I spent four years living an hour up the coast from Gibraltar before I finally went, and honestly most of what I’d read about it turned out to be wrong.
It’s 6.7 square kilometres of British Overseas Territory attached to the southern tip of Spain, with its own currency, its own border, and a colony of wild monkeys living above the town. It generates an awful lot of questions before you go, and a lot of the answers online still describe a cable car that hasn’t run since 2025.
These are the things people ask most, answered from two days there in August.
Questions About Gibraltar
Each of these has a full answer of its own if you want the detail behind it.
Is there passport control between Spain and Gibraltar? In practice, on the day we crossed, no. We drove up to the frontier and straight through, and there was nobody standing at it. Take your passport regardless, because the legal requirement hasn’t changed.
Can you use euros in Gibraltar? Widely, yes, but the rate you’re given in shops is poor. The official currency is the Gibraltar pound, pegged one to one with sterling.
Is the Gibraltar cable car open? No, it closed on 18 November 2025 for a full rebuild and isn’t expected to reopen until 2027.
Can you walk up the Rock of Gibraltar for free? The lower roads cost nothing. The Upper Rock Nature Reserve is ticketed, and the charge starts at three pedestrian gates: Jews’ Gate, the Moorish Castle and Devil’s Gap.
How long does it take to cross the border? Under two minutes going in when we crossed, and leaving is the slower and far less predictable direction.
Walking around Gibraltar takes how long? The town centre is roughly twenty minutes end to end. The Upper Rock is a full day, and about 30,000 steps.
Is Gibraltar expensive? The Upper Rock is, but a bus is £1.80 or £2.40 return, eight hours of parking was £8.50, and a night at Ocean Village was £20.10, all of which are perfectly reasonable.
What food is Gibraltar known for? Calentita is the national dish, though we never saw it on a menu. What you’ll actually eat is British and Indian.
Is Gibraltar more British or Spanish? British in its symbols and administration, Mediterranean in its climate and the way people live in it.
How many days in Gibraltar is enough? One full day covers the Rock and the town, as set out in one day in Gibraltar. On a cruise stop, see Gibraltar in 3 hours.
Can you walk into Gibraltar from Spain? Yes, and the walk crosses an active airport runway, which is one of the best things about arriving on foot.
Does Gibraltar have hop on hop off buses? Not quite, but there are tour minibuses that run the Upper Rock circuit, and five ordinary public bus routes covering the rest of the territory.
Is it safe to walk around Gibraltar? Yes, and heat and terrain are the real risks rather than crime.
Am I covered by the NHS in Gibraltar? Not by the NHS itself, no. Gibraltar runs its own service, the Gibraltar Health Authority, and UK visitors are covered for emergency and medically necessary treatment under a reciprocal arrangement, with a UK GHIC or EU EHIC accepted. We never needed to test it, so check the Gibraltar Health Authority before you travel.
Is Gibraltar part of Africa or Europe? Europe, at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, and Morocco is beautifully visible across the strait on a clear day.
Gibraltar Has No Passport Check, and That Is New for Some of Us
This is the fact that mattered most to me personally, so it goes first here.
Jethro and I are South African. We’ve lived in Spain for four years on temporary residency, with NIE numbers and residency cards, and for all of that time Gibraltar was the one place an hour down the coast I couldn’t casually visit. I just assumed our South African passports would be examined and questioned at the frontier, and I really didn’t want to spend a day off finding out.
The border gates have come down, and we drove up to the crossing fully expecting to stop and found nobody there at all. No booth, no queue, no fuss whatsoever. We just went straight through.
Coming out is the slower direction, because the old zigzag infrastructure is still standing and drops traffic to a crawl. Leaving on a Friday at 3pm it cost us about two extra minutes.
Take your passport anyway. Nobody checking on one August afternoon isn’t the same as no requirement, and the position can change.
The Cable Car Has Been Closed Since November 2025
Almost every guide to Gibraltar still tells you to ride the cable car to the top. It closed on 18 November 2025 for a complete rebuild, the biggest work done on it since it was built in 1966, and it’s not expected to run again until 2027.
This changes the whole shape of a visit, because getting to the summit is now the hardest thing to plan and the easiest place to be overcharged, and the steep staircase beside the old cable car line has become the main pedestrian route down.
