Granada is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of southern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, in the eastern part of the

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

. It is bordered by the provinces of

Albacete Albacete ( , , ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the area around the city is known as Los Llan ...

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

, Jaén,

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, and the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

(along the

Costa Tropical Costa Granadina (; "Granadan Coast") is a comarca in southern Spain, corresponding to the Mediterranean coastline of the province of Granada. It is also but less frequently called the Costa Tropical or Costa de Granada. This comarca was estab ...

). Its capital city is also called

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

. The province covers an area of . Its population was 921,338 , of whom about 30% live in the capital, and its average

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

is . It contains 170 municipalities. There are certain conception about the ''autonomous community of Granada'' being separate from Andalusia. The new autonomous community would consist of the provinces of Granada, Almería and Málaga. The conception has not yet found a response.

Geography

The tallest mountain in the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

Mulhacén Mulhacén (), with an elevation of , is the highest mountain in peninsular Spain and in all of the Iberian Peninsula. It is part of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada range in the Penibaetic System. It is named after Abu'l-Hasan Ali of Gra ...

, is located in Granada. It measures . The next highest mountains in the province are Veleta () and Alcazaba (). The river

Genil The Genil River is the main (left) tributary of the river Guadalquivir in Andalusia, Spain. Known as ''Singilis'' in Latin, it bears a modern name derives from the Moorish rendering of the Roman name: ''Sinyil, Sannil'', and ''Sinnil''. Route The ...

, which rises in Granada, is one of the main tributaries of the

Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from Seville ...

. Other important rivers include the Fardes, Monachil,

Guadalfeo The Guadalfeo is a small river in the province of Granada, Spain, between the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the coastal ranges of Sierra de la Contraviesa and Lújar. Geography It stands on the southwestern side of the Sierra Nevada. Th ...

, Dílar, Ízbor, Verde and Darro. Granada shares the Sierra Nevada National Park (in the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

mountain range) with Almería province. Another important range is the

Sierra de Baza Sierra de Baza is a mountain range near the city of Baza in the Granada province in Spain. It is named after the town of Baza and its highest point is the 2,269 m high Calar de Santa Bárbara. It is located between the Sierra Nevada The Si ...

. The northern part of the province, comprising the districts of Baza and Huescar is known as the Granada Altiplano.

Important monuments

The

Alhambra The Alhambra (, ; ) is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Spain. It is one of the most famous monuments of Islamic architecture and one of the best-preserved palaces of the historic Muslim world, Islamic world. Additionally, the ...

World Heritage Site, Granada's biggest tourist attraction, showcases one of the very finest architectural legacies of

Moorish The term Moor is an exonym used in European languages to designate the Muslim populations of North Africa (the Maghreb) and the Iberian Peninsula (particularly al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a single, distinct or self-defi ...

rule in Spain, which in Granada lasted from 711 until 1492. There are

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

cathedrals at Granada and

Guadix Guadix (, ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in southern Spain, in the Granada (province), province of Granada. The city lies at an altitude of 913 metres, in the centre of the Hoya of Guadix, a high plain at the northern footh ...

. The

Royal Chapel of Granada The Royal Chapel of Granada () is an Isabelline style building in Granada, Spain. Constructed between 1505 and 1517, it was originally integrated in the complex of the neighbouring Granada Cathedral. It is the burial place of the Spanish monarchs ...

houses the remains of the

Catholic Monarchs The Catholic Monarchs were Isabella I of Castile, Queen Isabella I of Crown of Castile, Castile () and Ferdinand II of Aragon, King Ferdinand II of Crown of Aragón, Aragon (), whose marriage and joint rule marked the ''de facto'' unification of ...

Isabella I of Castile Isabella I (; 22 April 1451 – 26 November 1504), also called Isabella the Catholic (Spanish: ''Isabel la Católica''), was Queen of Castile and List of Leonese monarchs, León from 1474 until her death in 1504. She was also Queen of Aragon ...

(1451–1504) and

Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...

(1452–1516); as well as of their daughter

Joanna of Castile Joanna of Castile (6 November 1479 – 12 April 1555), historically known as Joanna the Mad (), was the nominal queen of Castile from 1504 and queen of Aragon from 1516 to her death in 1555. She was the daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile ...

