Spain-Gibralter, Morocco?
 

We are going to be in Southern Spain over Christmas and were wondering whether it was worth going down to Gibralter and even take the ferry over to Tangiers or something. Is it worth it? We have a short trip so wanted any advice so we make the most of our time. Thanks!

Gilbraltar is not worth it - the rock is cool, and you can see the coast of Africa, but other than that, it's a huge tourist trap. Morocco is awesome, but you need at least two days - the ferry ride is lengthy, and you couldn't go there and back in one day. A better idea is to rent a car in Sevilla and drive south through the "White Towns" to Ronda. That's breathtaking.

We stayed near Marbella last Sept. and drove to Gibraltar for the day. We enjoyed the drive along the coast, then parked and walked across to Gibraltar. The cable car was not working that day which was a disappoitment but then we took one of the minibus tours to see the apes and we loved that. Enjoyed the views of the large ships out in the sea from up on the rock and finished the day with a late lunch at a beachside resturant back in Spain (we're not English food fans). Going to Tangiers did not appeal to us - visions of too many people wanting to "help" us but that may be a matter of personal taste - it would definately an experience of another culture!

I just returned from 2 weeks in Spain and had the same dilemna. Based on the posts from this board, I passed on the day trip to Morocco and went to Ronda instead. Ronda was fantastic and a beautiful drive. Thank you all for the good advice. Gibraltar was nice and great views. Once we were at the top we visited the caves and saw the Barbary Apes which were fun. Had fish and chips for lunch as well as shopping for Lladro's. Plus we had beautiful warm weather and spent one of the last days just relaxing on the beach which was most enjoyable. I don't think you will be beaching it in Dec though. Seville was awesome and you should definitely spend as much time there as possible. Have a great trip.

I haven't been to Gibraltar, but I'd pass on the trip to Tangiers. Wait until you can actually get into the real heart of Morocco - Casablanca, Fez, Marrakesh, Agadir, Essouira, etc. Tangiers is nothing but a dirty tourist mecca IMO.

Mary80,
In May, we spent 11 days in Southern Spain. Since you have a "short trip," I suggest skipping Gibralter and Tangiers. Your time would be better spent visiting Ronda and/or Sevilla.

Woody

We're going next month for the 2nd time and thanks to the advise on this board, we're skipping Gilbralter, but stopping in Tarifa for the view of "the rock" then on to Vejer de la Frontera and Baelo Claudio (thanks Maribel--these sound great and have checked them out in Google and they look great too!). You didn't say how long your trip is, but as others have said, Ronda and Serville are wonderful.

It is quite easy to do a day trip to Tanger: the main ferry port is Algeciras, across the bay from Gibraltar. I did it several years ago but, as other people have said, Tanger is not very pleasant as you will be pestered constantly by people trying to sell you things; I was really glad to get back on the ferry for Spain. There are many more interesting towns in southern Spain as well as the great cities of Granada, Cordoba and Sevilla.

Last March, we traveled from Tarifa to Tangier on Ferry(Catamaran)

there is information that they are again offering trips from Tarifa to Tangier available for all nationalities. The company also offers one-day excursions that include guide, transportation, and lunch. We took the Day-Trip option that was offered. We arranged everything with Daniel by e-mail ([email protected]) he is a lovely, informative and knowledgable who provided us with an in depth and unique tour of Tangier. he is very personable and was able to relate the history of the jews in Spain and Morocco to us in a concise and authentic manner. he answered our many questions and treated us as friends not tourists. We would highly recommend this tour to other Tourists who are visiting Spain.