Safety of parking at La Linea (across border from Gibraltar)

My answer from your other post on the same subject:

I leave my luggage in the car all over the place in Spain and everywhere else and never have had a problem.

The bigger question is why leave the car in La Linea instead of making it simple and driving into Gibralter?

Last year we drove to Gibraltar (ok, actually La Linea) and parked in the underground lot as recommended in our Rick Steves guidebook. Although I don't recall the lot being manned, the car was at least off the street and we had no problems leaving our luggage hidden in the trunk.

It's tough to say whether or not you'd have theft issues by doing that, too, but I'm just relaying our experience. Either way, I'd strongly advise taking any valuables with you when you go into Gibraltar.

Have a great trip!

Thanks for the reassurances, Ed.

After re-reading the Gibraltar section, I see you are correct to question me. I didn't notice that delays at the border are usually only 15 minutes. But the guidebook also says "it's simpler to park in La Linea and walk across the border." (But, simpler only if that doesn't result in my rental car being broken into.)

When did you last travel in Spain? Recent news of 20% unemployment has me concerned about possible rise in petty crimes, etc., beyond what Rick Steves warns about.

Go to maps.google.com and copy and paste the following coordinates (36.158195, -5.348435) to find the entrance to a nice safe parkade a block from the border. Just put as much as you can in the trunk, and hide any GPS unit you may have (the same precautions you should take anywhere.) Walk thru immigration, follow Rick's instructions for the all-day bus ticket, and head out.

Last time in Spain was September and October last year. No wait at all at the border. Drove over, repositioned the car a couple of times as we moved around. Very simple and straight forward. Time before that was maybe a year and a half ago. Time before that was .......

We drove to La Linea in 2005, parked in the metered area on the street, and walked across the border. It was pretty easy, and while we had no luggage in the trunk it did not even occur to me that break in might be a risk. It just did not feel like a dangerous area.

We were there in 2006 and drove into Gibraltar. It didn't take long to get through and the advantage is we had a car to drive up into the Rock (see the views, etc.).