The Alhambra shuts on just two days a year, and this season both are Fridays: Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. Because winter night visits only run on Fridays and Saturdays, those two closures remove half the after-dark sessions of the holidays, leaving Saturday 26 December and Saturday 2 January as the only nights between Christmas Eve and Epiphany.
Over Christmas the monument opens 8:30 to 18:00 every day except 25 December and 1 January, with the day ticket office working from 8:00. Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve run to normal hours, so a visit on 24 or 31 December is a sound plan rather than a gamble.
Is the Alhambra open at Christmas? Yes, except on 25 December and 1 January, which are Fridays in 2026-27. Every other day, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve included, it opens 8:30 to 18:00. The Nasrid Palaces night visit, 20:00 to 21:30, runs only on Saturday 26 December and Saturday 2 January between Christmas Eve and Epiphany.
Which Christmas days the Alhambra is closed
The monument is run by the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife, and each year the Patronato closes it on 25 December and 1 January, and on no other day. Avoid building a trip around those two dates. In 2026 Christmas Day is a Friday, and in 2027 New Year’s Day is a Friday too, so on both dates there is neither a day visit nor a night visit.
Every other day runs on winter hours, which apply from 15 October to 31 March: visits 8:30 to 18:00, ticket office 8:00 to 18:00. Epiphany on 6 January opens as normal. If your flight lands on 25 December, the first possible Alhambra slot is the morning of the 26th.
Read across the three weeks from Monday 21 December to Sunday 10 January: 22, 23, 28, 29 and 30 December and 4, 5 and 7 January are plain day-visit dates, Sunday 27 December and Sunday 3 January too, and only the purple squares add a night session.
Which nights have an Alhambra night visit over Christmas
In winter the Nasrid Palaces night visit runs on Fridays and Saturdays and takes 90 minutes, from 20:00 to 21:30, with the night ticket office open from 19:00 to 20:45. Over the holidays that gives this list of nights, at 12.73 euros each:
- Friday 18 and Saturday 19 December, the last weekend before Christmas.
- Saturday 26 December, the day after the Christmas Day closure.
- Saturday 2 January, which is also Día de la Toma in Granada.
- Friday 8 and Saturday 9 January, the first weekend after Epiphany.
Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve and Epiphany have no night visit, because they fall on a Thursday, a Thursday and a Wednesday. The dates follow the published winter timetable, so check the ticket site for any extra sessions before you build a trip on them. What the night visit covers, and what stays closed, is set out in the Alhambra night visit to the Nasrid Palaces.
How to plan a short Christmas trip around the two closures
Most visitors come for three or four days, and the two closures decide which ones work. A trip from 24 to 27 December gets two Alhambra days, Thursday 24 and Saturday 26, plus a night visit on the 26th. A trip from 30 December to 2 January gets the 30th, the 31st and Saturday 2 January, with the bell of the Torre de la Vela and a night visit on the same day.
On the closed day itself, plan a late dinner in town rather than an early night: Granada eats late, and the tapa served with each drink at the bar turns a round into supper, as how tapas work in Granada explains. On open days, bus C30 from Plaza Isabel la Católica 4 runs up to the Alhambra ticket office for a single ticket of 1.60 euros, paid to the driver.
When Alhambra tickets for Christmas go on sale
Tickets for a given date are not released all at once. Part of each day goes on sale twelve months ahead, another part three months ahead and the last part one month ahead. By late October the one-month batch for Christmas has not come out yet: it lands around 26 November for Saturday 26 December and around 2 December for 2 January.
The two Saturday nights are the only night visits of the holiday fortnight, so there is no fallback date if they go. If your date shows nothing left, what to do when Alhambra tickets are sold out covers the release batches, and the nine Alhambra ticket types show which areas each one opens: the General is 22.27 euros and Gardens 12.73 euros.
What to do in Granada while the Alhambra is closed
On 25 December and 1 January the Alhambra is still the view. The Mirador de San Nicolás in the Albaicín is a public square with no gate and no ticket, and it faces the whole complex with the Sierra Nevada behind it. What you can see at the Alhambra without a ticket lists the free corners for other days.
New Year’s Eve itself happens in Plaza del Carmen, and the night shapes 1 January: the metro stops at 21:15 and returns at 1:00, as New Year’s Eve in Granada explains. On 2 January the Patronato opens the Torre de la Vela for the free bell climb of Día de la Toma, with 200 same-day invitations at the ticket office from 8:00.
Alhambra at Christmas, questions visitors ask
Is the Alhambra open on Christmas Day?
No. The Alhambra closes on 25 December, one of only two closed days in its year along with 1 January. In 2026 Christmas Day is a Friday, so the usual Friday night visit is lost too. The monument reopens on Saturday 26 December from 8:30 to 18:00, with a night visit at 20:00.
Is the Alhambra open on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve?
Yes, with normal winter hours of 8:30 to 18:00 and the ticket office open from 8:00. The Patronato publishes no early closing for 24 or 31 December. Both fall on a Thursday this season, so neither has a night visit, which in winter only runs on Fridays and Saturdays.
Is there an Alhambra night visit over Christmas?
Only on two nights between Christmas Eve and Epiphany: Saturday 26 December and Saturday 2 January, from 20:00 to 21:30. A night visit to the Nasrid Palaces costs 12.73 euros. Earlier, Friday 18 and Saturday 19 December also have one, and after Epiphany they return on 8 and 9 January.
When should I book Alhambra tickets for Christmas?
As early as you can, and again a month before. The Alhambra releases each date in three batches, twelve months, three months and one month ahead, so a sold-out Christmas date can reappear. For Saturday 26 December the last batch lands around 26 November, and for 2 January around 2 December.
At Christmas the Alhambra loses two days, and the night visit loses half its nights.