Arriving granada

Virtually everything of interest in Granada - including the hills of the Alhambra (to the east) and Sacromonte (to the north) - is within easy walking distance of the center.

The train station (tel 958 271 272) is a kilometre or so out on Avenida de Andaluces, off Avenida de la Constitución; to get into town, buses #3, #4, #6 and #9 run direct to Gran Vía de Colón and the center of town, and bus #11 takes a circular route - inbound on the Gran Vía and back out via the Puerta Real and Camino de Ronda. The most central stop is by the cathedral on the Gran Vía.

The city's main bus station , Carretera de Jaén s/n, is some way out of the center in the northern suburbs, and handles all services except those to the Sierra Nevada, Valencia and Barcelona. Bus #3 leaves from outside and will drop you near the cathedral (a fifteen-minute journey). For information on bus departures check with the individual companies: Alsina Graells (tel 958 185 480) at the main bus station runs services to and from Madrid, Jaén, Úbeda, Córdoba, Sevilla, Málaga, Alpujarras, Motril, Guadix, Almería and the coast; Empresa Bonal (tel 958 273 100), Avda. Constitución 34, has buses to the north side of the Sierra Nevada; Empresa Autedía (tel 958 153 636), c/Rector Martín 10, off Avda. Constitución, runs more services to Guadix; and Empresa Bacoma (tel 958 284 251), Avda. Andalucía 12, near the train station, has buses to Valencia/Alicante and Barcelona. All terminals are on bus routes #3, #4 and #11.

Arriving by air , there's a bus (7 daily; 30min; €4.40 one way) connecting the airport, 17km west of the city on the A92 autovía , with Plaza Isabel La Católica; alternatively, a taxi should cost about €15.

Full details and bus timetables - and much else besides - should be posted on the walls of the turismo (Mon-Sat 9am-7pm, Sun 10am-2pm; tel 958 225 990), c/Mariana Pineda, in the Corral del Carbón near the cathedral, just off the eastern side of c/Reyes Católicos. There's also a very helpful (and less frenetic) municipal tourist office (Mon-Fri 9.30am-7pm, Sat 10am-2pm; tel 958 226 688) at Plaza Mariana Pineda 10. For listings, the monthly Guía del Ocio (available from newspaper kioscos ) details most of what's happening on the cultural and entertainment front, though it tends to be less up-to-date than the city's daily paper, Ideal , which is particularly good in its weekend editions.