What an oddity is Gibraltar – so ordinary, from certain angles, and yet so spectacularly out of place. A stray chunk of Blighty, replete with most of our familiar high-street shops and banks, transplanted to the far end of continental Europe, where the Iberian landmass heaves itself up a final limestone precipice and almost tips over onto North Africa.
The Rock, as we know it, was ceded to the British Crown as a spoil of war some 310 years ago, and only granted “city” status in 2022 (correcting a longstanding admin error). While residents remain pretty emphatic about their sovereignty, post-Brexit convolutions may soon see them absorbed into the EU’s Schengen area, potentially allowing visitors to skip across that thin frontier from Spain without even showing a passport.
Whatever the outcome of those ongoing talks, Gibraltar tends to reward the curious weekender. These 2.6 square miles encompass prehistoric caves and 18th-century siege tunnels, sailboats and cable cars, bottlenose dolphins and Barbary macaques, a botanic garden and a clifftop nature reserve. The urbanised westside, somewhat shabby in times past, now relies less on Brit-kitsch signifiers, such as old red phone boxes, and more on contemporary draws like a newly opened small-batch gin distillery, or a Georgian-era naval bastion repurposed for modern art shows (GEMA). And with so little land to develop on, some of the best places to stay are high above sea level or right down on the water, afloat between The Rock and The Strait.
The best hotels in Gibraltar are:
- Best luxury hotel: Sunborn Gibraltar
- Best hotel for views: The Rock
- Best hotel for families: The Eliott
- Best beach hotel: Boat Haus
- Best budget hotel: Ohtels Campo de Gibraltar
Best luxury hotel: Sunborn Gibraltar
Neighbourhood: Ocean Village Marina
Billed as the world’s first five-star superyacht hotel, the Sunborn was originally designed for ocean-going, her engines were never installed and she’s been permanently moored to the Ocean Village promenade since 2014. (The appeal of a cruise liner that never leaves port – zero chance of seasickness – has since proven out with another Sunborn vessel at London’s Royal Victoria Dock.)
The guest experience begins with a walk up a red-carpeted gangplank, and a glass of champagne. Inside, as with any such ship, there’s a certain glitz plated over utilitarian bulkheads and corridors – a lot of chrome and crystal alongside the requisite nautical driftwood sculptures. The 189 tastefully stylised cabins and penthouse suites max out the available space, all opening onto balconies or terraces with views of The Rock, sea or marina. The top deck is given over to a well-appointed spa, a small plunge pool with adjoining cocktail bar and sun loungers, and the Barbary restaurant where the chef has his own distinct way with the Moroccan-Mediterranean fusion fairly common to high-end dining in Gibraltar. Deck two is the casino level, an elegant arrangement of slots and gaming tables in keeping with the leisure-class profile of the enterprise.
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Best hotel for views: The Rock
Neighbourhood: Upper town
Built by order of John Crichton-Stuart (Marquis of Bute at the time) in 1932, The Rock derives its air of enchantment, in part, from an imperious location, set high on a hill above The Strait and opposite the Alameda Botanic Gardens, with a swimming pool and restaurant amid the bougainvillaea blooms of the hotel’s own adjoining hidden garden.
Longtime owners The Bland Group have subtly refreshed the Art Deco style of the place – high ceilings, checkerboard flooring, pastel colours – without wiping off the stardust of a bygone world. Past guests have included Errol Flynn and Sean Connery, not to mention Sir Winston Churchill, a staunch partisan of Gibraltar and its resident Barbary apes. In Churchill’s honour, today’s check-ins are still offered a welcome sherry, while afternoon tea (with homemade scones) on the Wisteria Terrace is as much an institution as the building itself. Most of the 94 rooms and suites have balconies, and all offer superlative views.
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Best hotel for families: The Eliott
Neighbourhood: City centre
Almost smack bang in the middle of town, The Eliot probably gives you the most options in terms of feeding and entertaining a family, not least because it’s a very short walk from the Commonwealth Park, Moorish Castle, dolphin safari boats, and the waterfront cafes along the nearby quays. The hotel has its own excellent pub-like bar and terrace on the ground floor, with weekly live jazz nights that give parents good reason to make use of the in-house babysitting service. There’s also a fine rooftop Mediterranean bistro, beside a pool deck and solarium that overlooks the old town and the port beyond. The blues and golds of those Mediterranean sunsets are reflected in the colour scheme through the 123 guest rooms, all of which also look out toward the bay, or across the rooftops to The Rock.
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Best beach hotel: Boat Haus
Neighbourhood: Puerto Alcaidesa Marina
Not a hotel, per se, this dockside “village” of brightly painted wooden houseboats offers buckets more colour and character than generic bricks and mortar, as well as being a very short walk or bike ride from the beaches – Western Beach and Playa de Poniente – that flank the marina on both sides. Bicycles are even provided for the duration of your stay, with boats available to rent by the night or the week. Standing out from the dock in vivid greens, blues, yellows, pinks and purples, these units are fairly basic but almost disproportinately cosy and charming, with furnished terraces/sun decks on each roof and hammock chairs hanging over each stern. The interiors make for tiny floating homes with well-equipped, ergonomic kitchens and bathrooms around sweet nautical sleeping quarters.
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Best budget hotel: Ohtels Campo de Gibraltar
Neighbourhood: City centre
This hotel may be housed in a bluntly functional building, but it’s unbeatably handy location-wise – a short walk from the Spanish frontier, the airport, the marina, beaches and all the central attractions. That somewhat unedifying structure also allows for unusually spacious guest rooms with large bathrooms, all simple, neat and unobtrusively designed. Amenities provide excellent value for your money too, with a decent house restaurant and a large outdoor pool with a cafe-bar on the terrace and a commanding view of the Med.
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