Gibraltar Port Taxi Tour Include Great Siege Tunnels

[Lady Anna & Sir Troy]

Hi - We have been looking at standard rock tours but most don't include the Great Siege Tunnels on our day in port (or cost a lot for 4 people). Wondering if you get a taxi group at the port if they include the Great Siege Tunnels if you ask. Also - do the taxis still line up at the port to take people on the tours?

 

Thanks in Advance!!! 

 

Lady Anna

[John Bull]

Good day, your Ladyship,

 

Standard upper Rock tours normally do include the Great Siege Tunnels (18th century) - it's the WW2 tunnels that aren't included.

http://www.gibraltartaxiassociation.com/tour/standard-rock-tour

 

After the Great Siege Tunnel, on it's way back down to town & to your choice of Casemates Square or the cruise terminal, the tour passes the entrance to the WW2 tunnels  If you want to take a WW2 tunnels tour you can pay the driver off and bale out there. WW2 Tunnel tours are guided - they explore a portion of the extensive tunnel system, and take about 40 minutes.

From the entrance it's a short walk down past the Moorish castle to the next junction, where you can catch a local bus to town (small fare, pay in GBP or euros, don't know about plastic)

http://www.visitgibraltar.gi/see-and-do/military-history/explore-the-world-war-ii-tunnels-22

 

Yes, as far as I know taxis & vans still offer the upper Rock tour from the cruise terminal - make sure you get off the ship in or just ahead of the herd. If you leave it too late the drivers will have headed to places like the Spanish border or the coach park looking for trade.

 

JB 🙂

Edited March 14, 2023 by John Bull

[Lady Anna & Sir Troy]

Thank you so much for the help! I greatly appreciate it!

 

[Over from NZ]

17 hours ago, Lady Anna & Sir Troy said:

Hi - We have been looking at standard rock tours but most don't include the Great Siege Tunnels on our day in port (or cost a lot for 4 people). Wondering if you get a taxi group at the port if they include the Great Siege Tunnels if you ask. Also - do the taxis still line up at the port to take people on the tours?

 

Thanks in Advance!!! 

 

Lady Anna

Why don't you do the ultimate tour - which includes it all??

 

https://www.rocktoursgibraltar.com/packages

 

[Senga]

@John BullWe will be in Gibraltar September 11th and, following some of your posts, decided the 2 hour taxi group from the cruise pier would suit us perfectly.  Do you know the CURRENT price.  The last I read it was 30 pound sterling per person, however, I received an email from the Gibraltar Taxi Association saying that is an old price and the current price is 55 pound sterling per person and is a

1 hr. 45 min. tour including Pillars of Hercules, St. Michaels Cave, Apes & views, Great Siege Tunnels.  I have read some comments about "questionable" behaviour of the taxi drivers in Gibraltar so want to be clear on what to expect.  Thanks!

[John Bull]

On 6/14/2023 at 6:43 PM, Senga said:

@John BullWe will be in Gibraltar September 11th and, following some of your posts, decided the 2 hour taxi group from the cruise pier would suit us perfectly.  Do you know the CURRENT price.  The last I read it was 30 pound sterling per person, however, I received an email from the Gibraltar Taxi Association saying that is an old price and the current price is 55 pound sterling per person and is a

1 hr. 45 min. tour including Pillars of Hercules, St. Michaels Cave, Apes & views, Great Siege Tunnels.  I have read some comments about "questionable" behaviour of the taxi drivers in Gibraltar so want to be clear on what to expect.  Thanks!

 

 

I think I have learned from another thread the reason - or at least a big part of the reason - for the big increase in the taxi/van tours from around £25/30 to £55.

In brief the minor charges for admission to the Nature Reserve, St Michael's Cave and the Great Siege Tunnels, were included in the taxi/van tour price. But now the Nature Reserve charge (the Nature reserve is pretty-well the whole of the upper Rock, so impossible to avoid) has gone up from somewhere around a couple of pounds to £18 but including all of the numerous admission charges such as the WW2 tunnels which aren't part of a standard Rock tour. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2734508-gibraltar-on-your-own-taxi-to-cable-car/page/2/#comments

 

BTW, this means that if you take a standard upper Rock tour and want (and have the time) to visit the WW2 tunnels and/or the Moorish castle you can now do so at no extra cost. They're on the route down to the town at the end of the tour so you can ask the tour driver to drop you off. You would then have to make your way down through the town on foot or by bus from near the Moorish castle. 

 

JB 🙂 

[Senga]

@John BullI received a response from Blands Travel quoting £29.50 per person with pickup at the pier.  

