Spain and Gibraltar have ended formal land border controls after a landmark post-Brexit agreement, making travel between the British territory and Spain easier than ever.
After more than 300 years, the land border between British territory and Spain is no more.
Border controls between Spain and the tiny British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar have been in place since control of the peninsula was captured by the British Navy in 1704, but those controls were removed on Wednesday as a result of a post-Brexit negotiation between the British and Spanish governments, the Gibraltarian government, and the European Union.
While the territory will remain British, with a fondness for red letter boxes and telephone booths, there are no longer border checks for those traveling between Gibraltar and Spain. The territory now shares joint control with Spain over its borders at the port and airport.
Travelers will have their documents checked by both Gibraltarian and Spanish authorities, with Spanish officials having final say over entry to the territory. Spanish immigration officials will also have veto power over grants of residency in Gibraltar because the status allows unfettered access to Spanish territory—in short, access to Gibraltar is now access to Spain and Europe’s Schengen Area.
Continue Reading Article After Our Video
Recommended Fodor’s Video
Before the change, Britain’s The Independent exalted, “When the land border disappears, it will be the most important change for a British Overseas Territory since Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997.”
Gibraltar has nearly 40,000 residents, most of whom are British citizens. Spain has long disputed British sovereignty over the territory, saying that the 1713 treaty, in which Spain ceded the peninsula to Britain, was made under duress. Spain diplomatically asserts its claim periodically, but the United Kingdom maintains the position that the vast majority of Gibraltarians have a right to self-determination and prefer to remain a British Overseas Territory. The United Nations has designated the peninsula as a Non-Self-Governing Territory.
Although there are no longer border controls with Spain, Gibraltar residents are still subject to the same stay and employment limits in Spain. Some 15,000 Spanish citizens maintain residence in Spain, but commute to Gibraltar to work. The island has a robust tourism industry and is a popular cruise port, for the historic nature of the territory and its iconic rock, as well as the Barbary macaques—Europe’s last remaining wild monkeys.
In preparation for the removal of the border controls, the territory’s government seemed keen to exert symbols of Britishness. Red phone booths—an iconic British symbol—have been newly imported and dotted around the territory, and a new fleet of London-style black cabs has also arrived, although—as in Spain—they’ll drive on the right.
Gibraltar was the last remaining controlled land border shared between British territory and another country. Land borders between Cyprus and the British bases on the island are similarly unstaffed, and the land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has been free of controls since 2005. All remaining British territories are islands without land borders.
The Rock of Gibraltar, a landmark limestone promontory near the narrowest portion of the eponymous strait between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and its neighboring natural harbor, has been a strategic outpost since the Middle Ages. Control of the area allowed the Royal Navy significant ability to monitor and protect British shipping to the Mediterranean and onward to the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean.
Gibraltar has a single-runway airport with flights available from U.K. airports on British Airways or EasyJet. The airport sits near the border, and is one of the only airports in the world where pedestrians can cross the runway between flights. A tunnel underneath the airport for vehicular traffic was completed in 2023.