# GozoLife: full text Source: https://gozolife.com Generated: 2026-10-19 Everything published on the site, as plain text. Each entry gives the canonical URL. Maltese place names carry their correct diacritics; URL slugs are unaccented ASCII. --- # Beaches and coastal spots Wind exposure below is declared editorially, not computed: the directions a bay can take and the ones that ruin it. Combined with a live forecast, that is what produces the verdict shown on each page. ## Daħlet Qorrot URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/dahlet-qorrot Type: bay. Locality: nadur. Coordinates: 36.051, 14.314 Summary: A working boat bay below Nadur, with brightly painted boathouses cut into the rock and very few people. Sheltered from: S (Nofsinhar), SW (Lbiċ), W (Punent) Exposed to: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), E (Lvant) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Diving, Quiet, Swimming, Snorkelling Reported in the water: Neptune grass meadow, Seabream Facilities present: Parking, Boat access Access: Down from Nadur, signposted but narrow near the end. Parking: A small area above the bay. Walk from the car: Two minutes. How busy: quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Mostly a fishermen's bay. A row of boathouses is cut straight into the rock, painted in the usual colours, and there is a patch of coarse sand with rock either side. It is one of the quietest swimmable bays on Gozo and it stays that way because there is nothing here to buy. ## The wind It faces northeast. A grigal puts swell in and makes the entry awkward over the rock. With anything from the south or west it is calm. ## Bring everything No kiosk, no toilets, no shade. There is nothing here at all, which is the point, but plan for it. ## Dwejra URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/dwejra Type: dive site. Locality: san-lawrenz. Coordinates: 36.0527, 14.1894 Summary: The Inland Sea, the Blue Hole and Fungus Rock on the west coast, and the best-known diving in the Maltese islands. Sheltered from: E (Lvant), NE (Grigal), SE (Xlokk) Exposed to: W (Punent), SW (Lbiċ), NW (Majjistral) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Diving, Snorkelling, Sunset, Quiet Reported in the water: Grouper, Barracuda, Tuna, Amberjack Facilities present: Restaurant, Cafe or kiosk, Toilets, Parking, Bus route, Dive centre, Boat access Access: Signposted from San Lawrenz. Surfaced the whole way. Parking: Large free area above the Inland Sea. Walk from the car: Two minutes to the Inland Sea, five over rock to the Blue Hole. How busy: busy Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Not a beach. A flooded sinkhole connected to the open sea by a tunnel through the cliff, with the Blue Hole and Fungus Rock a short walk over the rock to the south. The Azure Window stood here until it collapsed in March 2017, and the rubble is now a dive site in its own right. ## The wind Dwejra faces west and takes the full Atlantic swell that a punent or an lbic pushes in. When it is rough the boatmen will not run the tunnel and the Blue Hole entry becomes dangerous. In an lvant or a grigal it is calm. ## Diving The Blue Hole is the most dived site in the Maltese islands: a natural shaft in the rock that opens into the sea at about fifteen metres. Entry is over rock and there is a chain to help. It is a serious site in any swell. ## The Inland Sea Fishermen run small boats through the tunnel to the open sea and back for a few euro. Worth doing once, and the only way to see the cliffs from below. ## Għar Qawqla URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/ghar-qawqla Type: rocky. Locality: marsalforn. Coordinates: 36.076, 14.265 Summary: Flat rock and a sea stack just east of Marsalforn, a two-minute walk from the promenade and far emptier. Sheltered from: S (Nofsinhar), SW (Lbiċ), SE (Xlokk) Exposed to: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), NW (Majjistral) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Diving, Swimming, Snorkelling, Short dip Reported in the water: Moray eels, Octopus Facilities present: Parking Access: Walk or drive east from Marsalforn along the shore. Parking: Roadside along the coast road. Walk from the car: None. How busy: quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like The headland immediately east of Marsalforn, where the rock flattens out and a weathered stack sits offshore. People swim off the rock into deep clear water. It is a two-minute walk from the busiest beach on the island and usually has a fraction of the people. ## The wind North-facing, so it goes the same way as Marsalforn in a tramuntana. ## Getting in Over rock, and the edge is sharp in places. Shoes are worth having. ## Ħondoq ir-Rummien URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/hondoq Type: bay. Locality: qala. Coordinates: 36.029, 14.3203 Summary: Clear water on the Qala side looking across to Comino, with a small shingle beach and rock on either side. Sheltered from: W (Punent), NW (Majjistral), SW (Lbiċ) Exposed to: E (Lvant), NE (Grigal), SE (Xlokk) Entry into the water: shingle Good for: Diving, Swimming, Snorkelling, Families Reported in the water: Neptune grass meadow, Seabream, Octopus Facilities present: Cafe or kiosk, Toilets, Parking, Boat access Access: Signposted down