Irene and I went to the Alhambra in 1999. After waiting more than an hour in line to buy tickets, I resolved that on the next trip, I would buy them in advance.

I went to www.alhambratickets.com to find out about it (and right now it's not working), and saw the information below. In summary, you can order them on the phone, in a branch of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), or online. The section marked with ******* describes an ordering page that I visited and did not discover any kind of encryption, so no way in hell I'm entering my credit card information.

Does anyone have experience with buying these tickets in advance? My gut instinct is to call (34) 91 537 91 78 before leaving the states, because to me spending some money on a phone call beats waiting in one more line (either at a BBVA branch or at the Alhambra itself) while on vacation.

Any comments or suggestions?
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<<Como adquirir su entrada

Turismo individual:

Dispone de dos modalidades, venta directa y venta anticipada. En ambos casos, el solicitante podr� adquirir hasta un m�ximo de cinco entradas.

VENTA DIRECTA. Con este sistema, s�lo se pueden adquirir entradas para el mismo d�a de la visita, en las propias taquillas del Patronato, ubicadas en el Pabell�n de Acceso del Conjunto Monumental, en el horario indicado en el apartado de Horarios.

VENTA ANTICIPADA. Se realiza con una antelaci�n m�xima de un a�o y m�nima de un d�a antes del d�a de la visita.

En las cerca de 4.000 sucursales de la red nacional del Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria y en sus oficinas de Par�s, Londres, Mil�n y Nueva York.

Venta electr�nica a trav�s de Banca Telef�nica BBVA, tel�fono 902 22 44 60 en territorio espa�ol y tel�fono 00 34 91 537 91 78 si se llama desde el extranjero.

******A trav�s de Internet en la direcci�n: www.alhambratickets.com (en "Venta de Entradas")
Pudiendo recoger las entradas en las ventanillas del Patronato de la Alhambra el mismo d�a de la visita, presentando imprescindiblemente el n� localizador, su D.N.I. o pasaporte y/o su tarjeta utilizada en la operaci�n.

La obtenci�n de las entradas no es posible sin la presentaci�n del n� localizador, su p�rdida, robo o extrav�o eximen de toda responsabilidad al BBVA y al Patronato de la Alhambra.>>
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Will you be staying at a Hotel in Granada? The conceirges will order them for you by telephone if they have 24 hours notice. I was lucky in the fall of 2001 and only had a short wait in line, but when I went back to the hotel they had a large sign saying they could get tickets to all kinds of sites--so I could have avoided even that! I got the impression that you didn't have to make reservations too far in advance, but the reservation saved wait time.

Hey Paul, I hear ya on that ticket thing but fear not, you will usually not wait in line at the BBVA banks here in Madrid.

To be fair, that Alhambra tickets site is getting better, it was not even available in English last year

ToniG, did the conceirges charge you extra for that service? It seems like something they might do to make extra money and at the same time offer an excellent service to their guests.

Saludos,
jer...

Thanks for the input! For the sake of clarity for future readers of this message, I'll make my warning clearer about ordering online via www.alhambratickets.com:

"In its current state, the pages used to receive your credit card information does NOT seem to be encrypted. Therefore, you risk having a third party access your credit card information as it is sent."

If I find later on that the website has incorporated encryption technology for their page, I'll post another message to inform everyone that it appears safe to order tickets this way. For the meantime, the site does give valuable information about how to buy the tickets in person or on the phone.

Hey Paul, thanks for the warning.

Although the site address which is http://w3.grupobbva.com/ALHAMBRA/alhambra/home_ING.html is not a https:// (secure address), I would be very surprised if it were not encrypted.

BBVA is the second biggest bank in Spain and they have their act together so it would surprise me if they left a payers credit card info open to anyone out there

I am no pro on secure payment servers so please let us know if you find anything else out.

Saludos,
jer...

Hi all,

Just a follow up to tell you that having advance-purchased tickets for the Alhambra saved us from having to wait in a HUGE line. (our wait at the pickup window was one person) Definitely was worth the hassle. I can add more detail later.