How to get to Medina Azahara from Córdoba

By tourist bus from the city centre

Córdoba's Instituto Municipal de Turismo runs a tourist bus to the site. According to the regional government's access page, it leaves twice a day, Tuesday to Sunday, with a third departure on Saturdays depending on the season.

There are two boarding points, both on Paseo de la Victoria: the roundabout by the Cruz Roja hospital (Glorieta Hospital Cruz Roja) and the stretch opposite the Roman Mausoleum.

According to the operator, Autocares Bravo, there are two departures on opening days: 10:00, returning at 13:30, and 10:45, returning at 14:15. A night departure at 21:15 is added in summer. Tickets cost €10 for adults and €5 for children aged 5 to 12 and Córdoba residents, and are bought in advance. Times change with the season, so confirm them when you book, and ask whether the ticket covers the shuttle from the museum up to the ruins.

By car, and the compulsory shuttle

By car, leave Córdoba on the A-431 towards Palma del Río. The turn-off is at kilometre 5.5. Every vehicle, cars and coaches alike, parks at the museum.

You cannot drive from the museum up to the ruins. Access is 'exclusively' on the site's shuttle buses, which run back and forth throughout opening hours, every 15 to 20 minutes.

• General fare: €3, return included.
• Reduced fare: €1.50 for children aged 5 to 12 and over-65s.
• Children aged 0 to 4: free.
• The last bus up to the site leaves the museum car park 60 minutes before closing time.

Opening hours through the year

The site has three timetables. It closes on Mondays, except when the Monday falls on the eve of a public holiday, when it opens 9:00 to 15:00.

• 21 September to 20 March: Tuesday to Saturday 9:00 to 18:00. Sundays, holidays and Mondays before a holiday, 9:00 to 15:00.
• 21 March to 20 June: Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 9:00 to 18:00; Friday and Saturday 9:00 to 21:00. Sundays and holidays, 9:00 to 15:00.
• 21 June to 20 September: Tuesday to Saturday 9:00 to 14:00 and 19:00 to 24:00 (the night session covers the archaeological area only). Sundays and holidays, 9:00 to 15:00.
• Closed in 2026: 1 and 6 January, 1 May, and 24, 25 and 31 December.
• Monday opening left in 2026: 7 December, the eve of a holiday.

Free admission for EU citizens

Admission is free for European Union citizens who can prove it, so bring your national ID card or passport. Visitors from other countries pay €1.50.

You do not need to book if there are fewer than ten of you: collect your ticket at the museum reception during opening hours. Groups of ten or more must book. Keep the ticket, because you are asked for it to go up to the ruins.

The shuttle is always charged separately. Two adults with children aged 8 and 10 pay €9 for the shuttle (two €3 fares and two €1.50 fares), plus €1.50 each for admission if they are not EU citizens.

What the visit is like and how long it takes

The regional government reckons on two and a half to three hours for the full visit. It starts at the museum, opened in October 2009 and designed by the architects Nieto Sobejano, which is half buried so as not to block the landscape. The auditorium shows a 15-minute film, 'Madinat al-Zahra: la ciudad brillante', and the permanent exhibition covers the founding, building, daily life and destruction of the city with original pieces.

Seeing it before you go up makes sense. What survives on the hillside are the foundations and partial walls of a 10th-century palace city, and the museum is what tells you what each part was. For the same reason this is a site that is easier to follow with an official guide.

What you see at the site

The route starts on the north wall, with a viewpoint over the caliphal city and the surrounding land, and enters the Alcázar (the palace quarter) through the North Gate. Excavation began in 1911, and the excavated central part of the Alcázar covers about 10.5 hectares.

• Upper Basilical Building: five parallel aisles and a transverse one, plainly decorated.
• Great Portico: the arcade that served as the ceremonial entrance to the Alcázar and fronted a large square.
• Aljama Mosque: seen from above, in an area closed to visitors. Its foundation inscription gives the date 945.
• Hall of Abd al-Rahman III (the Salón Rico): the caliph's reception hall. It is closed for restoration, according to the official itinerary.
• House of Yafar: the residence of a senior official of the caliphate.
• Stables and service quarters, with an oven for cooking.

Heat, water and other things worth knowing

The site is an open hillside with very little shade. That is why the summer timetable is split: mornings until 14:00 and nights from 19:00 to 24:00. From June to September, the first shuttle of the morning or the night session are the two sensible choices.

Bring water and a hat. The site's website says the museum café is temporarily closed, so do not plan on buying anything there. There are adapted toilets, a shop and an information desk at the ticket counter.

Work out your arrival time backwards. If the site closes at 18:00, the last shuttle goes up at 17:00, and you should have seen the museum before that. In winter, arriving after 15:30 leaves you short of time. On Sundays, with closing at 15:00, you need to be there in the morning.

Medina Azahara has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2018. Many of the objects found here are kept in the Museo Arqueológico de Córdoba, in the old town, which has the same admission rules and rounds off the trip well.