GRANADA'S iconic Alhambra Palace had a 'record year' in 2014 with the highest number of sightseers ever and has retained its honour as the most-visited attraction in Spain.
With over 2.4 million people visiting the Palace last year, representing an increase of 3.78% on 2013 – or an extra 87,500 tourists – the Mediaeval Arab complex once owned by the Nazari dynasty is not only immensely popular with foreign tourists and residents in Spain taking a weekend break, but is also a place where visitors return year after year.
The best month for tourist numbers was May, with a total of 260,727 visitors, and the best day of the year was May 1 when 9,329 people went to explore the Palace.
And the worst day for tourists last year was December 11, when 'only' 2,212 sightseers went along.
Normally, January and February are the quietest months, but in 2014 their visitor figures went up by 20% and 9.68% respectively.
Last year was the first time ever that the Alhambra Palace broke the 2.4-million-visitor barrier – in fact, the total number was 2,402,473.
In addition to visiting the main monument, or in some cases instead of, the shows and exhibitions at the Alhambra were more highly-attended in 2014 than ever before.
Art displays, music and dance festivals, a Japanese garden exhibition in the Generalife – as the landscaped grounds of the Alhambra are known – and the permanent displays at the Alhambra Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts attract literally hundreds of thousands of visitors, bringing the total number of people who went to the complex last year up to 3,113,485.
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