
14 Jun Hotel Universal – Looking for a good hotel in Granada?
Price of taxi from train station to the hotel. About 6/7 eur. That’s how much I paid to get from the train to the hotel and I am happy with the choice I made.
I found Granada to be quite a busy place especially in the center so since the next day I had two Alhambra visits I wanted to reach the hotel as fast as I could, drop my bag and start exploring.
Now after visiting Granada I think this place deserves a small article on its own since there are so many things that caught my eye.
I’m not talking only about the famous Alhambra, which is a jewel, but also about Albaicin( the white quarter), Capilla Real(royal tombs of Spain’s monarchs) right next to the Cathedral Santa Maria de la Encarnacion, the Gypsy quarter of Sacromonte and the Caves of Sacromonte or La Alcaiceria(the spice market).
On this article however I will focus mainly on my accommodation then on a later blog post I will detail some of the experiences I had in Granada, the monuments, fees, the Alhambra visits, etc.
For my stay in Granada I chose Hotel Universal situated on Calle Recogidas, 16, a three star hotel and the main reason I chose this hotel, next to the great reviews, was the distance to Alhambra. Since I had tickets for the day visit and the night ticket I wanted a place I could easily reach by foot. This place is about 2 kilometers away from the Alhambra and I felt OK with the distance, my first visit being on foot and for the second I grabbed a taxi(about 5/6 eur) since I was tired after a long day of walking and visiting.
The hotel is nicely located and I think the furthest distance is to the Caves of Sacromonte, about 2.7 kilometers. However after visiting Alhambra you can go down and visit Sacromonte directly so the longer distance is not really an obstacle.
Albaicin is about 2.4 kilometers away, Monasterio de San Jeronimo is about 1 kilometer away and the Cathedral and the Capilla Real are about 700 meters away.
The train station is about 1.9 kilometers away so you can really walk to the hotel if you desire. And if you are only carrying a small suitcase.
The staff is very, very OK and they helped me with storing the luggage until my room was ready, printing tickets for the Alhambra and for the bus to Nerja and provided me with a map of Granada. English was very OK so I had no issues in communicating with them.

The room was medium sized and the bed was a single bed type. A bit short in length, but I’m 190 cm tall so maybe I’m not a good marker.
The bathroom was medium in size and very clean. Hot water, clean towels every day. Also room service was present and the room was cleaned every day.

Also as a huge bonus this was the first hotel in my trip where the room was heated. So no more blankets for me.
The hotel boasts a nice bar/terrace upstairs and you can spend some time there after a long day of walking in Granada.
All in all I can recommend this hotel since I had a very nice experience in it and found the room, the staff, the location very OK.
Granada is really a great experience. It is the first city in Andalusia where I really felt a strong Moorish presence, saw a more mixed population, experienced many cultures in one single place.
Moorish fortresses, Catholic Churches, Gypsy quarters all mixed in a busy city providing everybody with many opportunities to explore and enjoy a couple of days.
Since many people only stop here for the Alhambra and maybe the Cathedral I will write another post just for Granada in which I will try to convince you, with pictures, why giving more places a try is a good idea in Granada.
Also I will detail my food experiences in Granada in a later post then we will move forwards to Nerja and Malaga.