(1479–1555) and of her husband

Philip the Handsome Philip the Handsome (22 June/July 1478 – 25 September 1506), also called the Fair, was ruler of the Burgundian Netherlands and titular Duke of Burgundy from 1482 to 1506, as well as the first Habsburg King of Castile (as Philip I) for a brief ...

(69–70).

Economy

Tourism

The coast of Granada province is known as the

. It attracts large numbers of both Spanish and foreign holiday-makers. The main resorts are Almuñecar,

Salobreña Salobreña () is a town on the ''Costa Granadina'' in Granada, Spain. It claims a history stretching back 6,000 years. There are two main parts of Salobreña; The first is The Old Town which sits atop a rocky prominence and is a cluster of white ...

and

La Herradura La Herradura is a coastal town on Spain's Costa Tropical, part of the borough of Almuñécar, in the province of Granada, Andalucía. It is on Granada's south-western coast, 70 kilometres east of Málaga. History La Herradura's first settlers ...

. The city of Granada brings in tourists from all over the world thanks to its

Moorish architecture Moorish architecture is a style within Islamic architecture that developed in the western Islamic world, including al-Andalus (the Iberian Peninsula) and what is now Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia (part of the Maghreb). Scholarly references on Is ...

, especially the famous

palace. In the winter the mountains of the

play host to Europe's most southerly ski resort. Hiking and eco-tourism also attract a number of visitors to areas such as the

Alpujarras The Alpujarra (, ) is a natural and historical region in Andalusia, Spain, on the south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the adjacent valley. The average elevation is above sea level. It extends over two provinces, Granada and Almería; ...

and Lecrin Valley.

Major employers

Puleva: founded in Granada in 1910, the company has been a subsidiary of the

Lactalis Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

group since 2001. It produces a wide range of dairy products, including milk and milkshakes, cream and products for infants. Puleva Biotech S.A. developed the first infant formula to contain nucleotides, and was a pioneer in the use of Omega-3 fatty acids in infant food products. Coviran: supermarket chain which operates on a franchise basis, specialising in small, neighbourhood shops. It has 2,501 supermarkets across the whole of Spain and Portugal.

University and language students

The

University of Granada The University of Granada (, UGR) is a public university located in the city of Granada, Spain, and founded in 1531 by Emperor Charles V. With more than 60,000 students, it is the fourth largest university in Spain. Apart from the city of Granad ...

is one of the largest universities in Spain, with approximately 56,000 students. Each year the city also attracts over 10,000 foreign students, including over 2,000 European students through the Erasmus programme. As well as providing employment to a large number of people, the university also boosts the local economy by creating demand for rental property. The money spent by students also helps to support shops, restaurants, bars and other services in the city. In recent years the university has also been working to capitalise on the research it does through commercial ventures.

Other

Primary industries such as agriculture and fishing play an important role in the local economy. There was previously also a very large construction sector, but as of 2011 it was experiencing a deep downturn. The Granada Health Science Technological Park has created some high-skilled jobs in the biotechnology sector.

Population development

The historical population is given in the following chart: Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.7) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) ImageSize = width:600 height:auto barincrement:28 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:1000 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal AlignBars = late ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:100 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:50 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo PlotData= color:skyblue width:20 shift:(-50,-5) fontsize:M anchor:till bar:1877 from:0 till:478 text:478,092 bar:1887 from:0 till:483 text:482,787 bar:1900 from:0 till:494 text:494,449 bar:1910 from:0 till:527 text:526,865 bar:1920 from:0 till:580 text:580,338 bar:1930 from:0 till:656 text:656,396 bar:1940 from:0 till:747 text:747,381 bar:1950 from:0 till:793 text:793,338 bar:1960 from:0 till:777 text:777,112 bar:1970 from:0 till:742 text:741,659 bar:1980 from:0 till:759 text:758,618 bar:1990 from:0 till:791 text:790,515 bar:2000 from:0 till:822 text:821,660 bar:2010 from:0 till:922 text:922,100 bar:2020 from:0 till:921 text:921,338 TextData= pos:(35,20) fontsize:M text:"Source: Instituto Nacional de Estadística, INE"