Is the Mezquita night visit worth it?
Is the Mezquita night visit worth it? It’s open both at night and during the day, but when is best to visit the Mezquita? Well give you the inside scoop so that you can make up your own mind.
You can visit the Mezquita in Granada in several ways depending in the ticket you decide to purchase. For more information on this, read How to buy tickets to the Mezquita in Cordoba.
Is it worth to see the Mezquita at night, and not during the day? In order to answer this question, we decided to make the night visit to the Mezquita having already visited the Mezquita during the day on other occasions.
How is the Mezquita night visit
The Mezquita night visit is called ‘El Alma de Córdoba’ (the Soul of Cordoba) and allows a limited number of visitors each evening to experience an extra special illuminated autoguided visit to one of the most singular religious buildings in the world.
The ‘Alma de Córdoba’ night-time visit begins from 20:00 to 22:30 depending on the time of year. The visits last approximately one hour.
Once at the entrance, a member of the staff will give you an audio guide that will provide the different explanations in English (or your preferred language). So you won’t have a guided tour with a proper English-speaking guide. The only thing the guide will do is to tell you during the visit where you should go and where you should stop to listen to an explanation.
The Mezquita night visit time begins when it is already completely dark. But contrary to the day visit, the night visit follows a predetermined route, that you must follow.
Your visit begins with the viewing in one of the galleries of the Patio de los Naranjos of a very interesting 10-minute documentary about the history of the Mosque of Cordoba. Then, you will cross the Patio de los Naranjos to reach the main access, the Puerta de las Palmas.
Once inside, the building will be pitch black, but it will gradually become illuminated as you walk around and discover the different sections.
So… Is the Mezquita night visit worth it?
In our opinion, the night visit to the Mezquita is not worth it.
You should only choose this option if you have already visited the Mezquita during the day at least once, and you are curious to know what the night visit is like.
Here is why we believe that the Mezquita night visit is not worth it:
- The night tour is not lead by a proper local and knowledgeable guided. You can only listen to the standard audio guide explanations, so don’t have any chance of asking questions as you would have in any other regular guided tour.
- The large bulk of explanations is centered around the cathedral area of the building. Since the complex belongs to the Cabildo de Córdoba (Chapter of Cordoba), an institution that belongs to the Catholic Church, the explanations about the mosque are insufficient.
- The price is too high for what you get.
Nevertheless, if you still want to do the Mezquita night visit during your time in Cordoba, buy your tickets online in advance so you can book on your preferred date. Remember that only 80 people are allowed inside and when I did the visit in early January, the tour was fully booked…
Visit the Mezquita during the day and when night comes, have fun in a different way: enjoy Cordoba tapas bars.
Do you need more information on Cordoba?
This article is part of a complete guide about Cordoba where you can read all the information you need to plan your trip to this amazing destination in Spain.
Here is a complete summary of all the guide:
1. When to visit Cordoba
2. How many days to spend in Cordoba
3. How to get to Cordoba
4. How to move around Cordoba
5. Cordoba hotels: where to stay in Cordoba
6. What to eat in Cordoba
7. What to do in Cordoba
8. Tips to visit the Mezquita in Cordoba
9. How to buy tickets to the Mezquita in Cordoba
10. Mezquita tickets sold out. What can you do?
11. Is the Mezquita night visit worth it?
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