Analise

Thank you.

That's good to know.

I will. I thought that the round £ coins are good until October 15 in the UK.

Analise

I'm a month away from my visit to Gibraltar and I have a few questions.

According to the Gibraltar Port Authority's cruise schedule, no cruise ships are scheduled to be at port on 5 October which is my one full day in Gibraltar. Here is the link if anyone wants to double-check my accuracy: http://www.gibraltarport.com/schedules

I hope that the crowds will be lighter without docked cruise ships that day.

1. I would like to go up the cable car when it opens first thing that morning. Will I need to purchase a return (or roundtrip) cable car ticket in advance online or can I buy the ticket that morning when I arrive at the cable car station? I'm hoping that if there is no cruise ship traffic, I'll be able to buy when I arrive at the cable car station. If I can buy at the station directly, do they accept a Visa credit card or must it be cash?

2. After the cable car, I'll want to go to Europa Point. Is there a bus I can take directly from the cable car to Europa Point? Is it the #2 or #3 ? Is there a time table for October 2017? I went online but could not find one.

3. From Europa Point, I want to go to Market Sq (old town area). Is there a bus for that too?

4. From the old town area, which bus to the Rock Hotel and how late does it run?

May I assume there is still an unlimited day bus pass for the routes I want to take? I'l be taking a taxi from the airport to my hotel the day before so all I'll need is an unlimited day pass.

Thank you.

David-A

DAM IT.

Browser just ate a long reply.

David-A

hang on. lot to re-type.

Analise

Whenever you get a chance.

David-A

Okay

Cruise Calls:

I agree nothing showing up for 5th October. And I'm not aware of any other big events, etc.

Also that is off peak, so it will be a lot quieter in terms of numbers of day-trip visitors from Spain, especially on weekdays.
As a result, expect peace to see the upper rock. In peak summer it can get a bit packed around the sites.


Cable Car - Ticket Purchase:

There is NO need to buy in advance - you can just walk up and purchase on the day.
They accept both cash AND card.

At very busy times booking online in advance can avoid one queue, but with no cruise ships in that day, and in october, it won't be a problem.

Also, not buying in advance also means that in event of it being too windy for the cable car to operate, or unscheduled maintence you can easily switch to another option for getting up the rock.

Note: There are two types of ticket.
Firslty just the cable car - which is 12.50 GBP one way or 14 GBP for return.
- this also lets you walk about the upper rock, but does not include entry to the 'sites' within the upper rock (crucial of these are St Michaels Cave and the Great Siege Tunnels).
Including the sites it is 22 GBP for a return. (This is saving on buying the 'sites' ticket for £10).

But see below for the order I would do things.

Bus Tickets:
Yes.

But note there are 2 different bus companies in Gibraltar, and they don't accept each others tickets.

The government owned 'Gibraltar Bus Company' operate all routes EXCEPT for routes 5 and 10. - You will not need to use 5 or 10 (on that day you plan to explore).

A single journey ticket is GBP 1.50 (or 2 EUR).
A day pass is GBP 2.25 (or 3 EUR) - so if you are going to make more than one journey it is worth it.

The buses ONLY take cash - either pounds or euros.

(The day ticket is valid for the current calendar day. It is NOT 24 consecutive hours - as you get in some other places.)

Routes 5 and 10 (operated by the other company) are the only two routes that go to the airport/border area.

Route 10 takes you from the airport/border to near the bottom station for the cable car, which is also the bottom of the hill going up to the Rock Hotel.

IF you were travelling light, you could get a route 10 bus on the day you arrive instead of a taxi - or even walk (I know some people who walk).
BUT, if you have any kind of heavy luggage to pull, etc, I'd get a taxi / arrange a hotel collection.


Bus routes (will come back to sequencing of your day later):


Route 2 is the only route that goes all the way to Europa Point.

(For many many decades the answer to your question would have been route 3 - and you will still find that in old guide books, etc. But the routes were changed and renumbered in more recent times).

Market Place (which is just outside Casemates Square at the northen end of Main Street) is the other end of route 2.

From market place it goes along Line Wall Road then the southern end of Main Street, then close to the bottom station of the cable car, then up the hill past the Rock Hotel, then on south to Europa Point.

So you could take that there, then take it back - but I will come back to the order I would do things.

'Old town area' could mean different things. And you might not need a bus.
However, in what I propose below, you might be using route 1 from the old 'upper town' area..

Timetables are badly produced sadly but basically the service on route 2 starts just before 7am, and runs until 9pm. Service is supposedly every 15mins on weekdays, 30mins on weekends and public holidays - but in both cases traffic disruption can slow it down, create gaps.


