Rocking the Rock! - The bus driver to and from Malaga to the Rock of Gibraltar was great. The guide was nice and informative. When we got on the smaller tour up and around the rock, the tour guide was knowledgeable and fun!! We highly recommend this tour!!

Go with the monkey... - We had a great time. We wanted to see the cave of San Miguel but above all, see the monkeys. The guide told us not to leave the backpack or any object unsupervised and indeed, a monkey, took me backpack with water and a mouth... hehe. A great day!!

Connecting two worlds - The airstrip, runaway at the boarder,the old fortress, the apes,the cave and in general everything was just simply perfect.

A superb guided tour - Francis was superb. He presented the history of Gibraltar superbly well and generously sprinkled with humorous commentary. He seemed to truly love his job. I would recommend him as a guide to anyone taking this tour.

Torremolinos Tour Operators Part Two..... The Good - This is the second of two related reviews of tour operators we used in Torremolinos for day trips to Seville and Gibraltar respectively. I would recommend reading both reviews to get an idea of the two extremes one can expect on such tours and my opinions on what constitutes a good tour guide or not. After the drama of our Seville Tour, I was obviously reluctant to book another tour. Due to an illness, we had been forced to cancel the two we had already committed to, Tangier and Gibraltar, so this was in theory not an issue. However, during our last week in Spain I had made a full recovery and while neither of us wished to chance a trip to North Africa in case of another emergency, medical or otherwise I really did want my wife to experience Gibraltar as I had 25 years previously. Like Seville I had previously looked at the pros and cons of a package tour versus going on our own using regional and local transit. It was doable, but again the buses dd not line up as I wanted. We’d arrive in Gibraltar late in the day meaning we’d be rushed to see anything before having to return to Torremolinos or stay the night and Gibraltar hotels were pricey. Even looking at the “shopping tour” option which was basically a coach there in the morning and a return in the late afternoon, wasn’t viable as we’d still be responsible for either booking a local tour by taxi or trying to see most of the sites one by one with transit and entrance costs. No, for convenience and other reasons an organized day trip was our best bet. Not wanting to bother our local vacation rep with another booking, having had her cancel both previous ones I went next door to the hotel to a local travel agency Viajes Marbesol S.L. and was able to book two spots on the Gibraltar day trip for Friday May 23rd with Julia Travel for 72 Euros each which was more or less what we had paid for the previous now cancelled tour. The tour included transportation from a pickup point nearby to Gibraltar and return and a minibus tour of the town, Europa Point, St. Michaels Cave, and the Apes Den with the standard free time after for lunch and shopping or sight seeing. The pickup location and time were almost identical to the Seville trip, in front of the RIU Hotel and a little after 7:00am. This time there were just the two of us waiting, but there was little time to chat anyways as the bus showed up on time and exactly where we were waiting. The tour guide, Annabelle got out, asked our names, checked them on her list and after seeing our tickets and confirming we had our Passports let us board. The bus was less than a quarter full and we easily found seats. Unlike the week prior the bus didn’t double back through the centre of Torremolinos, but headed out on the main road to Benalmadena and made a couple of stops there. We then continued down the coast westward to the resort towns of Fuengirola Marbella and Estepona respectively picking up more passengers in each until there were just over 30 of us or about half the bus full. There were no stops for a bathroom or coffee this trip. After the last stop at Estepona Annabelle began giving everyone some general information about Gibraltar and what would be happening. She also handed out the tour stickers for everyone to place of their jacket or shirt. I usually stick mine on my camera or phone case as it tends to stay there longer. I became a bit worried when I noticed the sticker was the same one on phone as from last week and said Bravo Tours on it the same company we’d taken to Seville. I Later had a chance to ask Annabelle about this, and she assured me that we were booked with Julia Tours her employer, but the two companies often cooperated and shared buses etc. especially in low season. When we reached the border, we would all get off the bus and walk through both Spanish and Gibraltar/UK immigration and then reboard the bus to head into the town itself. Once there the bus was parked in the Midtown Car Park and had a chance to use the facilities and grab a coffee while she checked on the min bus tours. Presumably anyone on the shopping or swimming with dolphins’ options went off to do those things at this time. We were then broken up into three groups of about 10 each based on language, English, French and German and went off on our 90-minute city tour. Our minibus driver returned us all to the car park and we all went off on our free time for lunch etc. Annabelle had said we’d have about three hours for this before meeting back where the bus was parked for the return trip. She was bit optimistic with this as by my watch we had just under two hours. Still, this was enough time to wander over to Grand Casemates Square for lunch, some shopping and some more sightseeing before being back in time for the departure. Once aboard, Annabelle did another head count and once confirming we were all present we reversed out trip heading back to the border, walking through both immigration desks and now Spanish customs as well. On the other side the bus headed east dropping off passengers at their hotels along the way. We were dropped off at our request on the main road a five-minute walk from our hotel so the bus wouldn’t have to navigate the narrow side streets. The drop off time was as per we’d been advised almost to the minute. Some general observations, aside from an overly optimistic estimate of how much free time we would have after the city tour, everything went as planned. This also may have been because our minibus group seemed to be saddled with the slowest people, and a few that failed to grasp what time they were supposed to be back at the minibus after each stop. Others may have gotten the full three hours or close to it. However, there were no lost cell phones or at least none I heard of, no screaming at or publicly insulting paying passengers and finally no almost losing a couple of passengers and then not really knowing what to do about it. Yes, some people were late, and we had to wait for them both at their hotel pick up, and/or at the carpark but no one least of all our tour guide became flustered about this. Something told me had there been an emergency such as lost phone or worse lost tourist that Annabelle had a contingency plan to deal with it. My wife who was reluctant to go on this trip both due to my illness and the earlier Seville trip later told me that the day in Gibraltar was the highlight of the whole trip for her. Most of that I’m sure were the attractions seen, however a not small part is due to the professional way in which it was run.

