Gibraltar.. whats it like?

TangoSixteen

TangoSixteen

TangoSixteen

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I am thinking about having a change of scene, but I like the idea of Gibraltar.

All the benefits of being in the UK, but great weather, no immigration etc etc..

Sounds perfect on paper..

So whats it like?

Is it a tax haven?

Can you stay there permanantly? I.e would it just be like moving house in the UK?

Are the monkeys friendly ? (no, not the Spanish, the actual monkeys)

Can you access Spain easily?

Could I take my cars accross?

Sorry for all the questions, but the place looks amazing.... Why dont more people talk about it or holiday there etc etc?
 
He's a British Citizen moving to a British Colony? You know what he means.
 
Property costs through the roof, the actual island is full of old people who are retired. Most of the workers actually live in Spain and travel across the border every morning and night.

The tax on any salary is pretty much the same as the UK the last I checked (might have changed now). Price of goods on the island not much different to the UK and most restaurants etc have over inflated prices due to the number of tourists.

I have no idea why anyone would want to live there.
 
Went there for a day whilst staying in Mijas last month.

Great place to go for a day, maybe a weekend but I wouldn't even want to go on holiday there for more than that let alone live there.

There is virtually nothing to do. One shopping street filled with off-licenses/tobaccanists as most common tourist is an English ex-pat doing a booze run.

Going to the top of the rock and seeing the monkey's is great but then that takes half day and then theres the tour of the caves which is another half day.

If you're really thinking about it you can get there for only £60 return if you book with easyjet now for March now and stay one or two nights.
 
I lived there for two years. At that time the border was closed from the Spanish side. When the Spanish threatened to open their side The Gibraltarians wanted the British Government to close theirs. A bit like if one door opens another one closes.
The weather is OK but you soon become acclimatised but there is the Levante.
The Rock-Apes are notorious villains, someone should slap an ASBO on them, they have more form than The Kray Twins. My friends wife was attacked by one of them. They even look filthy.
I always wore flat soled shoes, those with tyre type treads attracted dogs’ muck.
The Gibraltarians are NOT too friendly towards “outsiders”
The place smells of Cats’ pee early in the mornings, especially before the wind gets up.
I owned a car for 13 months. I managed 1100 miles.
The beaches are not that big. The Gibraltarians throw balls of sand at each other in the same way we English throw snowballs at each other, and they don’t care who gets a mouthful of sand with their picnic lunch.
There is good fishing from the rocks – take a box of spark plugs as weights ‘cus they snag in the rocks.
Prices in the shops for luxury goods (Cameras etc) at tax free prices were no cheaper than on-line UK shops.
Loads of pubs, good quality restaurants. (loads of garlic)
Sport - The Gibraltarians cheat at squash, football, tennis……. you name it they’ll try and cheat, they prefer cheating to winning, but like to win by cheating better.
Property, the Gibraltarians mainly live in flats.
Not a holiday destination really, just worth a visit or to live there for a couple of years. I certainly wouldn’t sell up in UK and go and live there forever.
Wish I were back there now for another couple of years.
 
Hi

First of all, Belly they closed the border in 1969 and reopened in 1985.
that was over 25 years ago, so a lot of things do change in that time. it does seem as if you hate the place.

I’m Gibraltarian, have lived here for my whole life, bar 3/4 years in uni. The weather is amazing here, yes we do have days when it gets cloudy and slightly humid and there are periods of rain (2/3/4 weeks) during winter, but calling it "OK" is an understatement. (I’m off to the beach now and its almost mid September)

Rock apes occasionally wonder into town, but its not exactly a problem unless you go up the rock and feed them (which your not meant to, yet tourists do and are surprised if they bite the food out of their hands).

Dog muck, erm yes like any other country there are a couple of irresponsible animal owners, but it’s not exactly covered in it. Cat’s pee? I’m sorry that’s wrong.

these sentences are getting better, you make us sound very hostile, throwing sand at a beach, from the way your talking it sounds as if you deserved it, and by saying that Gibraltarians are not too friendly to outsiders, talk about painting everyone with the same brush, cheats at sports, yep EVERYONE cheats at EVERYSPORT (we also cheat even more when we play OUTSIDERS!)

either way, it really depends on what your looking for, i work in the hospital and have a lot of people coming over from the UK working here and they say that its like being on holiday 24/7, yes it may have some problems like every country (minor compared to most) which are usually political, but Spain is next door as an option. access to Spain isn’t too bad, there are frontier queues especially at "rush hours" just avoid them, just like any highway in the UK.

if you want any more info, just PM.
 
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Lots of monkeys, lots of tunnels. It's like Spain but with England's weather. The money is the English too. Everyone sounds like Mexicans out of Fistful of Dollars. I remember there were a lot of mullets, a lot of mullets.

Other than that, it was all cream cheese and gherkins.
 
Don't forget the Levanta - often a big old sea mist can roll in, and it can be quite cloudy at times.

Whilst booze and cigarettes are cheap, everyday sundries that you'll buy in Morrisons (the bit supermarket out there) are more pricey than in the UK. Property prices are also silly (as others have said).

Good points are that it's close to the atlantic beaches such as Tariffa (good wind/kite surfing) and going up to one of the ports on the med for the day.
 
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