Overview
The name comes from Jannat al-Arifa, the garden of the architect or of the knower, and the point of the place is irrigation: water arrives from the Darro by an aqueduct built for it, and every terrace, basin and jet is a use of that same flow. The arched water jets in the long court are a nineteenth-century addition; the channel and the beds beneath them are original. Below the palace the estate still grows vegetables and fruit as it always did.
Highlights
Enter the Generalife first if your Nasrid slot is later — the gardens are included in every ticket and are least crowded early. The walk between it and the Alhambra crosses the ravine and takes fifteen minutes. In summer the open-air theatre in the gardens holds the Granada music and dance festival.