Day trip to Gibraltar

[lelapsley]

Off to the Costa Del Sol in February. Has anyone taken a travel company (ie: Airtours), trip to Gibraltar for the day? How much is it likely to cost? How long would the journey take? How long would we actully get in Gibraltar? All information gratefully received

[DuzyEverwork]

Whatever Airtours or any other travel company charge you for your day trip to Gibraltar can be done much, much cheaper by taking a local tour run from one of the many shops in the tourist areas along the CdS, the large tour operators althought providing you with a service are of course out to make money. The reason for your 'welcome meeting' being at the first available time at the beginning of your holiday is so that you don't have a chance to find out for yourself what prices are being offered locally, and you can always add yourself to one of their tours afterwards when you have had a chance to compare with the deals offered in the 'high street'. The time taken to get there all depends on where you are staying on the CdS and how many pick ups the coach is making, but I suppose an hour to an hour and a half would see you there...as to how long you get that again depends on the operator. Be warned...Gibraltar is not on the whole a cheap shopping trip...cigarettes (about �6 for 200 depending on the brand) and spirits are but if you are thinking on having a meal expect to be shocked .. we regularly see places offering fish & chips with a cup of tea for �9.95, and a can of coke over �1 - bargain!! and expect to pay a hefty sum to do the 'tour'. As Gibraltar is still British they use stirling but will take your euros and give you change in stirling and their exchange rate is mean to say the least so do keep some ���'s to spend if you are planning a trip. Reading between the lines you can see I am not enamoured of the place but realise its a trip you expect to do whilst staying nearby..we live 60 miles away and only go there once a year or so when the call of Marks and Spencers becomes too much to bear!

[lelapsley]

Thanks for the info and all the additional advice is most welcome. Think we'll order a picnic from the hotel! I am staying in San Pedro, I expect there will be local tours run from there which we will check out first. I hadn't thought about the shopping aspect at all and was just intending to see the Apes! Is there a restriction on the amount of goods brought back? Thanks again

[slimjim]

If you're deperate for M&S, you can go to Dunnes in Fuengirola. Or is the one in Gibralter much better?

[DuzyEverwork]

Dunnes is OK..the one in Fuengirola being the best of them all from a food/freezer point of view (I was in there yesterday) but other than that you just cant beat good old M&S for undies!...as for the shopping allowances I would hate to get caught out giving you duff info, if you type Gibraltar in a search engine you will come up with the tourist website which will give you more accurate details than I could.

[DuzyEverwork]

and by the way, if I remember correctly it will cost you about �15 each to go up and see the Apes!!

[lelapsley]

Thanks for that, didn't occur to me that there would be an additional charge for the apes, thought it might have been included in the trip. Will make sure we have extra cash on us!!

[edlindsay]

why don't you hire a car and drive there , park on Spanish side ,walk over the runway and enjoy yourselves . that way you are not stuck to a timetable . spanish customs can be awkward with the tourists and sometimes make coaches wait around for ages .The apes are best seen by car they can be a bit agressive . we had a taxi driver take us up and he was very good explaining the sights etc. VERY VERY PROUD of being Gibraltese and not wanting to be returned to Spanish rule.