A visit to this extraordinary place is also kind of "extraordinary", among others... it is "over the top" in regard to reservation. In year 2023 a reservation months in advance was required, with a time slot for the arrival at the Nasrid Palace! A passport must be shown at the entrance, and than again to enter the Palace. You think that you will see priceless treasures in all rooms everywhere, each guarded by alarms, millions in collectors value? No, not so! The palace interior is in fact empty, and some of it is not even original!

The premises were neglected for centuries, 1810-1812 occupied by Napoleon's troops. They even blew up eight towers of the Alhambra's walls using dynamite, before the remaining fuses were disabled by a Spanish soldier, to save the rest. There is more: Restoration work on the Alhambra started 1828 under leadership of José Contreras, followed by his son Rafael and grandson Mariano. They added numerous "Arabic Style" components of their own imagination. Many experts disapproved of that. After Mariano Contreras was deposed, Alhambra saw some reversals, decades of excavations, unfinished projects and changes in restoration leadership. Most important architect was Leopoldo Torres Balbás.

That's all ok, this is history. We are grateful for the efforts of the 3 generations of Contreras architects, but why visitors face these extreme security measures (passports, secondary entry booths, lines) in a place in which nothing of the interior survived, but the empty walls and modified architecture itself?

Official Web Page: Alhambra Patronato. Preferably use this site to purchase the tickets, unless you are interested in a guided tour.

Note: Numerous Web sites "pretend" to be the official site, but in fact they usually belong to private tour companies, like this one: https://www.alhambra.org/en/ , what is not "an Org". It is a private guided tour company. etc.

Wikipedia page about Alhambra's history recaps a story of neglect, squatters living in it, military occupations, followed by restoration effort but with arbitrary extensions, and finally an elevation to a status of a National Monument.