Good tour but more time on bus than in Gibraltar - Overall, I enjoyed the tour--I got to spend almost 5 hours exploring Gibraltar and seeing the highlights. The guide was friendly and knowledgeable. The bus driver got us through narrow streets with millimeters to spare--amazing! However, people complained that the guide spoke too much--at first she did her schpiel in English and Spanish then learned we had French and Germans on board so said everything in 4 languages! What I didn't like is that Malaga city pick up was at one central location (4 km from where I was staying) but 3 different parties staying in different parts of Torremolinos got picked up/dropped off in front of their hotels. This involved a lot of time winding for kilometers through the narrow streets, adding a lot of time to the trip. Basically, the Torremolinos people spent a total of 3-3.5 hours on the bus with door to door service while Malaga people spent over 5 hours on the bus and still had to get back to their hotels. Less time in Gibraltar than on the bus :-(

A very long day - Gibraltar was great & Angel the local tour guide is fantastic. The Julia rep & couch experience spoiled the whole day. We booked through a travel agent & weren’t given any details apart from pick up time. It took 2.5 hours to get to Gibraltar & Paco the guide was a very poor speaker/ guide. Waffled in 3 languages but no one really knew what was going on. We had no time for bathroom break after that journey & it was straight on to tour bus. After that tour, we had 3 hours free time in Gibraltar which was lovely. Return trip was hot as air con on bus practically non existent. Certainly not the luxury air conditioned coach we’d been promised. Realistic journey times need to be given at point of sale so people can make informed decisions. Took an extra hour to pick up 3 people from Marbella & Wyndham

Even the Express Tour has too many stops - Even the Express Gibraltar trip from Malaga has many stops including a mechanical one where we were stopped at the side of the road for 30 minutes without communication as to why. The bus was so rough - no shock absorption whatsoever. Great to see Gibraltar but rent a car and skip this tour.

Not recommended - Poor guide person. Long driving time . Not too much attraction in Gibraltar I don’t recommend it . Could be more attractive if you have a good guide person , who will talk about the history and culture of the area and the cities and the towns we pass through . Good eat places in Gibraltar . The prices in the shopping market are the same as any other place ,

Unreliable! - I booked this trip. I travelled to Malaga to catch the bus. Had to pay for a hotel. When I get to my hotel I find they had cancelled it. I’m out of money and wasted time because of their disorganization. They said I didn’t answer a message they had sent me. I searched,there was no message! So disappointing. If they’d done it earlier I could have gone with another company.