Photo: Scott Wylie (CC BY 4.0)

The Barbary Macaques

The only wild monkey population in Europe, and the reason most people come.

4.1 / 5the Nature Reserve pass, from 504 reviewsHow we score

As long as you like1 of 17 on the Nature Reserve ticket →

Around 300 Barbary macaques live on the Upper Rock in five or six troops, and they are the only free-roaming monkey population in Europe. They are not tame and they are not fed by visitors — feeding them carries a fine — but they are entirely unbothered by people and will walk past your feet.

The best-known gathering point is the Apes' Den at Queen's Gate, and the troops around the top station are usually the easiest to find — though with the cable car closed for rebuilding until 2027 you will be arriving there by taxi tour or on foot. Superstition holds that Gibraltar remains British for as long as the apes do; Churchill took it seriously enough to order the population topped up during the Second World War.

Our tip

Keep bags zipped and food out of sight. They are quick, they are strong, and they have no manners whatsoever.

Where this rating comes from

This is the rating for the ticket, not for this site on its own.

4.1out of 5 for the Nature Reserve pass on GetYourGuide, from 504 reviews, shown unchanged

The Barbary Macaques is not sold or reviewed separately anywhere we can licence, so it carries no score of its own — and we would rather show you nothing than invent one. What we can tell you is how people rate the ticket that admits you to it, which is the thing you actually buy.

The facts

Population: ~300 in five or six troops
Best spot: Apes' Den at Queen's Gate, and around the top station
Feeding: Illegal — fines apply

What we read

One ticket · 17 sites

Also in the Nature Reserve

Your ticket covers all of these, not just this one. There is nothing further to buy once you are through the gate.

Plan a route through the reserve →

Around £45 per adult · under 5 free. What the ticket covers