Granada receives a great many visitors, both domestic and international. This is in part due to its vast artistic heritage and monuments, including the Spring Festival (Easter and Corpus Christi). Sports tourism also plays a large role, especially with the proximity of a major ski resort in Pradollano (Sierra Nevada). The most visited heritage site, and in turn the most visited in Spain, is the Alhambra and its surroundings, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1984, along with the garden of the Generalife and the Albaicin, also highlighting the district of Albaicin Andalusian origin. The complex is much visited by tourists, who flock to the city because of its rich history. There are also many visiting students from Andalusia, who come to visit the Granada Science Park, the only of its kind existing in the region. 

Throughout the year various agencies organise and sponsor cultural events of all kinds, such as several annual concerts by the Granada City Orchestra, the Classic Film Festival Granada (Retroback), the International Comic Fair of Granada, the International Tango Festival of Granada, the International Festival of Young Producers of Granada, the International Poetry Festival of Granada City, Granada Festival Cines del Sur, the International Festival of Music and Dance of Granada and the Festival International de Jazz de Granada. The Taking of Granada is a civic celebration held every year on 2nd January to celebrate the surrender of the city to the Catholic Monarchs in 1492. The highlight of the day is the procession of the royal banner, along with the mayor, councilors and representatives of the Catholic Church and the Armed Forces.

Accommodation in Granada's university residences

The University of Granada (UGR), founded in 1531, is the city's main university and a number of the residences assigned to it offer affordable visitor accommodation during the university vacation period. It should be understood that these residences are designed primarily for students and not children or adults expecting a high level of luxury. However, with this in mind, the halls do meet a level of comfort that we expect most visitors to be happy with, and we will welcome any feedback where this is not the case.

Getting around Granada

The A-92 (Sevilla-Almeria) motorway connects the city to Murcia and Almería to the east and Málaga and Seville to the west; the A-44 (Bailén-Motril), the Sierra Nevada motorway, links Granada to Jaen and Madrid in the north and Motril in the south; the N-432 connects the city to Badajoz via Cordoba.

The Granada metro is a public transport system, which in some stretches is similar to trams and in others to conventional underground. The line crosses the city north to south, crossing the entire city at Camino de Ronda, starting at Albolote and finishing at Armilla. The Granada train station is located in the city centre and is served by two railway lines, Moreda-Granada and Bobadilla-Granada. It also offers national connections to Albacete, Valencia, Castellón, Tarragona and Barcelona, Córdoba, Ciudad Real and Madrid, as well as Seville and Almería. The International airport of Granada-Jaén, located next to the A-92 around 17 km from the city, in the region of Chauchina, offers national flights to Madrid, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Santa Cruz on Tenerife, Las Palmas on Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Melilla, as well as Bologna, Milan, London, Liverpool, Nottingham, Paris and Rome.

The oldest remains that have been excavated in Granada date back to the middle of the 7th century BCE and correspond to dwellings belonging to the Iberian Oppidum called Ilturir. The final defeat of Carthage in the Second Punic War opened the city gates to the Romans, but it appears rather that the surrender to Rome was the result of a treaty or agreement. 

The city later became part of the Hispania Baetica region and was eventually incorporated into Conventus Astigitanus. At least since the creation of the Emirate of Córdoba and until the fall of the Caliphate, the site of the modern city of Granada remained uninhabited. The unrest that led to the formation of the Taifa Kingdoms gave the throne of Granada to Zirid Dynasty. Since then, Muslim Granada saw three distinct phases of development: the Zirid Dynasty, the Berber epoch and the Nazrid dynasty. The creation of the Kingdom of Granada, boosted the growth and wealth of the city, with the area of Albaicin being surrounded by walls, and the building of the Alhambra citadel. The city remained with this structure until the sixteenth century, when Granada was conquered by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492, however, the eleven years following the surrender of the city lead to significant changes in the overall character of the city. In fact, the city did not fall as a result of the clash between two armies, but rather through a process of negotiation that culminated in Santa Fe with the signing of the corresponding capitulations, which were very generous to the people of Granada. They could continue to practice their religion freely and publicly, their property would be respected and the validity of Islamic law would still be maintained in disputes between Muslems, creating mixed judges when the disputes were with Christians. However, in 1499, when the Court was temporarily moved to Granada, many were outragedby the fact that Islam was still so prominent and that they all went to mosques en masse. The new confessor of the queen began a ruthless campaign of forced conversions, with confiscation and burning of books, imprisonment of faqihs and inquisitorial trials. After this time of great change, the city experienced no significant changes in its image and structure from the middle of the sixteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth.