travellers, riding the local busses, backpacking in the jungle etc, but this is something we would not chance.

[altonbr@gmail.com]

On April 17th 2013 we booked a tour of the Alhambra with Jackie Bragg operator of Costa Almeria Tours. When we arrived we found that the tour did not include the Nasrid Palaces (the most stunning architecture). We immediately voiced our concern that there was no mention of this limitation during all of our pre tour correspondence with Jackie. This brought one of our tour companions to tears, as this was a 65th birthday present to her from her husband. Jackie apologized for this oversight and promised to refund our tour cost. It's been three weeks since the event and even though I have asked twice by email for some status on when I should expect a PayPal refund, I'm getting radio silence from Jackie. Anyone considering a tour with Costa Almeria Tours...beware the "bait and switch" tactics.:(