Gibraltar itinerary

[enroh]

Planning for upcoming Mediterranean Cruise … first stop is Gibraltar. We are a group of 4 seniors – all active and able to walk the paths and hills; however, don’t want to wear ourselves out on day 1 as there are more stops and a lot of walking to come. Main interest is to take in the views.

We are looking at a couple of options:

 #1 – lots of walking – starting at the Cruise Terminal -  walking to Casemates Sq (1 km); then to the Cable Car (1.4 km) and take the Cable Car to the top; to St Michaels Cave (2.3 km); to Skywalk (.5 km); to Windsor Bridge (2.9 km – backtracking); to Great Siege Tunnels (1.5 km); back to Casemates Square (1.6 km)

#2 – taxi tour from the Cruise port to the top of the Cable Car (should be similar in cost to the 4 of us riding the cable car); then to St Michaels Cave; to Great Siege Tunnels; or other sites before going back to the City

#3 – combinations of the 2 … taxi to the top and a couple of sites and then we walk the rest …

 

If walking … many steps or all paths; how good is the signage; any washrooms or places to rest for a drink along the way?

[LJJQ]

We did tour #2 back in beginning of November and found it interesting! We are 74 & 70 and didn’t find the tour tiring!

[sddsddean]

A couple of years ago, we more or less did #1. Went straight to the cable car though to beat the ships tours (which we did...just!), then south to the caves, north to the tunnels and down the hill to the square and back to the ship. Though it was a longish day, we felt OK. Next morning we could hardly move!! Our legs were so stiff and aching, we just about managed to get out of bed! My wife stayed in bed all day, but I managed to get out and walk round the next port (which did actually ease the pain a bit), so just be warned!! If it makes any odds, we are both mid 60's.

 

Simon

[John Bull]

You might find a problem getting a taxi from the cruise terminal to the bottom cablecar station (a walk of about 35 minutes), drivers will be looking for a more-lucrative fare such as an upper-Rock tour.

Be aware that hordes of day-trippers from the Spanish resorts will swamp the cablecar station from about 10 to 10.30 am, when queues will build.

And the cablecar service is suspended (deliberate awful pun 🙄) in moderately-high winds.

With those caveats out of the way, the walk from the upper station past the apes' feeding station & the skywalk to St Michael's cave is interesting, panoramic, and straightforward, and broadly down-hill but no footpath & the road is narrow (one-way traffic). Drinks & snacks etc at the cablecar station & St Michael's cave, but not in between unless you're an ape. There's a small entrance fee to the cave, not included with the cablecar ticket.

 

Adding the Windsor Bridge means adding steep steps - lots and lots of them - plus more road walking

Here's just some of them

 

And adding the Great Siege Tunnels takes you to the northern end of the upper Rock.

From there you'd have to choose whether to hike back to the cablecar or walk down to Casemates Square.

I'm not aware of any refreshment stops on the last part of the walk, and I'd be inclined to rule those parts out, altho you could decide as you go.

If you walk down from the Great Siege tunnels & past the Moorish castle it gets a little complicated thro the back-streets, but you end up at Casemates Square

If you take take the cablecar down, go into the town via the South Bastion Gate by the little Trafalgar cemetery & down Main Street to Casemates Square.

Whatever you do, Casemates Square the last stop, not the first.

 

A taxi or van tour is simpler and requires no real effort.

 

But combining a taxi up & walk down isn't cost-effective. You'd be paying somewhere near the same as a taxi-full of people and the driver won't find any one-way fares from the top. If you choose this, take the taxi just to St Michael's cave - if he takes you further he'll be committed to a one-way road

 

JB 🙂

[enroh]

In doing additional research on this topic, I read on one site that there is a Shuttle £3 from the Dock to the Cable Car Base Station. I didn’t see that mentioned on any other site, so not sure if that is another option to get to the Cable Car (other than walking, taxi and walk and bus)?

 

Too bad that the Mid Cable Car Station isn’t open from April-October; not sure that we want to walk the steep 300+M along George V Wall and then the uphill 200+M to the Top Cable Car Station … though it’s better than the other walking options to the Top Cable Car Station or the Siege Tunnels.

 

Is that photo going down to the Windsor Suspension Bridge or up the steps along the Wall?

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, enroh said:

 

In doing additional research on this topic, I read on one site that there is a Shuttle £3 from the Dock to the Cable Car Base Station. I didn’t see that mentioned on any other site, so not sure if that is another option to get to the Cable Car (other than walking, taxi and walk and bus)?