A shuttle seat and entry bought together is £40 while the taxi rank wanted £60 for the same pair, and getting around Gibraltar has the full breakdown.
The Macaques Have Rules, and They Are Consistent
There are around 300 Barbary macaques on the Upper Rock, the only wild monkey population in Europe. They’re the reason a lot of people come and they’re absolutely worth it.
After a day among them I worked out that their behaviour toward bags is completely predictable:
- In your hand: they will absolutely go for it.
- On your back: they will come and check, and try their luck.
- On the ground: it’s gone.
One posed beautifully and did nothing at all. The next one I approached went straight for my bag. One climbed into a taxi at the top of the road and flatly refused to get out. One screamed right in my face on the steps and I had to stop and gather myself before carrying on.
The saddest thing I saw all day was one of them eating out of a crisp packet somebody had just let it take. Please don’t feed them.
It’s illegal as well as unkind. Feeding the macaques carries a £500 fine, and the Government of Gibraltar explains why: our food disrupts their natural diet and can give them diseases including diabetes. Letting one help itself to your crisps counts, so keep food out of sight and your bag shut.
Everything Really Is Zigzagged Across the Mountain
This is honestly the single most useful practical fact about the Upper Rock, and the one I couldn’t find anywhere before going.
Nothing here is arranged in the order you’d want to walk it. The sights are scattered across the whole mountain rather than threaded along one route, so you gain height, give it back, and gain it again, and no amount of planning on the map beforehand changes that.
From the bridge you choose: the very steep staircase that follows the old cable car line, or the road, which zigzags more gently towards the beautiful St Michael’s Cave.
Go up on the road, and come down the steps. The staircase is quicker going down and brutal going up, and the road is the exact opposite. Getting that the wrong way round is the single most common way to lose an afternoon here.
There Is a Cloud That Sits on the Summit
It’s called the levante, an easterly wind that hits the Rock, rises, cools and caps the top in cloud while the rest of the coast is in sun.
It was there both mornings we visited and I was completely convinced we’d picked the wrong week. Both days it began lifting around 11am and was gone by half past twelve.
In August it’s genuinely helpful, because it keeps the mornings lovely and cool. For photographs it’s a real problem, and the fix is simply to go up after lunch. There’s more in the best month to visit Gibraltar.
The Restaurant Signs Are All the Same Colour
A small thing we noticed on the first evening and then honestly couldn’t stop noticing.
Almost every restaurant sign in Gibraltar is a blue background with gold lettering. Not some of them. Established chains too, including a Burger King housed in an arched stone building. I have absolutely no idea what the rule behind it is and I couldn’t find one anywhere, but once you see it you really can’t unsee it.
Main Street Is the Most Overrated Thing Here
I expected a beautiful British high street transplanted to the Mediterranean and got an ordinary shopping strip with chain stores.
The lanes running off it are so much better, and they’re where the town actually is. Bomb House Lane and Secretary’s Lane are worth the detour for the lovely names alone.
The war history is what makes Gibraltar interesting, and it’s also why the architecture is so plain. Military towns are built functional, and there are boarded up buildings sitting between the old ones, in odd contrast with the construction going on at almost every block.
What Gibraltar Is Actually For
Two things, for me: the hike, and the monkeys. Both are genuinely excellent and neither exists anywhere else on this coast.
I’d add a day for the food, which sounds strange until you’ve lived in Spain for four years and find yourself somewhere selling proper fish and chips, Indian takeaways and Terry’s Chocolate Orange. We came out of Raj’s with a curry for the drive home and spent the rest of the journey talking about it.
I absolutely loved that walk and I didn’t finish it. We skipped the Great Siege Tunnels and the World War Two tunnels because we were just too tired to keep going, and that’s the reason we’ll go back. The Moorish Castle wasn’t an option anyway, being closed for renovation when we were there in August 2026.
But honestly, it’s a place I’d rather visit properly for a day than stay in for three.
More Gibraltar Guides
- The best things to do in Gibraltar for the full two day version
- Free things to do in Gibraltar and exactly where free ends
- Where to park in Gibraltar including the one beach you can’t drive to
- Getting around Gibraltar for buses, taxis and the three ways up the Rock
- The best month to visit Gibraltar and the levante
More questions like these, for other places I’ve been, are collected at travel questions.
