Hi,
I´m planning to head south at Easter, I want to spend a day in Gibralter but have been told there is a long wait to get through customs.Does anyone know if this still true? and is it a problem for carless travellers.

Matt

Normally it's not too bad crossing on foot, Matt, but can be frustrating if you're in a car and wait an hour to get in and the same to get out. I've been across the border several times in the last few months and never really had a problem, but I tend to enter before nine in the morning and get out at around midday. Most I've had to wait in these trips is around forty minutes coming out.

HOWEVER, I don't know if yesterday's events will aggravate the problem now. For those that haven't heard, most of the population turned out in an impressive mass demonstration against the talks that have been going on between UK and Spain with a view to sharing sovereignty of the Rock. That was up to 25,000 men women and children out of a population of around 30,000 showing their anger and displeasure at what's going on. Whether that will create unsufferable delays at the border time will tell.

In the past I remember times when people have queued in their vehicles for up to seven hours or more to get out of there, so I would leave your car, if you have one, on the Spanish side and walk across, just in case!

Has anybody else heard about that woman from Gibraltar that yesterday said "'antes muerta que española'"("Better dead than a Spaniard").
What a nerve!, people form Gibraltar enjoy the Spanish beaches, golf courses, shopping malls, etc,....but of course the "enjoy" them even more since they're able to pay out of their British salaries, appart from having other fiscal benefits.

I was in Gibraltar only once in my life and I only stayed like half an hour because I really did not see that there was anything interesting about it, it was tiny and completely marketed for tourists who wanted to buy tacky souvenirs. I also confess, and I REALLY don't mean to offend anybody, it's just my personal opinion, that La Línea(or La Línea de la Concepción) which is the Spanish village that borders on Gibraltar, is the ugliest and more depressing place that I've ever visited in Spain.

Hi mattuk, yes, driving in you can have a miserable wait.

The best way to get to Gibraltar is to go to La Linea de la Concepción and walk in, never a line (or very little).

Saludos,
jer...

I went in through La Linea last summer in my car. I had no wait on the way in or out. We went in on a Friday about 6:00 PM and left on a Sunday at noon. Good luck.

breibach, The Times They Are A-Changin´ But you can be lucky or..... I always make sure I have a copy of War And Peace, survival rations and a shovel in my car whenever I venture onto the Rock, just in case.

Why don´t you ring the Gib Border Queue hotline on International + 34 9567 42777 for a recorded oft updated message giving you the length of the wait you have. More info on http://www.andalucia.com/gibraltar/howtogo.htm

Or how about..... the ultimate in border queue information.....see for yourself on the webcam! http://frontier.gibnet.gi/

pim, there is just one MM member (can´t think of any others who are of the same opinion) who disagrees with you about La Linea Read what mclarke (where is she now?) had to say on this thread. http://www.madridman.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000199

A.F.,

That just goes to show us how different people's views can be, which to me it's a quite positive thing!
I must state two things, the weather the day that I had to visit La Línea was just miserable, whereas it was wonderful the day our co-MMmember visited the place. And, I just found it really ugly an uninteresting as a whole, but the worst part was when I had to visit a kindergarden (I was working), I've never seen one so depressing in my life, it looked so old and big, & was very cold and humid....I felt really sorry for those little kids!

pim, you could have picked a day with the most magnificent weather possible, you had just won millions on the Gordo lottery, your country had just won the soccer World Cup etc etc and it still wouldn´t change your (and mine) opinion of the place! But like you say, it would be a dull world if we all thought the same!