Gibraltar Taxi Association wants payment of £55 in advance via payment request link with the following Cancellation Policy

6 days prior - 100% refund 

3 days prior - 50% refund

Within 24hrs - 0% refund

 

A 3 hour tour with Gibraltar Rock Tours with John Lopez is 90 EUROS per person with 8 passengers. 

I will definitely report back after our September trip.

[John Bull]

2 hours ago, Senga said:

@John BullI received a response from Blands Travel quoting £29.50 per person with pickup at the pier.  

Gibraltar Taxi Association wants payment of £55 in advance via payment request link with the following Cancellation Policy

6 days prior - 100% refund 

3 days prior - 50% refund

Within 24hrs - 0% refund

 

A 3 hour tour with Gibraltar Rock Tours with John Lopez is 90 EUROS per person with 8 passengers. 

I will definitely report back after our September trip.

 

Hmmmmm - all a bit complicated.🙃

Of course value depends on timescale and what's included.

 

John Lopez' 90 euros (about £76) is 3 hrs, looks like a standard Rock tour plus & a circumnavigation at sea-level, including Europa Point & the 100-ton gun.. 

The Taxi Assoc.'s website doesn't include prices. They're not alone - I find that so very very many websites in any profession anywhere in the world don't mention prices even for standard offerings  and that does grieve me.

So I wonder whether the £55 pp that they quoted you is their standard price, or includes a commission from the drivers who'd otherwise be at the cruise port on-spec or there's some other explanation.

But their standard tour, which looks to offer comparable value to John Lopez', is very different tour to the £29.50 one offered by Blands .......

 

Blands' is the same 1hr 45 mins timescale as the Taxi Assoc's £55 standard tour, but it's a very different tour.

Its first stop is Europa Point, whereas a standard tour stops at the Pillars of Hercules, which overlooks Europa Point, the Straits, and across to Morocco

The stop at St Michael's Cave, which is 3/4 of the way up the western side of the Rock and with westerly views over the Bay of Algeciras & the Atlantic, is the same as a standard tour.

From there  standard tours continue up to the Apes Feeding Station, on the ridge of the Rock - from there you you can climb a dozen steps for panoramic eastern views over the Mediterranean.

After the Apes Feeding Station the standard tour continues north to a stop at the Great Siege tunnels, with panoramic northerly views of Spain and a dramatic almost-vertical view down to the airport. It then drops down to the town at the northern end of the Rock past the WW2 Tunnels & the Moorish castle.

 Blands' tour goes down to the Apes Den, halfway down the western side of the Rock .

And It doesn't mention the Great Siege Tunnels.  Consequently it also doesn't go to the top, or to the northern end - so no easterly or northerly views.

Of course they could have simply forgotten to include the Gt. Siege Tunnels on their website. And folk do confuse the den with the feeding station. But the big difference in cost suggests this is a cut-price tour - perhaps still value-for-money but not the bargain that it appears to be.

 

Needs serious investigation, and if I'm right IMHO it'd be worth fixing up a standard tour or better.

 

JB 🙂

 

Edited June 20, 2023 by John Bull

[Senga]

@John BullNow I’m even MORE confused!  Sounds like John Lopez is the most complete tour; agreed?  You get what you pay for I guess.  

[John Bull]

1 hour ago, Senga said:

@John BullNow I’m even MORE confused!  Sounds like John Lopez is the most complete tour; agreed?  You get what you pay for I guess.  

 

Yes, it's certainly the best of those three.

But also the most expensive - as you said, you get what you paid for.

 

If you're looking to book a van, I guess you could seek a discount from Johm Lopez. 

Or something like a standard tour from Blands at a better price than the Taxi Assoc.'s £55

I doubt you'd get any discount or freebie with the  Taxi Assoc.., because it's an Association. 

 

If you're just looking for seats in a shared van, it's a dumb operator who'd give a discount to some passengers & not others.

 

JB 🙂

[KY Deb]

If we pick up a taxi tour of the Rock from the pier, can we pay with a credit card, euros,  or do we need pound sterling?   

[John Bull]

5 hours ago, KY Deb said:

If we pick up a taxi tour of the Rock from the pier, can we pay with a credit card, euros,  or do we need pound sterling?   

 

You can certainly pay for the taxi tour with Euros - same as shops, pubs, cafes & such, even local buses

Or with GBP, which are 1:1 with the Gibraltar pound.

 

I don't know about plastic.

Probably, because pretty-well every static business in Gib accepts MasterCard & Visa - but I don't know whether mobile POS machines are yet commonplace there.

Hopefully someone else can answer that.

 

JB 🙂 

[namdert]

You can perfectly pay by credit or debit card on most taxis nowadays.

If you want to visit the actual top of the rock do not book a bus trip (Blands) or even a ships excursion as their Busses cannot access the top of the rock due to size. £29.50 may seem a bargain which could turn into a dissapointment.