Before you come
Six things worth knowing before you walk in. The three that matter on the day are repeated on every walk page, where you will actually need them.
- If steps are a problem
- The Europa Point walk is flat, paved, bus-served and outside the paid reserve, so it also has no closing time. It is the one walk you can still do at seven in the evening. Everything inside the reserve involves either steps or a sustained climb. Every walk page says which.
- Water and shade
- There is one place on the upper rock with water, toilets and food: St Michael's Cabin, near the end of The Summit Ridge walk. Carry two litres each in summer. The Mediterranean Steps have neither water nor shade for their whole length.
- The macaques
- Habituated troops take 26% of their diet from tourists; wild troops take 1%. They have learnt that a rucksack holds food, so they go for the bag. Keep food out of sight and bags closed in front of you. Feeding them is illegal and carries fines up to £4,000.
- Reading it
- Every stop is written out in full. Text is 18px and near-black on warm paper because a dark screen is unreadable at midday on white limestone, and nothing moves unless you asked it to. Pinch zoom is never disabled. Targets are built to 48px, for a thumb on uneven ground.
- Closing time
- The reserve closes at 19:00 from May to September and 18:00 from October to April, and there are no lights on any path. Closing is always before sunset, every day of the year: you cannot watch the sun go down from inside the reserve.
- The cable car
- Shut since 18 November 2025 for a full rebuild, expected to run into late 2027. Either you walk up or a taxi takes you up. Either way, the way down is on foot, and the walks here are written on that assumption.
Getting in
Walk in at Jews' Gate in the south or the Moorish Castle in the north; both have a ticket office and a Compass sign on the wall. Compass is free once you are through, and there is nothing to install and no account to make.