Gibraltar Favorite Tips by sugarpuff Top 5 Page for this destination

Dialling code for Gibraltar-NEW!

Favorite thing: Gibraltar's first telephone exchange was set up in 1886 as a private enterprise and then taken over by the Government of Gibraltar. In the 1970s there were three generations of automatic telephone exchange equipment in use with four and five digit numbers.

Telephone connections between Gibraltar and Spain were severed by the Spanish dictator, Francisco Franco, in 1969, and were not restored until 1984. However, Gibraltar experienced restrictions after that date causing problems with its telecommunications system, as a direct result of the Spanish sovereignty claim.

Until February 10, 2007, Spain continued to impose restrictions on Gibraltar's ability to expand and modernise its telecommunications infrastructure. These included a refusal to recognise the Gibraltar's International Direct Dialling (IDD) code (+350) which restricted the expansion of the Gibraltar telephone numbering plan, and the prevention of roaming arrangements for Gibraltar GSM mobile phones in Spain and vice versa. Following the signing of the Córdoba Accord between the Governments of Gibraltar, the United Kingdom and Spain in September 2006, these restrictions were removed with effect from February 10, 2007.

Since 1 October 2008 telephone numbers for landlines and mobile phones in Gibraltar are eight digits long. Prior to this date, landline numbers consisted of five digits starting with either 4, 5 or 7, while mobile phone numbers remain unchanged. Since this date all calls to existing Gibtelecom five digit landline numbers have to be prefixed with 200, making the numbers eight digits long.

Thus 52200 becomes 20052200 and when dialled from outside Gibraltar +350 200 52200.

The festive period

Favorite thing: Christmas and New Year in Gibraltar are always quite festive and fun! The lights and decorations go up a few weeks before the holidays and you can feel a buzz in the air. This photo was taken on Christmas Eve I believe before the crowds all got off from work at lunch time and hit the bars! Gibraltar is mainly Catholic so Christmas is a big deal for them. At lunch time they pour into the main street and head for the bars where they all celebrate something or another (probably their next two days off work!) and by 6pm they stagger off home to be with their families. The next two days are like a ghost town! Then its back to work for a few days before we do it all over again for New Year!

Cheap petrol!

Favorite thing: The petrol in Gbraltar is much cheaper than in Spain, so everyday we have hoards of Spaniards coming into Gibraltar to fill up their tanks. The only problem with this is that then there are always long queues to get out back into Spain! They probably use up a quarter of the tank just sitting in the two hour queue! CEPSA is a Spanish oil company, but its cheaper in Gib for some reason! So what do the locals get out of that I wonder?

Where do you want to go?!

Favorite thing: This is the runway crossing for both traffic and pedestrians. If a plane is coming in, or a fire engine needs to cross the road (they are based on the airport), then the barrier goes down for however long is necessary, and we all wait there until it goes back up again! If you are an avid plane watcher, this is THE place to come! The plane wooshes right past you an the noise is so loud! But you get great photos and videos from it! The only problem about this is that when you're in a rush the barrier nearly ALWAYS seems to be down! We used to have to time it when i was at school in Gibraltar to get there before the plane landed so i wouldnt be late for school! I dont think we ever managed it!

A modern day view of the Rock

Favorite thing: I took this photo as I was leaving Gib on my last day there in January. I am always sad to say goodbye to it, and luckily, the weather wasn't too bad, so I managed to take a good photo of it. I think it must look amazing to tourists as they enter and this is the first sight they see..very impressive.

This captures everything!

Favorite thing: I absolutely love this picture. It was actually a poster behind glass (hence the flash!) in the customs house as you cross the border into Gibraltar. I felt that it really shows how wonderful this small place really is. Much of the land is reclaimed meaning more people can live in modern housing rather than the previous places they were living in. To the left of the picture, you can see the runway. A very VERY short one at that! You've got to be a good pilot to land on this one!!! I think Gibraltar is also one of the only if not THE only runway in the world that people have to walk across to get to the other side!