Westside

NOTE: The Gibraltar Cable Car is currently closed for refurbishment. Reach the Upper Rock by taxi tour (around £35-50 per group) or by walking up. Westside is the name broadly applied to the residential and working neighbourhoods that cover the lower western slopes of the Rock and the reclaimed land running along Gibraltar's western coastline. This is where the majority of Gibraltar's approximately 34,000 residents actually live, and it has a local character that is noticeably different from the tourist-oriented centre around Main Street and Casemates Square. The area contains most of Gibraltar's schools, residential tower blocks, local supermarkets, and the everyday infrastructure that sustains a community. Walking through the streets of Westside gives you a much more accurate picture of what daily life in Gibraltar looks like than anything you will find on Main Street. The architecture is a mix of post-war residential blocks, older terrace houses, and newer apartment developments, all crammed onto the limited flat land available at the base of the Rock. From a visitor perspective, Westside matters primarily as the location of the cable car base station, which when operating is the quickest way to reach the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. The cable car runs from a station on the lower western slope to a midpoint station and then to the summit, offering aerial views over both sides of the territory. The cable car is one of Gibraltar's most visited experiences when running; the queue at the base station is often the most international crowd you will encounter in the territory. The Alameda Botanical Gardens sit at the southern end of the Westside area, providing a quiet green space with well-maintained tropical and Mediterranean plantings. Free to enter, popular with locals for an evening walk or a weekend morning with the family. Westside is also the location of the frontier with Spain, making it the entry and exit point for pedestrians, vehicles, and the runway crossings that are unique to Gibraltar's airport arrangement.