The 17C you see on every Gibraltar winter page is real, and it is not what you think it is. It is the average daytime maximum in December. The average across the whole of December, nights included, is 14.7C, and the nights themselves sit at 12.4C. That is still a long way from a British December. It is just not the number people picture when they imagine a winter in the sun. There is a second thing those pages have not caught up with, and it matters far more than two degrees. Since 15 July 2026, the long winter stay that British retirees have been doing on the Rock for decades is capped at 90 days. Not by Spain. By the rules that now govern entry into Gibraltar itself. This post is the honest version: what the winter actually feels like, what the rain does, and exactly how long you are now allowed to stay. The [1991 to 2020 normals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Gibraltar) for the airport weather station give December a mean daily maximum of 17.0C and a mean daily minimum of 12.4C, with the sea still at 16.8C. January is the coldest month and barely moves: 16.3C by day, 11.2C at night. The Gibraltar Tourist Board's own [weather page](https://www.gibraltar.gov.gi/gibraltar-tourist-board/weather) puts the January mean at 13.5C and notes that on average only 30% of days are classified as wet. In practice that is a fleece in the morning, shirtsleeves by noon on a clear day, and a jacket again after dark. People eat outside in Casemates in January. They are not sunbathing. Here is the winter quarter against London, using the [Met Office long term averages for Heathrow](https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/research/climate/maps-and-data/location-specific-long-term-averages/gcpsvg3nc): |Measure|Gibraltar, December|Gibraltar, January|London Heathrow, December| |Mean daily maximum|17.0C|16.3C|8.8C| |Mean daily minimum|12.4C|11.2C|3.1C| |Monthly sunshine|134 hours|147 hours|55 hours| |Rainfall|150.7 mm|97.5 mm|57.1 mm| |Days with rain|7.9|7.2|10.8| |Sea temperature|16.8C|16.3C|not applicable| The line that should decide your winter is the sunshine one. Gibraltar gets roughly two and a half times as much December sun as London does, and it gets it in fewer wet days. December is the wettest month of the Gibraltar year at 150.7 mm. London manages 57.1 mm. On volume alone, a Gibraltar December is more than two and a half times wetter than a London one, and no winter sun brochure has ever mentioned it. Now count the days instead. Gibraltar has 7.9 days of rain in December. Heathrow has 10.8. The same water arrives in fewer, heavier episodes, usually driven in off the Atlantic on a westerly, and in between the sky clears properly rather than staying the flat grey that defines a British winter. > Three wet days in a row here will soak you harder than a fortnight of English drizzle. The difference is that the fourth day is usually blue. January and February are drier at 97.5 mm and 93.6 mm, with 147 and 143 hours of sun. If you can only come for one month and you want the best odds, come in February. It is the driest of the three and the light is already lengthening. The other winter feature is the Levanter, the easterly that piles cloud over the top of the Rock and leaves it there. In winter it is less common than in summer, but when it sits the summit disappears while the town stays dry. It is worth knowing before you book a day on the Upper Rock. [[WIDGET:LiveWeather]] This is the part that catches people, because for most of living memory Gibraltar was simply British soil and a retired British couple could sit here from October to March without anyone counting. That ended on 15 July 2026. The Foreign Office's own [entry requirements for Gibraltar](https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/gibraltar/entry-requirements) now state it plainly: the 90 day limit applies in any 180 day period, and any time you spend in Gibraltar counts alongside time spent in the Schengen Area towards that limit. Read that twice. Your days on the Rock and your days in Spain come out of the same 90. A winter in Gibraltar with a week in Seville in the middle does not buy you an extra week. The practical arithmetic for the coming winter: |Plan|Days used|Allowed| |1 November 2026 to 31 January 2027|92|No, over by two days| |1 December 2026 to 28 February 2027|90|Yes, exactly at the limit| |5 November 2026 to 31 January 2027|88|Yes| |Six weeks in December, six weeks in February|84|Yes| |October to March, the traditional winter|around 180|No| The 90 days are counted backwards from whatever day you are standing on, against the previous 180. So a stay that uses the full allowance does not reset on 1 March. You have to wait while those days roll off the back of the window, which in practice writes off most of the spring as well. Two more details from the same Foreign Office page. Your passport must have been issued within the previous 10 years, and it must stay valid for at least three months after the day you intend to leave. An old passport with ple