 

Too bad that the Mid Cable Car Station isn’t open from April-October; not sure that we want to walk the steep 300+M along George V Wall and then the uphill 200+M to the Top Cable Car Station … though it’s better than the other walking options to the Top Cable Car Station or the Siege Tunnels.

 

Is that photo going down to the Windsor Suspension Bridge or up the steps along the Wall?

 

Sorry, don't know of a shuttle ship-to-cablecar, but its some years since I last visited by cruise ship.

 

The photo is the top section of the Charles V Steps on the western slope below the upper apes feeding station

https://goo.gl/maps/T4bJgLVkTbg5VLm6A 

 

JB 🙂

[Eli_6]

Following.  I am also hoping to just get off the boat and do our own thing. The main thing we are wanting to see is the monkeys.  

[kateh513]

We just got back from a stop in Gibraltar.  There is a £3 Shuttle/Taxi van that will take you from the port to Casemate square.  They will not take you to the cable car.  We did that and walked from the square the the bottom of the cable car. It was about 20 minutes.   We were one of the 1st off the ship and walked quickly to the cable car.  There wasn't a line and we had prepaid for our tickets.  That is the only thing we did that went as planned.

 

Unfortunately after about 20 minutes at the top it started to rain. We were prepared and didn't mind at first as we walked to St. Michaels Cave from the cable car area  but the weather just kept getting worse.  

 

We heard the signage is not great and everyone was correct.  Confusing, hard to see some of them and some areas non at all!  Luckily we had a map and also GPS.  If you walk you have to know where you are going.

We walked a great deal in the pouring rain to get to the WWII tunnels and they were closed for the day.  We didn't see a single sign that indicated that.  I'm sure the taxi drivers knew that.

We were ready to get a nice hike in and see all the places we wanted to see at our own speed.  Even with perfect weather, I feel like we would have gotten to see a lot more with a taxi tour.  

I would suggest getting off the ship and grabbing one of tours.  

 

The Apes are everywhere so you will see them no matter where you go.

 

St. Michaels cave was amazing!  I would definitely do that again!

[greeneyedgirl58]

On 2/2/2023 at 5:31 AM, LJJQ said:

We did tour #2 back in beginning of November and found it interesting! We are 74 & 70 and didn’t find the tour tiring!

Does anyone know the cost of a taxi tour, two people in the taxi? Thanks!

[lisabdh1]

Just back last week from a trip there. I totally recommend a tour. Especially if you want to see the monkeys. The tour vans are there every day, they know the monkeys and can hand feed them peanuts. It was not lots of walking thanks to the van, they drop you off and pick you up at all the spots. I highly recommend Carl from Inside Out Rock Tours. We did the Ultimate Tour - 7 hours at 100 pounds per person, we had 3 vans. Everyone was delighted and raved about the tour. It really is amazing and we learned so much from the local drivers and got great pictures even with the monkeys!

[SUESEABE]

@lisabdh1  Thanks for the above Information. We booked the Ultimate Tour from Inside Out Rock Tours for our stop in Gibraltar in October. It's reassuring to know that it has such rave reviews.

[Over from NZ]

On 3/23/2023 at 6:30 AM, lisabdh1 said:

Just back last week from a trip there. I totally recommend a tour. Especially if you want to see the monkeys. The tour vans are there every day, they know the monkeys and can hand feed them peanuts. It was not lots of walking thanks to the van, they drop you off and pick you up at all the spots. I highly recommend Carl from Inside Out Rock Tours. We did the Ultimate Tour - 7 hours at 100 pounds per person, we had 3 vans. Everyone was delighted and raved about the tour. It really is amazing and we learned so much from the local drivers and got great pictures even with the monkeys!

Carl was out driver too!! We also did the ultimate tour. Not that it's an expensive excursion.. but it's worth every penny!

[gfkcruiser]

On 3/25/2023 at 11:35 PM, SUESEABE said:

@lisabdh1  Thanks for the above Information. We booked the Ultimate Tour from Inside Out Rock Tours for our stop in Gibraltar in October. It's reassuring to know that it has such rave reviews.

We used him a few years back and he was very good. 

[cfkm1]

Just visited Gibraltar in March.. Even though it is a small place, it is extremely hilly and you need to be physically fit to walk to different POI especially to the caves and tunnels.   Glad to book a tour that bring us around.  Btw, the weather could be freaky and the cable car service was stopped on that day we were in Gibraltar .