Shore Day Companion

Plan your hours in Gibraltar and get back to the ship with time to spare.

See Gibraltar from the cruise terminal without a shore excursion: a timed plan for your ship, a free self-guided walking tour and an alarm to get you back on board.

Plan your day

• Upper Rock tour: Minibus or taxi tour from Casemates. Allow for queues while the cable car is closed. How to get up the Rock
• Town walk: From the cruise terminal down Main Street to Trafalgar Cemetery, with a recording at every stop. The first stops are on your way into town.
• Line Wall and Alameda Gardens: Six stops along the old sea wall to the Botanic Gardens.
• Lunch: Casemates or Main Street. Where to eat near the terminal
• Shopping on Main Street: Check your allowances before you buy. Duty-free allowances
• Europa Point: Bus or taxi to the southern tip, then a six-stop walk with views to Africa. Getting to Europa Point

Self-guided walk: Cruise terminal to Trafalgar Cemetery

1. Cruise terminal. Gibraltar's cruise terminal, at the western edge of town. Almost everything around you stands on land reclaimed from the sea. Can I walk from the cruise terminal to town?, How long is the walk to Main Street?, What is the LNG power station on the North Mole?, Bob Peliza Mews and the old Waterport power station
2. Bob Peliza Mews. An affordable housing development on the site of the old Waterport power station, named after Sir Robert Peliza, Gibraltar's second Chief Minister. How does the co-ownership scheme work?, Gibraltar's Chief Ministers
3. Evacuation Memorial. The statue on the Waterport Place roundabout shows families reunited after the Second World War. In 1940 about sixteen thousand civilians were evacuated from Gibraltar. What is the Evacuation Memorial?, Why were Gibraltar's civilians evacuated?, How does affordable housing work in Gibraltar?, The Mons Calpe ferry and Mons Calpe Mews
4. Mons Calpe Mews. An estate named after the Mons Calpe, the Tangier ferry that was a lifeline while the frontier was closed from 1969. Each block is named after another vessel of the port. Is there still a ferry to Morocco?, Why was the border closed from 1969 to 1985?
5. Casemates Square. Gibraltar's main square, named after the Grand Casemates, the bombproof barracks along its north side finished in 1817. It was once the garrison's parade ground. What is Casemates Square and why does it matter?, Which taxi queue should I use at Casemates?
6. John Mackintosh Square. The Piazza, Gibraltar's old main square. Parliament House was built in 1817 by local merchants as the Exchange and Commercial Library, and the City Hall began in 1819 as Aaron Cardozo's mansion. What is John Mackintosh Square?, Can I visit the Gibraltar Parliament?, Are there art galleries in Gibraltar?
7. Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned. Gibraltar's Roman Catholic cathedral stands on the site of a mosque that became a church after 1462. A small courtyard from the mosque survives in the north-east corner. The story of the Cathedral of St Mary the Crowned
8. Gibraltar National Museum. Founded in 1930 in the old Bomb House, which gave the lane its name. Its basement holds a fourteenth-century Moorish bath house. Does Gibraltar have a museum?, Can I visit the museum on a cruise stop?
9. Flemish Synagogue. A side entrance to the Nefusot Yehudah synagogue, built around 1800 by merchants from the Netherlands. Gibraltar's Jewish community dates its modern presence from 1724. What synagogues are there in Gibraltar?, The history of the Jewish community, Can visitors go inside the synagogues?
10. Cathedral of the Holy Trinity. Gibraltar's Anglican cathedral, consecrated in 1838, with Moorish-style horseshoe arches over its doors and windows. What is the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity?
11. Gibraltar Law Courts. The Supreme Court of Gibraltar, built in 1820 behind its garden. Gibraltar heard the case of the Mary Celeste, found drifting with nobody on board in 1872. What are the Gibraltar Law Courts?, The Mary Celeste in Gibraltar
12. The Convent. The official residence of the Governor of Gibraltar since 1728, in a former Franciscan friary. What is the Convent in Gibraltar?
13. No. 6 Convent Place. No. 6 Convent Place is the office of the Chief Minister of Gibraltar and the seat of the elected Government. Where are the Chief Minister's offices?
14. Southport Gates. Three gates in the sixteenth-century Charles V Wall, from the Spanish arms of Charles V to the Referendum Gate of 1967. What is the Charles V Wall?, The 1967 and 2002 referendums
15. Trafalgar Cemetery. A cemetery outside the old town wall, consecrated in 1798. Despite its name, only two of the men buried here died of wounds from the Battle of Trafalgar. What is the Trafalgar Cemetery and who is buried there?