Other Methods:

Firslty (for the benefit of other readers) I should point out lots of people assume the cable car is the only way to go 'up' the rock, or the only way to reach the top.

It isn't.

You can also:

- walk up (and if you were interested in walking options, I can give you some routings for that. But it is a lot of up and down on inclines)

- get a taxi tour up (I will outline the taxi tour option below).

- (IF someone was a passenger on a cruise ship call, or (sometimes) if somone was on an organised day excusion coach trip from Spain) -they have the option to do an organised coach tour in Gibralar which can include various levels of going up the rock. I generally would not recommend the coach tour option inside Gibraltar - as it is less personal, more rushed, etc.

Taxi Tour:

Gibraltar taxi's are people carrier / mini van type vehicles. Usually seating up to 6 to 9 passengers.

In addition to offering normal point-to-point taxi services, most (but not all) taxis are licenced to offer rock tours.

Now there are various official pre-configured options for different tours they can provide with different things included. But there can be some negotiation too - and about how long is spent at different stops, etc.

Almost invariably any rock tour by taxi includes a trip to Europa Point, and when going up the rock it includes St Michaels Cave and the Great Siege Tunnels. Which are the two must do sites.

If you ask to go along the top of the rock (there is a road that runs along the peak / ridge line) then when stopping there you get views down both sides that are virtually the same as from the top station of the cable car.

Taxi tours start from abotu 25-30 GBP per person. (This is providing you let the taxi driver group you up with other people to fill the vehicle to a reasonable level).
If you ask for the tour on your own, the total cost (not per person will be a lot more).

Note the 25-30+ GBP cost INCLUDES the entry fee for the sites (as discussed above) - get the driver to confrim this, but it always does.

Some drivers are VERY good tour guides, the odd one is much less so. And, like anything, some people can click with some people others don't. Don't feel pressured if you don't like the driver.
Also, the odd driver has been known to occasionally fib that the cable car is closed, etc.
The cable car does sometimes get closed due to winds, or maintenance works. And sometimes conditions change and it reopens - so it might just be old info they have, but sometimes it is a bit dishonest.

Location of sites within the upper rock:

If you picture Gibraltar running on a roughly north-south axis.
With a ridge line of the peak of the rock running down the middle of it, separating the steeper eastern side (med) from the western (bay) side.

The cable car takes you up to the top of the rock - but at location that is about mid-way along the length of the rock.

Now the two most important sites in the upper rock are the cave and the great siege tunnels.

The cave is relativly easy to incorporate with the cable car providing people can walk on inclinded roads. It just involves taking the zig-zag roads down at bit, but not moving very far north south.
After the cave, people can then either walk back up to the top station or (in winter season only) keep walking down and reboard the cable car at the middle station down.(Cable car does not stop at the middle station in summer - due to demend to get people up to the top).

However the great siege tunnels are a distance away to the north - they are in the north face of the rock.
After the cave you can walk to the great siege tunnels, but then you have a walk back south again and back UP to the top station, only to ride down agian.
If you have walked that far north, many people would walk down and out on foot.

Obviously the taxi tour drops you right outside the sites.

Note: Taxis are not allowed to take people into the upper rock other than on a tour.

WHAT I WOULD DO:

If you are up for the walking while you are up the rock, then stick to this kind of plan. If the walking does not appeal, consider a taxi tour.

Assuming you are willing to walk while up the rock:

(Go to Europa Point quickly first if you want by bus, OR leave it for later in the day - The reason is largely the location of sites within the upper rock and to avoid back tracking.)

-Get cable car ticket - incuding entry to the sites.
-Ride to top station.
-Take in views.
-Walk down to St Michaels Cave.
-Go into cave. (Walk through tour)
-Eiher head straight north, or, walk down lower to suspension bridge (Royal Anglian Way footpath).
-Cross suspension bridge.
-Walk north.
-Walk up to Great Siege Tunnels (the walk up is necessary regardless of whether you go lower for the bridge or not)
-Go into Great Siege Tunnels (walk through tour - or rather walk in, and back out same way when you reach the end).
-Walk down
-Go into WW2 tunnels if open (this is an extra on top of the main sites ticket - it is a guided tour, you must have a sites ticket first).
-Walk down
-Pop into Moorish Caslte if you wish (this is included in the main ticket) - but only the inner most keep is open. The outer bits held gibraltar prison until relativly recently and the decision making process about what is kept/how it is opened is still going on). Not an essential.
-Walk down
-When you leave the upper rock, you can either:
(a)keep walking down through the old upper town, until you reach mainstreet/casemates square. You could then bus or walk back to hotel etc.
(b) stop as soon as you reach the public bus stop just a bit down from the castle. Bus route 1 will take you from there on a route that goes past the Rock Hotel (so you could get off if you wanted to popback and freshen up), and then ultimatley it would take you to Market Place, casemates squre.