from Qala. The road is narrow but surfaced the whole way. Parking: Free parking above the bay, which fills early on summer weekends. Walk from the car: Two or three minutes down from the car park. How busy: busy Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like The water here is the clearest on this side of Gozo, which is why the boat trips stop. The beach itself is small and shingly, but the rock platforms either side are where most people actually settle. Across the channel you are looking at Comino and the Blue Lagoon traffic. ## The wind Ħondoq faces east across the channel. An lvant or a grigal brings swell and the channel chop, which is sharper here than the open coast because of the boat wash. With anything from the west it is flat. ## Getting in Shingle at the top of the beach, then rock. Water shoes are worth having. ## Iż-Żewwieqa URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/iz-zewwieqa Type: bay. Locality: ghajnsielem. Coordinates: 36.0255, 14.297 Summary: A small rocky inlet just west of Mġarr harbour, used mostly by people who keep boats there. Sheltered from: NW (Majjistral), W (Punent), N (Tramuntana) Exposed to: SE (Xlokk), S (Nofsinhar), E (Lvant) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Swimming, Quiet, Short dip Facilities present: Parking, Boat access Access: Off the road between Għajnsielem and Mġarr. Parking: Limited roadside space. Walk from the car: A minute or two. How busy: quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A working inlet rather than a beach. Rock ledges, a few moorings and clear water, within walking distance of the ferry terminal. Handy if you have an hour before a crossing. ## The wind It opens southeast towards Malta, so a xlokk puts chop in along with the wash from the ferry traffic. In a tramuntana it is calm. ## Marsalforn Bay URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/marsalforn Type: bay. Locality: marsalforn. Coordinates: 36.0725, 14.259 Summary: Gozo's seaside town, with a small sandy beach at the head of the bay and most of the island's hotels and restaurants around it. Sheltered from: S (Nofsinhar), SW (Lbiċ), SE (Xlokk) Exposed to: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), NW (Majjistral) Entry into the water: sand Good for: Families, Swimming, Short dip Facilities present: Restaurant, Cafe or kiosk, Toilets, Sunbeds, Umbrellas, Parking, Bus route, Dive centre, Water sports, Boat access Access: Direct road from Victoria or Xagħra, surfaced and easy. Parking: Street parking around the bay and a larger area to the west. Difficult in August. Walk from the car: None. How busy: very busy Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like More town than beach. The sand at the head of the bay is modest and gets packed in summer, but Marsalforn is where the restaurants, the dive operators and most of the accommodation are, so a lot of people swim here simply because it is where they are staying. ## The wind The bay faces north. In a tramuntana the swell comes right in and the sand disappears under the water at the top of the beach. In anything southerly it is calm. ## Walking west The coast road west towards Qbajjar and Xwejni passes the salt pans, which are worth the walk in late afternoon when the light is low across them. ## Mġarr ix-Xini URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/mgarr-ix-xini Type: bay. Locality: sannat. Coordinates: 36.0229, 14.269 Summary: A long narrow inlet with a shingle beach at the end, one restaurant, and almost nothing else. Sheltered from: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), NW (Majjistral), E (Lvant), W (Punent) Exposed to: S (Nofsinhar), SE (Xlokk) Entry into the water: shingle Good for: Diving, Swimming, Snorkelling, Quiet Reported in the water: Octopus, Cuttlefish, Seabream Facilities present: Restaurant, Boat access Access: A single narrow road down the valley from Sannat or Xewkija. Passing places only. Parking: Limited space along the final stretch of road. Arrive early or walk in. Walk from the car: None if you find a space, otherwise up to ten minutes along the road. How busy: quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A deep cut in the south coast, with a small shingle beach at the head and high sides that keep the water calm. There is one restaurant and no other development, which is the appeal. Snorkelling along the walls on either side is the best on this coast. ## The wind Because the inlet is narrow and runs inland, it is sheltered from almost everything. Only a southerly or a xlokk reaches down it. This is the bay to head for when the north coast is written off. ## A note on the road The approach is single track with passing places and it gets blocked in summer. If a car is coming the other way, one of you is reversing. ## Qbajjar Bay URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/qbajjar Type: rocky. Locality: marsalforn. Coordinates: 36.0785, 14.251 Summary: Flat rock and a sliver of coarse sand just west of Marsalforn, next to the start of the salt pans. Sheltered from: S (Nofsinhar), SW (Lbiċ), SE (Xlokk) Exposed to: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), NW (Majjistral) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Diving, Swimming, Snorkelling, Short dip Reported in the water: Neptune grass