Christian and Renaissance Granada: the Cathedral, the Royal Chapel and the monasteries

The Royal Chapel is one of the last great Gothic buildings raised on the Iberian Peninsula, in the style known as Isabelline Gothic. Construction began in 1505, a year after the death of Isabella the Catholic, and was completed in 1517, commissioned by Ferdinand the Catholic.

The remains of Isabella and Ferdinand, the Catholic Monarchs, rest here, alongside those of Joanna I of Castile, Philip of Habsburg and Prince Miguel de la Paz. Beneath the marble tombs lies the crypt, where the lead coffins of the four monarchs can be seen. The sacristy, now a museum, holds part of Isabella's personal belongings: her crown, her sceptre, Ferdinand's sword and her collection of Flemish paintings.

Open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6:30pm (Sundays and religious holidays from 11:30am to 6:30pm). General admission costs €7.

Just a few metres away, Granada Cathedral was the first Renaissance-style cathedral built in Spain. The first stone was laid in 1523, though the project changed course along the way: it was originally meant to be Gothic, in keeping with the Royal Chapel, until Charles V took over the works and steered them towards the Renaissance. Construction dragged on for almost 200 years, and the final chapel wasn't completed until the 19th century.

Highlights inside include its five naves, the main altar with its great Baroque paintings by Alonso Cano depicting the life of the Virgin, and the exterior facade, also designed by Cano. The bell tower ended up at around 60 metres, well short of the 100 metres originally planned, due to problems with the stability of the ground.

Open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 6pm and Sundays from 3pm to 6pm. General admission costs €7.

Out towards the edge of the centre, La Cartuja began construction in 1506 on land granted by the Great Captain, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, and took more than 200 years to complete. It was home to Carthusian monks until the 19th-century disentailment.

Its star attraction is the sacristy, so richly decorated that it has no real equal anywhere else in Granada, along with the tabernacle by Francisco Hurtado Izquierdo (its dome painted by Antonio Palomino) and the picture gallery, where the works of the monastery's own Fray Juan Sánchez Cotán stand out.

Open Sunday to Friday from 10am to 6:30pm, and Saturdays in two shifts (10am-12:15pm and 3pm-5:30pm). General admission costs €7.

The Monastery of San Jerónimo is likewise tied to the final stages of the conquest: the order first settled in Santa Fe, and work on the present-day building began in 1504, with Diego de Siloé as the key figure behind the project.

Its Capilla Mayor became the burial place of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the Great Captain, and his wife, the Duchess of Sessa — which is why the church, the first in the world consecrated to the Immaculate Conception, is built around his memory. The second cloister, the Cloister of the Empress, commemorates the stay of Isabella of Portugal in 1526, during her wedding journey with Charles V.

Opening hours change with the season: in summer, Monday to Saturday from 10am to 1pm and 4pm to 7pm (Sundays 11am to 1pm and 4pm to 7pm); in winter, 10am to 1pm and 3pm to 6pm. General admission costs €7.

The Cathedral and the Royal Chapel are just a minute's walk apart, so they're easily visited back-to-back in the same morning or afternoon. The two monasteries are further from the centre, and it's usually more convenient to visit them separately, or as part of a private tour that lets you adjust timings and travel without being tied to a fixed route through the historic centre.