Gibraltar - Parking on Spanish side
 

I have to attend a wedding in Gibraltar soon and will be driving down from Madrid. I have no desire to drive onto the Rock, but the threads on Fodor's don't seem to be in agreement about parking at La Linea. Anyone have recent experience with this? I would probably be leaving the car there for 2 days.

Thanks for the help

When you park your car, here are a couple tips to help avoid break-ins.

Buy yourself a Spanish newspaper and leave it in plain sight.

Bring along a pair of worn and/or greasy gloves. Leave them in plain sight.

Hide road maps. They are a clue that you are a tourist or just passing through.

Park your car near or under a light pole. Make a note of where you parked the car. Make sure all windows are rolled up without any cracks at the tops. Make sure any and all valuables are out of sight, preferably stowed in the trunk. When you return, do a 360-degree check of your vehicle immediately.

i agree that you should avoid driving into gibraltar itself. i recently visited and parked in La Linea - just on the street for the day...i had no problems.

i would not recommend the same for overnight parking. both for safety and the fact there are meters on the streets. I would try to find a guarded carpark if possible. sorry, i don't have a suggestion. in spain, if it ain't nailed down, it will be stolen so be careful. hire cars in europe are usually clearly marked as such(unfortunately) so i wouldn't worry to much about trying to make the car look local.

Just to clarify, I live in Spain so I will be driving down in my Spanish-registered car, not a rental. I've just never had any need before to do the trip into Gibraltar, but must now for a wedding.

I drove onto Gibraltar once. It was very easy to show your passport and drive on, but to leave, there were long lines -- hours of waiting -- they searched every car leaving for duty free items coming back into Spain. ((b))

Maybe the lines aren't bad in low season or at night. We were in Gibraltar on Nov 2 and there was absolutely no line for cars leaving when we walked across the border. (We left around 9 pm.) We left our rental parked in an underground lot in La Linea for the day and when we got back we saw it had been "keyed" (deliberately scratched by someone using a car key) and the large scratch was "signed" with graffiti in silver paint.

From La Linea, where the bus drops off people for the Rock and cars can park you then have the weird experience of walking across the runway of the airport to get to Gilbraltar town. Buses are not allowed in from Spain due to the contretemps between UK and Spain over who controls the rock - was that way when i went and i believe still is!

Sadly, there's no contretemps between the UK and Spain over Gibraltar. Both governments agree the issue's a pain in the rear end and the sooner the Spaniards take over the Rock the better.

The contretemps is between the petulant Spanish and the people of Gibralar. The Gibraltarians would rather have even B Liar running their government than the bullying shower in Madrid.

Spain's attachment to democracy being rather fragile (ask the people of Ceuta and Melilla), it finds the concept that Gibraltarians' view might be listened to bizarre.

So it hassles them, fantasising (as bulies always do) that they'll come round to its point of view sooner or later.

None of which of course has anything to do with parking at La Linea. But it sets the record straight.

To set the record straighter in my understanding is that the UK could ditch the colony at any time but has pledged to abide by a vote of Gibraltar's citizens to do so - they could end the contretemps any time just by getting out. As for Spain's fledgling democracy - OK but as for a venerable democracy such as the UK the folks in Northern Ireland, or at least some of them who have been detained Guantanamo Bay like for years -not currently i think but not long ago -they may take issue with their democratic rights.
I think if Spain or any country had such a colony on Britain's coast extent from a war centuries ago they would have evicted them by now - Spain not as strong as UK could not.
So it seems UK should just declare Gibraltar independent and leave - it's not like giving it to a draconian Franco machine as Spain's democracy, though perhaps nascent, seems firmly in place.
OK back to thread about parking at La Linea.

Don't confuse democracy and freedom. Democratic states can be very oppressive to minorities. In fact, a perfect democracy would be very likely to be oppressive to minorities as the majority would always get what it wants with no requirement to consider the needs or wants of any minority group.

Oh, parking. Sorry, haven't been there. Read this thread because Spain is high on our list of countries to visit.

Two follow-up questions -

Does anyone know if the border is open 24 hours?

Has anyone stayed at the AC Hotel La Linea. It supposedly has its own parking garage, which, in theory would avoid the danger of parking overnight in La Linea?

Thanks again

maryinmadison, was that the Focona lot? If so, there goes my fantasy about 'safe' monitored parking...

(Forgive me, soleil17, while I interrupt your thread) - And I'm sorry, maryinmadison, to hear about your unpleasant 'surprise'. How did the car rental agency handle this?

Sorry, I don't know the name of the lot we used in Gibraltar. I am pretty sure it was NOT associated with a hotel, though. There wasn't any personnel there- it had an automated payment machine.