Hidden Gibraltar Map
Walk it yourself
Four ways up the Rock on foot
With the cable car closed until 2027, walking is how a lot of people are getting to the top. All four routes below are real, marked, and finish at or near the same sights. Pick the one that matches your fitness, your time, and who you're travelling with.
Tap a marker for the stop, or use the button below to open the whole route in Google Maps once you're ready to walk it.
Open this route in Google Maps
Main Street
Start at the upper end of Main Street and turn off into the old town, up through Cornwall's Lane and Castle Street. Narrow, steep lanes and old shuttered houses. Worth the wander before the climb even starts.
Castle Steps
The wide historic staircase that lifts you out of the town and up towards the castle. This is the hardest stretch of the whole route, and it comes early. Take it slowly.
Shade is patchy here and it faces the morning sun. In July and August, start before 9am.
Moorish Castle
The northern pedestrian entrance to the Nature Reserve, and where you'll show or buy your ticket. The Tower of Homage stands right beside the gate, and the view back over the town and the bay opens up from here.
Buy your Nature Reserve ticket before you set off and you can walk straight through.
Great Siege Tunnels
A short climb further on. Hand-cut through solid limestone during the siege of the 1780s. The gun ports look straight down over the airport runway and across the isthmus into Spain.
Apes' Den
From here the route turns south along the ridge road. This is the most reliable place on the Rock to see the Barbary macaques, and they are entirely used to people.
Zip your bag and carry nothing edible in your hands. They are fast, and they have done this before.
Skywalk
A glass platform cantilevered off the ridge, 340 metres above the sea. On a clear day you get the Strait, the Spanish coast and the mountains of Morocco in a single turn of the head.
St Michael's Cave
The finish. A vast natural cavern lit for a sound and light show, and a cool place to sit down after the climb. From here you can walk back down or pick up a taxi at the road.
Tap a marker for the stop, or use the button below to open the whole route in Google Maps once you're ready to walk it.
Open this route in Google Maps
Jews' Gate
The southern entrance to the Nature Reserve and the foot of the Mediterranean Steps, by the bird observatory. Buses run up here from town, or you can walk from Europa Road.
Fill your water bottle before you start. There is nothing between here and the summit.
The Mediterranean Steps
The climb itself. A narrow stepped path that works its way up the eastern cliff face with the sea a long way below and Africa across the water. It reopened in June 2026 after repairs following a rockfall.
Not one for vertigo, poor knees or flip-flops. Proper shoes, and take the whole thing at your own pace.
O'Hara's Battery
The top, at 426 metres, and the highest point you can stand on in Gibraltar. A 9.2-inch gun still sits in the emplacement. The steps deliver you here, and it feels earned.
The battery is closed at weekends, though the summit views are there regardless.
St Michael's Cave
Head north along the ridge road and it's your first major stop coming down. The great lit chamber with the sound and light show, and a welcome drop in temperature.
Skywalk
The glass platform over the edge of the ridge. Best photograph on the Rock, and by this point in the walk you have properly earned it.
Apes' Den
Carry on down for the macaques before the road drops back towards town. From here it is a steady descent the rest of the way.
Bags zipped, food away. Same rules as everywhere else on the Rock.
Tap a marker for the stop, or use the button below to open the whole route in Google Maps once you're ready to walk it.
Open this route in Google Maps
Garrison Library
Start opposite this handsome old military library on Governor's Parade. The steps up begin right beside it, and this is the quickest route to the Nature Reserve from the town centre, if not the gentlest.
The Union Jack Steps
A flight of steps painted as a giant Union Flag, visible only looking back up from below. First painted in 1967 to mark Gibraltar's sovereignty referendum, and repainted by volunteers in 2011. One of the most photographed stairways in Gibraltar, and most visitors never find it.
The paint is best seen looking back down the steps as you climb, not from the top.
Devil's Gap Battery
The steps and footpath bring you out at this old coastal gun battery, 130 metres up, looking straight down over the town and the bay. Two Victorian guns still sit in position. A good place to catch your breath before the ticket office.
Apes' Den
The road from the battery leads straight to the Apes' Den, the most reliable spot on the Rock to see the Barbary macaques up close.
Bags zipped, no food in hand.
Skywalk
Continue along the ridge to the glass viewing platform, 340 metres above the sea.
St Michael's Cave
The finish. The lit cavern with the sound and light show, and a cool place to sit down.
Tap a marker for the stop, or use the button below to open the whole route in Google Maps once you're ready to walk it.
Open this route in Google Maps
Moorish Castle entrance
Honest starting point for this one: the walk up from town to here is the same steep climb as the other routes, so a taxi or the Number 1 bus to the Moorish Castle is worth considering with small children before the walking part even begins.
This route covers the flattest, shortest stretch of the Reserve. It doesn't remove the climb to get here in the first place.
World War II Tunnels
A short, gently sloped walk from the castle. Wide tunnels, good footing, and a Spitfire hanging in the main hall, which tends to go down well with children.
Apes' Den
A level road walk from the tunnels to the monkeys, usually the highlight of the day for younger visitors.
Keep a firm hand on anything edible, and on small children too - the macaques are curious and quick around both.
St Michael's Cave
A short taxi hop or a further uphill walk from the Apes' Den (steeper than the rest of this route). The cave itself is flat inside, cool, and the light show holds children's attention well.
If energy is running low by this point, this is a natural place to stop and head back down rather than push on to the Skywalk.
Before you set off
Know before you go
Tickets
Both routes enter the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, so you need a ticket. Buy it in advance and you walk straight in.
Water and shoes
There is very little shade and almost nowhere to buy anything once you are climbing. Bring more water than you think, and wear real shoes.
Time of day
Go early. The Rock in the afternoon heat of July or August is genuinely hard work, and the light is better first thing anyway.
The monkeys
Don't feed them, don't touch them, and keep bags closed. They are wild animals and they are quicker than you are.
Rather not walk it?
Not everyone wants to climb the equivalent of a small mountain, and on a hot day or a short stop it isn't always the right call. We run private and shared tours that cover the same sights by vehicle.