Self-guided walk: Europa Point

1. Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque. Gibraltar's mosque, a gift from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, opened in 1997. Its front faces south across the water towards Morocco. What is the Ibrahim-al-Ibrahim Mosque?
2. Europa Point Lighthouse. First lit in 1841, this is the only Trinity House lighthouse outside the British Isles. Its light can be seen about thirty-three kilometres away. Why does Europa Point Lighthouse matter?, Lighthouse tour times and prices
3. Sikorski Memorial. A memorial to General Władysław Sikorski, Poland's wartime Prime Minister in exile, who died when his aircraft crashed off Gibraltar in July 1943. What is the Sikorski Memorial?
4. Harding's Battery. A Victorian gun battery, buried after the Second World War and uncovered in the Europa Point works. The gun on show is a real muzzle-loader from around 1870. What is Harding's Battery?
5. The view to Africa. The eastern end of the Strait of Gibraltar. On a clear day you can see Ceuta and the mountains of Morocco across the water. Can you see Africa from Gibraltar?, Why is Gibraltar a Pillar of Hercules?
6. Shrine of Our Lady of Europe. A small shrine whose lamp served as Gibraltar's first lighthouse. Inside is a fifteenth-century statue of the Virgin and Child. What is the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe?

Self-guided walk: Upper Rock

1. St Michael's Cave. A natural limestone cave of stalactites and stalagmites. Its largest chamber, the Cathedral Cave, has been a theatre since the early 1960s and hosts the light and sound show The Awakening. What is St Michael's Cave?, Can I fit St Michael's Cave into a cruise visit?, Are concerts held in St Michael's Cave?, How do I book Lower St Michael's Cave?
2. Apes' Den. A place to see Gibraltar's Barbary macaques, the only free-ranging monkeys in Europe. They are wild animals, and feeding or touching them is against the law. What is the Apes' Den?, What is the Barbary macaque?, The legend of the macaques, Are the macaques dangerous?, How are the macaques cared for?, Can I see the apes on a short cruise stop?, Are the macaques facing extinction?
3. The Skywalk. A glass platform 340 metres above sea level, with views across three countries and two continents. Mark Hamill opened it in 2018. What is the Skywalk?
4. Windsor Suspension Bridge. A suspension bridge about seventy metres long over a gorge 50 metres deep, opened in 2016. What is the Windsor Suspension Bridge?
5. The Great Siege Tunnels. Galleries cut into the Rock's north face during the Great Siege of 1779 to 1783, begun in 1782 in a bid to get guns onto a ledge called the Notch. What are the Great Siege Tunnels?
6. The Moorish Castle. The Tower of Homage, the largest remaining part of Gibraltar's Islamic defences, rebuilt by the Marinids after they captured Gibraltar in 1333. It still carries the scars of many sieges. What is the Moorish Castle?

Self-guided walk: Line Wall and Alameda Gardens

1. American War Memorial. A stone archway in the old city wall, built in the early 1930s to honour the American and British navies of the First World War. The steps that lead down from it are known as the American Steps. What is the American War Memorial?
2. Gibraltar War Memorial. Gibraltar's First World War memorial, carved in Carrara marble and unveiled in 1923, on an esplanade with two Russian guns from the Crimean War. What is the Gibraltar War Memorial?
3. King's Bastion. The eighteenth-century bastion where General Eliott had his headquarters in the Great Siege, today home to a leisure centre. What is King's Bastion?, Cinema and bowling in Gibraltar, The history of Gibraltar's fortifications
4. Ragged Staff Gates. A gate in the city wall, first cut in 1736, where stores were landed and travellers came ashore. Its name has never been fully explained. What are the Ragged Staff Gates?
5. Alameda Gardens entrance. The entrance to the Alameda Gardens, now the Gibraltar Botanic Gardens, opened in 1816 and paid for with public lotteries. What are the Alameda Gardens?
6. Eliott Memorial. A bronze bust of General Eliott, who defended Gibraltar through the Great Siege of 1779 to 1783. It replaced a wooden statue carved from a Spanish warship captured at Trafalgar. What was the Great Siege?, What are the Alameda Gardens?
7. Wellington Monument. A bronze bust of the Duke of Wellington, unveiled in 1819 and paid for with a day's pay from every member of the garrison. It stands on a Roman marble pillar from Libya. What are the Alameda Gardens?

Everything you enter stays on your phone. Your location, if you share it, is used only on your phone and is never sent to Gibraltar Bites or stored.

Independent guide. Your ship's own all-aboard time always applies.

Free audio walks: 34 stops on 4 walks, on one map, with or without a cruise.

Gibraltar cruise port guide