Where to park in Granada? Free Zones and Best Parkings

If you visit the city with your own vehicle, you will realize that one of the inconveniences you usually have is knowing where to park in Granada. And it is that whether to find free car parks such as central car parks or cheap car parks, it is essential to know a few things before wasting your time.

As a help guide, in this post we are going to tell you a little about the areas to avoid by car in Granada, as well as which are the most recommended areas to park your vehicle.

1. Where to park in Granada

Naturally, we all want to leave our car in a safe, cheap place that is as close as possible to our destination. So let’s see what are the most common options you can find to park your car in Granada.

The first thing you should know is that many of the most touristic streets are restricted to private vehicles, only allowing access to taxis, motorcycles or public transport (such as Calle Reyes Católicos near Plaza Nueva, Calle Elvira, the famous Paseo de los Tristes, as well as many areas of the Albaicin, Sacromonte and Realejo neighbourhoods).

Other central streets have specific hours (such as Gran Vía de Colón or Calle Reyes Católicos).

Many other famous streets in the center of Granada are pedestrianized.

And although there are video surveillance cameras, the truth is that Google Maps does not notify you of all this information!

For all this, there are many who seek to know which are the best car parks in Granada downtown or at least in the most touristic and crowded areas. As well as knowing where to park in the Albaicín or where to park in the Alhambra.

We detail it below so you don’t have to pay that fine 😉

Car parks in Granada downtown

Precisely because it is such a touristic city, the entire core of the historic center is a traffic-restricted zone, as well as being very narrow.

Therefore, the first thing we can advise you if you want to know where to park in the center of Granada is that you first check the area or street you want to get to, as well as all accesses, very carefully.

• Historic center car parks: Parking APK2 Puerta Real, Parking San Agustín, Parking Victoria, Parking Ganivet o Parking Plaza de los Campos.
• Near the downtown area car parks: Parking Palacio de Congresos (one of the cheapest), Parking APK2 Arabial, Parking Neptuno, Parking Paseo del Violón, Parking Méndez Núñez (one of the cheapest), Parking APK2 Triunfo (one of the most expensive), Parking Severo Ochoa, Parking San Juan de Dios, Parking Cruz de Lagos, Parking Pedro Antonio de Alarcón o Parking de la Hípica (the cheapest).
• Alhambra car parks: paid parking with 4 parking spaces for cars as well as a special area for caravans and buses.
• Albaicin car park: San Cristobal car park.

Cheapest car parks in Granada

If you have no choice but to leave your car in a public car park, you can look for the cheapest options.

Although they correspond to those that are not in the heart of the city, the truth is that we can tell you that Granada is a small city where distances are not usually very long.

So let’s see which are the cheapest car parks in Granada:

• Parking de la Hípica: it is the cheapest parking in Granada, both in the price per hour and the price per day. The drawback is that it is about a 20-minute walk from the center.
• Parking Méndez Núñez: it is also one of the cheapest and accessible from the ring road, but it is also about a 20-minute walk from the center.
• Parking Palacio de Congresos: it is one of the most recommended, because in addition to the cheap price, it does not usually have much occupancy and is very close to the city center.
• Paseo del Violón car park: very close to the previous one and with more or less the same rate, although this car park is usually much more in demand and sometimes there are traffic jams getting in and out.

Free park areas in Granada

Although it is not that simple, it is possible to find free parking near the center of Granada.

Being realistic, it is always better to avoid the heart of the capital, but as we have mentioned before, it is a small city and you can walk or even take public transport from the car park to the tourist area you are going to.

So, where to park for free in Granada? Let’s see some options:

• Parque de las Ciencias surroundings: you can usually find parking in this area. It is about a 20-minute walk from the city center, but you could also go by urban bus, with line 21.
• Zaidín – Vergeles area: this is a residential area that is very close to the city center and where you can wander around to find parking.
• Campus de la Salud: it is an area quite far from the historic center but where you can find parking on weekends and then access it with the Granada Metro or urban bus as far as you need.
• La Cartuja University Campus: Likewise, it is an area far from the historic center, but where you will easily find parking outside of school hours.

2. Some useful tips for parking your car in Granada

In addition to everything that we have mentioned above, we believe that it would also be good for you to know that:

• There is an ORA zone in Granada: it is a regulated parking service that allows a greater rotation of parking in the most demanded areas. In total, there are more than 3,000 places that are divided into the green zone (low turnover), the blue zone (medium turnover) and the red zone (high turnover). They can be managed through a mobile app and residents have a rate reduction. Here you can see more info. Here you can see the map of the ORA zone.
• There are streets in the historic center where private vehicles are not allowed, except for residents, taxis, public transport or guests of some accommodations. Therefore, if you are going to spend the night in Granada and you come with your car, make sure of what the accesses are and if your accommodation has some type of agreement with car parks within this area.
• If you finally decide to leave your car in a public car park and you are going to be in Granada for several days, it may be convenient for you to reserve the reduced rate for a full day. The La Hípica, San Cristobal (Albaicín) and Arabial car parks are the ones that offer the lowest rates for this.

Do you know other areas or tips on where to park in Granada? Do not hesitate to leave us your comment below 👇🏼 😉