The Alhambra was built on the Sabika hill, one of the highest elevations in Granada. This choice of location was intended to achieve both a strategic defensive advantage and to represent a conspicuous symbol, since the point of maximum power would be clearly visible from the rest of the city. The summit was deliberately chosen to be contemplated.

The Sabika hill had already been occupied in earlier times, at least since Roman times. The earliest written records of a military site in this area date back to 666. There is evidence of settlements such as Iliberis (Elvira) in Albaicín and Alcazaba; Castilla, near the present town of Atarfe; and Garnata, which was more of a neighborhood of Iliberis, on the hill opposite the Alcazaba. In 756, there was already an Arab population in El Albaicín and La Alhambra.

The extension of the hill allowed the construction of the complex, which covers about 740 meters long and between 40 and 180 meters wide.

After the death of Alhaken II, the third Umayyad caliph, in 976, the political history of the Umayyad caliphate began to experience a series of setbacks. The Christian reconquest became the predominant force in the peninsula. In this context, the transformation of Gharnata from a small town to a city of some importance occurred in the early 11th century, when the Berber dynasty of the Zirids established a semi-independent principality. During the rule of Badis ben Habus and Abd Allah ibn Buluggin (1025-1090), the population of the city grew.