meadow, Seabream Facilities present: Restaurant, Cafe or kiosk, Parking Access: Coast road west from Marsalforn, five minutes. Parking: Roadside along the bay. Walk from the car: None. How busy: quiet Verified on the ground: 2026-10 ## What it is like A shallow rocky bay with a small patch of coarse sand, quieter than Marsalforn a few hundred metres back. The appeal is the flat rock to lie on and water that is clear once you are past the shallows. ## The wind Same exposure as Marsalforn: it faces north and a tramuntana makes it unswimmable. In a southerly it is calm and usually close to empty. ## The salt pans The chequered pans cut into the rock start just here and run west towards Xwejni. They are still worked in summer, and the salt is sold from a shed along the road. ## Ramla l-Ħamra URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/ramla Type: sandy. Locality: xaghra. Coordinates: 36.06077, 14.28324 Summary: Gozo's big red-sand beach, below Xagħra and Nadur, backed by open fields rather than buildings. Sheltered from: S (Nofsinhar), SW (Lbiċ), W (Punent) Exposed to: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), NW (Majjistral) Entry into the water: sand Good for: Families, Swimming, Long stay Facilities present: Cafe or kiosk, Toilets, Sunbeds, Umbrellas, Parking, Bus route Access: Road down from either Xagħra or Nadur. The Xagħra side is the easier drive. Parking: Free unsurfaced parking at the end of the road from Xagħra. Full by mid-morning in July and August. Walk from the car: Two minutes on the flat from the lower car park; ten if you park up on the Xagħra side. How busy: very busy Blue Flag: yes Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like The largest sandy beach on Gozo and the only one with real scale. The sand is genuinely reddish, which is where the name comes from, and the valley behind it has stayed undeveloped, so the view from the water is fields rather than hotels. ## The wind Ramla faces north. That is the whole story. In a northerly or a gregale it gets choppy and the swimming turns unpleasant, and in high summer that is also when the jellyfish arrive. With a southerly or a westerly it is calm and the bay is at its best. If the north wind is up, Xlendi on the other side of the island will usually be flat. ## Out of season From November to March the kiosks shut and the beach is often completely empty on a weekday, which is arguably when it is worth seeing. The road stays open and the parking is free and unlimited. ## Ras il-Ħobż URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/ras-il-hobz Type: dive site. Locality: ghajnsielem. Coordinates: 36.0175, 14.279 Summary: A submerged pinnacle off the south coast, known to divers as the Middle Finger, with the MV Karwela wreck nearby. Sheltered from: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), NW (Majjistral) Exposed to: S (Nofsinhar), SE (Xlokk), SW (Lbiċ) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Diving, Snorkelling, Quiet Reported in the water: Barracuda, Amberjack, Grouper Facilities present: Parking, Boat access Access: Track down from Għajnsielem towards the coast. Slow but passable. Parking: Rough ground at the end of the track. Walk from the car: A few minutes over rock. How busy: very quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A dive site rather than a swim. The pinnacle rises from about fifty metres to within a few metres of the surface, which is why divers call it the Middle Finger. Snorkellers can see the top of it on a calm day. ## The wind South-facing and fully open to it. A nofsinhar or a xlokk makes the shore entry unsafe over the rock. ## Nearby wrecks The MV Karwela and the MV Cominoland were scuttled off this stretch of coast and sit within recreational depth. Most people dive them from a boat out of Mġarr rather than from the shore. ## San Blas Bay URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/san-blas Type: sandy. Locality: nadur. Coordinates: 36.0565, 14.2963 Summary: A small red-sand cove below Nadur, reached down a road so steep that most people walk it. Sheltered from: S (Nofsinhar), SW (Lbiċ), W (Punent) Exposed to: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), E (Lvant) Entry into the water: sand Good for: Swimming, Quiet, Snorkelling Facilities present: Cafe or kiosk Access: Signposted from Nadur. Drivers of low cars should park at the top and walk. Parking: A handful of spaces at the top. The last stretch of road is very steep and narrow. Walk from the car: Ten to fifteen minutes down, and a hard climb back up. A jeep shuttle runs in summer. How busy: busy Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Smaller and steeper than Ramla, with the same reddish sand and a good deal more effort to reach. The bay is backed by terraced fields and a few carob trees, and because of the walk it never gets as crowded as its size would suggest. ## The wind San Blas faces north and east. A tramuntana or a grigal puts swell straight into it, and the bay is narrow enough that the chop has nowhere to go. In a southerly or a westerly it is calm. ## Getting down This is the thing to know before you set out. The road down is one of the steepest on the island and the surface is poor. Most people park at the top and walk, which takes ten to fifteen minutes down and rather longer back. In