Gibraltar is not simply a place that you add to your “to see” list. It is a busy, vibrant, active city in the Mediterranean, served by a superb cruise terminal and an International Airport and it is easy to get there by road through a land border with direct connections to major cities in Spain. A visit to Gibraltar can include more than just sightseeing tours, although these tours are enormously popular, offering some of the best views of the Strait of Gibraltar with the southernmost tip of Europe and the mountains of North Africa visible from vantage points in the Upper Rock.
Gibraltar offers some wonderful experiences for visitors and by pre-arranging a private tour, to include these, visitors really can make the most of their trip to the Rock. Let’s start at the beaches – sea-based activities are easily arranged. Diving for instance.
Given its location at the meeting point of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, Gibraltar is home to a huge diversity of marine life. The seabed is also littered with wrecks dating back centuries. There are a number of trained instructors providing opportunities to include some undersea exploration in your visit to Gibraltar – ensuring, of course, that trips are sensitive to the natural world and the flora and fauna that thrive in the waters around the Rock.
There are many opportunities to engage in sea-based active experiences. You can learn to sail through one of the numerous sailing schools located around the marinas. Or, if your time in Gibraltar is more limited, you could keep to one of the “dolphin safaris” which are short boat trips out into the sea around Gibraltar offering the opportunity to see dolphin, porpoises, sea turtles, flying fish – even whales have been spotted occasionally – depending on the time of year. If you also want to take in some of the historic sites, such as O’Hara’s Battery at the very top of the Rock or St Michael’s Cave, you could include a rock tour in one of Gibraltar’s comfortable taxis to your day, with the benefit of guidance and information from the knowledgeable local drivers.
The adventures can continue closer to shore, with opportunities to enjoy activities, such as stand up paddle, with fully trained local instructors, and beach activities such as beach volleyball. For those who want to take a break from the humdrum of life and enjoy new activities outdoors, beach activities in Gibraltar provide fun, friendly, sometimes new, experiences in the sunshine.
If you’d like to get to see Gibraltar from outside in, there are also opportunities to explore the many caves and tunnels that riddle the inside of the Rock, including Gorham’s Cave Complex, part of Gibraltar’s World Heritage Site and a place of great archaeological importance. While it is possible to readily tour some of the more accessible caves such as St Michael’s Cave or the World War II tunnels, visits to the Gorham’s Cave complex are limited to certain times of the year and must be organized via the Gibraltar Museum.
Add to this the usual warm, friendly Gibraltar welcome, its excellent shopping, its numerous hotels, many venues for dining and socialising, and the ease of getting around with its local taxi service, and you’ll find you’ll want to keep coming back!
