Gibraltar cable car

[travellgirl]

Has anyone taken the cable car here? We are trying to decide which excursions to take. The husbands would love to do the cable car, but my girlfriend and I are not too sure. Is it a very long ride, very high up? I understand there is a lot of walking up very steep hills. Is this correct? We are thinking maybe the minibus tour or even a private taxi may be better or is the view from the cable car "not to be missed"?

Thanks for any help and comments.

[bigwally]

I think the best way (and I've not researched this all I can yet) might be some combination of a taxi to get you up and the cable car to get you down (or vice-versa). I would assume that there would be a place to pay/buy tickets at the top as well as down below? I would love to hear what others have to say on this too.

 

I did read someplace that you can stop on the way down to visit the apes and then board again for the balance of the journey. But it didn't mention doing same on the way up. So is the way up non-stop and the way down with the one stop?

 

I think the full on taxi tour is £7 each based on four to a cab. This takes you up and back down with the obligatory stops. I guess the driver would be happy enough if you were to ask to do the stops on the way up and they turf him free so you could ride down on your own. You might be cheeky enough to ask him to meet you at the bottom for transport back to the ship (I might be anyhow :o ).

[CascaisCruiser]

We were just on the cable car a few weeks ago. It's a 5-10 minute ride up. Unfortunately we didn't have the greatest weather, but the view was still very nice (way too cloudy though to see Morocco). You can also take the cable car down. I don't know about buying tickets at the top, you may have to buy those from the ticket booth at the bottom. There is a gift shop up there, though so you may be able to.

 

If you take the cable car up, the walking is all downhill, I think-we skipped the Apes Den (as we had seen enough apes at the top and walking down) so there might be some uphill walking to get to that. But to get to all the other sites, it's downhill. We walked down from the top and stopped at St Micheal's Cave and the Great Siege tunnels and the whole trip took about 4 hours (that was walking with a 4 year old). I think walking up would be kind of tough. It's not real steep, because the roads are switchbacks but it is a good distance up.

Our cable car did not stop in the middle on the way up so I don't know if that is an option or not.

I don't think you get any better view from the cable car. You can get to the cable car station in a taxi and there are great views all the way down.

Hope this helps and I hope you have a clear day when you visit.

[MONKEY20]

I lived in Gibraltar for 5 years and all of my visitors tried both. The cable car is a good experiance. Most of my visitors caught the cable car to the top and walked back down to the half way point then caught it back down. If you just go up and down in the cable car you would miss St Michaels caves which are well worth a visit. For information and the best tour of Gib I would always recommend the Taxis (Rock Tours) .You get to see all of Gib from Europa point to the Moorish castle all the drivers are licensed and each taxi has it own troup of monkeys which come to see them. So if you are fit and can walk down quite steep hills use the cable car but for the best informative tour I would use the Taxis.

Cigaretts are £10 FOR 200 and spirits are very cheap better buy than in Spain:)

Hope this helps

[julieanne]

Don't do the taxi/bus! I hate cable cars and very afraid of heights! We did the cable car and my friends and hubby shielded me (Yes, I am that scared!). It was a great ride, very quick! We walked back down (yes, 6 miles!) and you wouldn't believe the traffic up that narrow road! It was a nightmare! I agree that if we hadn't walked, we would have missed all the great attractionson the way down. We ended up in the garden of some hotel and had to crawl through a hole in the fence, but it was worth it! This is one of my very favorite ports and we were there last year on my birthday! I never get tired of Gibraltar ;)