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It is easy to see why the Moor sighed as he was forced to leave Granada.

It is a city of magnificent views. In the startling southern Spanish light, the towers of the Alhambra shimmer against the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada and the whitewashed carmens of Granada’s Arab quarter stack invitingly on the steep hillside. Granada is also resonant with romance, having fired the imagination of Romantic poets and painters two centuries ago. More recently Bill Clinton brought Hillary here especially to see the sunset.

The city has long since lost its importance - it was the last Moorish kingdom in Spain and then, with the reconquista, became the capital of the new Spain under Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella - but now the gentle apotheosis of Arab culture in Spain has subsided into quiet and charm, a self-possessed provincial town. It is accessible, though; easy to acquaint yourself with in a long weekend. Granada’s pleasures are mostly within walkable distance, but it is hilly, so you may choose to ride up and walk down.

Start at the top of the old Arab quarter, the Albaicin, where a network of tight cobbled alleys weave among the city’s carmens, walled houses and gardens with vine-shaded terraces. As you descend, look out for the elaborate wrought-iron gates and window grilles, the town’s brightly coloured tiles in door-frames, or a sudden moorish arch. Briefly the alleys open into placetas and miradors, from where the view extends for miles.

But the views are not all massive. Lower down will find outer doors ajar. Sneak a look as you pass: into elaborately tiled entraditas or vestibules and then beyond, through interior doors to courtyards laid with marble flagstones where fountains play among huge earthenware urns cascading with flowers.

At the foot of the Albaicin you come to the axis of the modern town, the grandiose Gran Via de Colon (Columbus: as well as the reconquista, 1492 was the year that Columbus discovered America for Spain). Beyond is the Capilla Real, where the marble tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, her head weighing more heavily on the pillow because of her superior intellect, lie behind a magnificent reja or gilded grille. Do not miss the sacristy with the military pennants of the reconquista, tapestries worked by Isabella and her superb collection of paintings by Memling, Botticelli and Dirk Bouts. As you leave, dip into the Palacio de la Madraza for a view of Moorish delights to come tomorrow.

Nearby, the Cathedral has lumpen massiveness, but you should visit for the baroque finery of the side-altars and for two small statues in the museum (by Alonso de Cano, the Cathedral’s architect), of the Madonna and child and St Paul. For a late afternoon break, the Arab tea-houses on the Calderia Arabe offer a mint or jasmin infusion and in early evening people repair to the balcony at the Alhambra Palace Hotel, where the city’s noise reduces to a tiny roar.

You may want to test Granada’s evening shopping: Calles Zacatin, Mesones and Alhondiga are near the Cathedral. Leatherwear is well priced and particularly shoes. The Alcaiceria alley offers Arab-inspired crafts including silver jewellery, but for marquetry (elaborate boxes and backgammon boards of inlaid woods), you should go to the Cuesta de Gomerez or the Alhambra complex. On Calle Elvira there are dusty, den-like antique shops. Granada is known for its ceramics: visit the San Isidro showroom on Plaza Isidro or the two rival Fajalauza factories on the Carretera de Murcia above the Albaicin.

Some of Granada’s restaurants make the best of the magnificent views: in the window seats of the Carmen de San Miguel, you hover over the town, looking up to the Sierra Nevada (gazpacho and Granadian fish casserole, neatly presented) and from the wood and tiled interior or vine-covered terraces of the Mirador de Morayma, there is a magnificent view of the Alhambra; good local ajo blanco, garlic soup with almonds and shredded apple, or Remojon salad - codfish, orange and black olives. In the stylish El Galatino on the Gran Via you dine to the quiet clink of cutlery beneath trompe-l’oeil walls and earthy plasterwork. Try a hefty local lomo de buey (ox steak) or shellfish ragout.

But you need not sit down to a formal meal in Granada. The bars have their speciality tapas. The Plaza Nueva is a lively area and the Carretera del Darro running along the river. Also Calle Navas, off the Plaza de Carmen. Castaneda has excellent local Alpujarra ham. For something a little more local, you can try the bars in the Albaicin: El Aixa, known for its migas, Torcuato and El Aliatar, which presents you with snails served in a rich, spicy sauce, to be winkled out with a toothpick. If you are peckish for something sweet, the best shop is Bernina, down below on the Plaza de Carmen.

The Alhambra is the most visited monument in Europe and entry is limited to 400 each half hour, but visits can be booked in advance. Private guides are very expensive unless they can be shared, but they can book your tickets.

True to Arab form, the outer walls are drab, but inside the rooms and patios of the Casa Real are exquisitely adorned with patterned tiles, a forest of slender columns supporting rounded arches and a filigree of mixed alabaster and plaster. Ceilings are pointed with stucco as papery and delicate as a wasps’ nest. And of course there are the views, looking out from inside and vice versa, and out over the town. The finest is in the Courtyard of the Myrtles, where seven arches stand reflected in a long rectangular pool. Amid this flighty beauty and the gardens of the Generalife, attached to the nearby summer palace, King Charles V’s renaissance palace feels as though it is muscling in.

Though most of the city’s carmens are private, some have become hotels. By far the most elegant place to stay in Granada is the Carmen de los Chapiteles - between them, the King and Queen of Spain and the Spice Girls can’t be wrong - but it must be booked as a unit, all five bedrooms. On the Alhambra hill itself, the finest rooms in the Parador de San Francisco are around the exquisite interior courtyard, which retains some of the tranquility of the monastery it once was (other areas see a constant through-flow of inquisitive visitors). Down below, a couple of hotels have pretty interior courtyards; the Palacio de Santa Ines in the lower Albaicin, with sixteenth century murals, and the Reina Cristina.

It is only really possible to see Flamenco in a show. Try Jardines Neptuno. There are also shows in Sacromonte, the old gypsy quarter outside the city walls (itself worth a quick look, though there are ‘more Germans then gypsies’ now): try Cueva los Tarantos. Granada gets crowded in summer, particularly at Corpus Christi (early June) during the week of bullfighting and Granada’s Festival of arts in late June and early July.

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