That above assumes the cable car is not stopping at the middle station, as I think it might still be summer schedule when you visit.
If it was stopping at the middle station, then after the suspension brdige, you could ride the cable car down from the middle station (keep your sites ticket) and then take a bus up to near the moorish castle and walk up and do the great siege tunnels, (plus ww2 tunnels if you wish).

Hope that all makes sense.

Let me know if you want outright walking options, etc.

Analise

Thank you for taking the time to write all of the above. This is quite extensive!

I'm relieved the cruise ship crowds will not be there. From what you're saying, if I were to take a taxi tour on my own, it could be a significant cost. So I will take the cable car to the very top. I don't know if I'll go to the caves or the siege tunnels. If anything, I'd go to the siege tunnels. Let's assume I take the cable car down in case I don't go to the tunnels or caves. How easy is it to find the #2 bus to Europa Point?

Do I buy the unlimited day pass on the #2 bus from the bus driver? He/she will give me a paper pass/ticket?

Is the only bus I'll need for transportation between the Cable Car, Europa Point, Market Place and the Rock Hotel the #2 line? Did I understand that correctly? I might walk back to the hotel but I want to know what the availability of the buses is. Do the bus stops have schedules posted?

Also, you mentioned Route 1 bus. Where would the come into play?

Again, thank you very much.

David-A

Damit. This new FT is terrible.

Both Firefox and Safari - it keeps eating posts if your session times out while typing.

Might be easier if I drew a scribble map.

David-A

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

If someone (or a couple of people) do a taxi tour completely on their own it is very expensive.

However the drivers can group you up with other people (to get the cost down to 25-30+ GBP each).
This does mean you are sharing the taxi with others, but you still get quite an intimate tour, and it avoids walking to the sites.


I'd really encourage people to do them.


It's both easy and dificullt. The stops themselves are easy to find (as they mostly have bus shelters and laybys, and all have bus stop signs).

However, the stops don't have their names printed on them, and there are no good bus maps at all.

I've attempted to draw one - see below.

Yes - it is just a printed paper bus ticket with the date on it that the driver will give.

Just show that to the driver of any subsequent buses you get on.
There is no need to validate tickets in any machine or anything like that.

I think the only bus you would certainly need is route 2. As it is NOT practical to walk to Europa Point. I expect you will walk most other places.

But you would need to use it twice, so buying the day pass makes sense it is cheaper than two single journeys.

Sadly not!

Well the do have timetables, but they only list the departure times from the start of the route. And, as Gibraltar traffic is very variable you can't really infer anything from this!

If you have data service available on your phone you could use the new tracker site:
http://track.bus.gi/
(note buses only operated during the day, so don't expect to see much when it is night time in Gibraltar).

But sadly the only maps they give are diagrammatic loops.

I've attempted to draw the two routes on a map below.
And I will list the relevant stops - have marked them on map.

If you elected to leave the upper rock form the northern end on foot, rather than walking back to the cable car, you could pickup this bus nearby.

Alternatively, if you elected to come down by cable car without doing the great siege tunnels, you might decide to ride this bus to near there and walk back up at the northern end.

David-A

Okay, as I said in post above - given the absense of any good bus maps, I've attemped to draw one.

When looking at it, try to keep the height variation in mind:
http://www.transeuropemarinas.com/wp...erial-view.jpg


Link to map:
https://www.scribblemaps.com/maps/view/Analise/Analise


Hotel:

(You did say you were staying in the Rock Hotel?)

The Rock Hotel is right in the middle of the map, just south of the solid black line - which is the cable car going up.

The rock hotel is slightly up the hill of Europa Road, but you can easily walk down to the cable car bottom station (either on the road, or via the Alameda Gardens).

Bus Route 2 - Orange Line.

If you look just opposite the hotel, I've marked the rock hotel bus stop, heading south (towards Europa Point). If you had wifi at the hotel you could use the tracker to see if a bus was getting near (but it is hard to judge timing if you don't know the place, as the stops are not equidistant).

Alternatively, if you look just north (up on map) from the bottom station of the cable car, you will see another stop marked Eliots way - if you came down on the cable car and wanted to go straight to Europa Point, that is the stop I would go to.

