Pillars of Hercules
A monument on the south road marking what classical geographers believed was the end of the habitable earth — and still the best first stop on any Rock tour.
The Pillars are two: the Rock of Gibraltar and Jebel Musa on the Moroccan shore, fourteen kilometres of water between them. Ancient sailors treated the gap as a gate, and the monument here marks the northern post of it.
It is also the tour's establishing shot. On a clear morning you can see Africa, Spain, the Strait's shipping lanes and the whole eastern face of the Rock from one spot, which makes it the right place to explain what you are looking at before we climb.
Our tip
Come here first, not last. The haze builds through the afternoon and by four o'clock Morocco has usually gone.
Tell Us When You're Here
Send your dates and we reply personally — usually within a couple of hours, always before you land.