Granada

💡In Granada the tapa comes free with the drink

You order a beer and food arrives without your asking, and it changes with each round. So do not start by ordering plates: order the drink first, see what turns up, and decide after. Three or four different bars and you have had dinner.

💡Alhambra tickets sell out months ahead

That is not an exaggeration: in high season they vanish. Buy only on the official site (resellers charge triple and sometimes the tickets do not work), they are in your name and they ask for each person's ID or passport on the way in, so you need everyone's details. If you miss out, there are last-minute tickets released in the morning.

💡The white walls of the Albaicín hide gardens

They're called cármenes: a house with orchard and courtyard, deliberately closed off from the street. From outside you see only wall, but several can be visited and some are hotels or restaurants. It's the most Granadan architecture there is, and the easiest to miss.

💡The San Nicolás viewpoint fills up an hour beforehand

It's the view of the Alhambra with the Sierra Nevada behind, and at sunset there's no room to move. If you want the front row, go up early. There are neighbouring viewpoints with nearly the same view and a quarter of the people.

💡Inside the Alhambra there's one time you cannot miss

The Nasrid Palaces have an exact entry time printed on the ticket, and if you're late you don't get in, even though the rest of the grounds are yours all day. Allow thirty minutes from the gate: the site is huge and uphill.

💡Comfortable shoes: the Albaicín is all hill

The old town is uneven cobbles and constant climbing, and smooth soles genuinely slip, especially after rain. No new shoes and no first outing for the sandals: you end up walking a good deal further here than you think.

💡There's snow forty minutes away and beach within the hour

Sierra Nevada is under an hour by car and the coast at Motril barely more. It's one of the few places in Europe where you can ski in the morning and swim in the afternoon, and it's why plenty of people stretch the trip here.