Coming back from Europa point, you could get off at the Trafalgar Cemetery stop (this is just a tiny bit further north still).
Or you could ride the bus through town towards Market Place.
Personally I'd probably get off and walk main street.

(where route 2 splits if you zoom in I've tried to put directional arrows).


Route 1 - Green Line

The key stop here is the Willis Road terminus (where it meets the blue dashed line - which I will come to in a minute) this is just down from the northern end of the upper rock.

If you follow the lines down you will see this route comes very close to the rock hotel (the Gardiners road stop - marked - is JUST at the bottom of the rock hotel entrance, before it turns on to Europa Road.
You could get off here, if going back to hotel.

Note I've not joined up the green lines on the flat bit of town, the route is just too confusing to draw (as it loops on itself) but it goes to market place terminus - the same place as route 2.

If you were wanting to ride route 1 up to the moorish castle area, then I've marked the stop "Wilsons ramp" I'd walk to here to catch it, sadly there is not better more practical stop than this.


Upper Rock:

Now, all those dashed lines in the upper rock - and the white pins.

Pink Bit:

If you take the cable car up, then I would certainly at least walk the pink dashed route.

The first white pin you reach is a new glass floor sky walk due to open any time now. Could be tomorrow, might still be a month away.

However the second white pin (at the end of the pink line) is St Michael's cave.

After that you could turn round and walk back up to the cable car top station.
Alternatively, you could continue on the red dashed line.

Red bit:

This will take you past the new-ish suspension bridge (white pin) - which you will be able to see from your hotel.

The end of the red dashed bit is near the cable car middle station.

I'm not sure if they will have switched over to winter times when you visit.
If they are on winter serivce, you can re-board the cable car here and come down if you want.

Otherwise it would be:
a long walk back up (silly)
rr a walk north - on the yellow dashed line (much more sensible.

Yellow bit:

This is just the route from the suspension bridge / middle station to the great siege tunnels. (white pin).


After the great siege tunnels:

I'd personally walk down the dark blue dashed line.
Past the WW2 tunnels (and I'd do that if they are open) - white pin.
Then you could pop into the moorish castle (white pin) but not a lot to see.

Then, I'd either take bus route 1 (green line) back to the hotel.
But, if I didn't want to go to the hotel, I would actually just keep walking down through the old upper town.

Alternatively, you could walk the light turquoise route back to the top station, and take the cable car down.



So in short, i'd do cable car up. Pink, Red, Yellow, dark blue.



Or, I'd take a taxi tour, to avoid the walking.


Hope that makes sense. sorry there are no good official bus maps.

Analise

David-A, thank you so much!!

craz

I was in GIB last Oct on an organized tour of 1 week of Southern Spain. They had mini vans for all of us, the main neg was we only went to The Cave and IMO what a waste of my time. Ive been to numerous caves and caverns. And nothing beats or compares to Carlsbad Caverns in NM, or Mammoth Cave in KY

I was given the impression we were going to do the siege tunnels which is the major reason I wanted to go to GIB to begin with

If you have never been to a large cave or cavern then St Mikes is OK, but if you have do the siege tunnels which you wont find anywhere else. There are plenty of caves and caverns all over The US

Analise

I've been to caverns in Virginia and that was enough for me. If the suspension bridge is open and if the cable car stops at the middle station, I'll want to walk over that bridge. I'd rather not walk up hill too much. If the new skywalk is open when I'm there, I would love to see that.

:D!

Wow that is an amazing post David-A. In fact it has inspired me to book a trip to Gibraltar to see it again.

Although the main reasons are that it's the start of a new TP year and there was a good BA fare and my wife is going away on her own too... and I want to get some Gib banknotes as I need them to annoy some annoying colleagues.

I didn't know about the bus day pass so paid for 3 single fares last time instead of 1.5x a single fare


Regarding the £1 coin situation, it appears that Jersey and Guernsey are withdrawing £1 coins altogether, in favour of notes, though the new UK coin is also valid there.

Meanwhile I'm told that Gib, IOM, St Helena and Falklands will continue to use their round £1, thus the UK round £1 will also remain in circulation. It seems to me that they may become a dumping ground for the fakes though I'm sure UK banks are currently "buying" up lots of fakes as people frantically deposit all the old ones (despite there not really being a deadline for depositing them in banks).

David-A

Gib gov statement was that non-round £1 coins would be produced - as soon as production capacity was available (which presumably means royal mint will do physical production - other mints have also been used for physical production in the past).