summer a jeep shuttles people back up for a small fare, which is worth knowing about before you walk down in the heat. ## Reqqa Point URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/reqqa-point Type: dive site. Locality: zebbug. Coordinates: 36.0825, 14.242 Summary: The northernmost point of Gozo, a sheer wall dropping to fifty metres, and one of the island's best shore dives. Sheltered from: S (Nofsinhar), SW (Lbiċ), SE (Xlokk) Exposed to: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), NW (Majjistral) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Diving, Snorkelling, Quiet Reported in the water: Grouper, Barracuda, Amberjack Facilities present: Parking Access: Track north from Żebbuġ past the salt pans. Parking: Rough ground at the end of the track. Walk from the car: Five minutes over rock, then a short climb down. How busy: very quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A headland where the rock drops vertically into deep water. Divers come for the wall and the caves along it; snorkellers get a lot from it too because the drop is close in and the visibility is usually excellent. ## The wind Fully exposed to the north. In a tramuntana there is no entry here at all, and the swell breaks hard over the rock. Calm in anything southerly. ## A caution The entry is a scramble and the exit is harder in any swell. This is not a casual swimming spot. ## San Filep URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/san-filep Type: bay. Locality: nadur. Coordinates: 36.052, 14.312 Summary: A tiny inlet just north of Daħlet Qorrot, with a few boathouses and almost nobody. Sheltered from: SW (Lbiċ), W (Punent), S (Nofsinhar) Exposed to: NE (Grigal), E (Lvant), N (Tramuntana) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Quiet, Swimming, Snorkelling Facilities present: Boat access Access: On foot along the coast from Daħlet Qorrot. Parking: None to speak of. Park at Daħlet Qorrot and walk. Walk from the car: Ten minutes from Daħlet Qorrot. How busy: very quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Smaller and emptier than Daħlet Qorrot next door. A handful of boathouses, flat rock, and clear water. There is no road to it worth driving, which is why it stays quiet. ## The wind East-facing like its neighbour, so a grigal or an lvant puts swell in. ## Bring everything Nothing here. No shade, no water, no facilities of any kind. ## Xatt l-Aħmar URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/xatt-l-ahmar Type: rocky. Locality: ghajnsielem. Coordinates: 36.0215, 14.2855 Summary: Rock ledges on the south coast below Għajnsielem, and the island's best shore diving. Sheltered from: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), NW (Majjistral) Exposed to: S (Nofsinhar), SE (Xlokk), SW (Lbiċ) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Diving, Snorkelling, Quiet Reported in the water: Grouper, Brown meagre, Conger eel Facilities present: Parking, Dive centre, Boat access Access: Down a rough track from Għajnsielem. Slow going but passable in a normal car. Parking: Rough area at the end of the track. Walk from the car: A few minutes over rock to the water. How busy: quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Not a beach. Flat rock ledges stepping down into deep water, with no sand and no facilities. People come here to dive: two scuttled wrecks sit offshore and the shore entry is straightforward, which is unusual. ## The wind South-facing, so a nofsinhar or a xlokk makes the entry dangerous over the rock. In a tramuntana it is flat. ## If you are not diving The swimming is good in calm weather but the entry is over rock and there is no shade whatsoever. Bring shoes. ## Wied il-Mielaħ URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/wied-il-mielah Type: arch. Locality: gharb. Coordinates: 36.0772, 14.213 Summary: A natural window in the cliff on the north coast, quieter than the Azure Window ever was and still standing. Sheltered from: SE (Xlokk), S (Nofsinhar), E (Lvant) Exposed to: NW (Majjistral), N (Tramuntana), W (Punent) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Diving, Quiet, Snorkelling, Sunset Reported in the water: Ocean sunfish (rare), Barracuda, Amberjack Facilities present: Parking Access: Down the valley from Għarb. Narrow but surfaced. Parking: Small area at the end of the valley road. Walk from the car: Two minutes to the arch. How busy: quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A sea arch cut into the north coast at the end of a valley, reached by a short walk from the road. Since the Azure Window fell this is the arch people come to, and it is still far quieter than Dwejra ever was. ## The wind It faces northwest and the swell comes straight through the window in a majjistral. That is spectacular to watch and dangerous to swim in. In anything southerly the water underneath is flat. ## Swimming There is a ladder down into deep water beside the arch. No sand, no shade, and nothing else at all. ## Xatt ta’ Claire URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/xatt-ta-claire Type: rocky. Locality: ghajnsielem. Coordinates: 36.0235, 14.29 Summary: Rock ledges with ladders into deep water on the south coast below Għajnsielem. Sheltered from: NW (Majjistral), W (Punent), N (Tramuntana) Exposed to: SE (Xlokk), S (Nofsinhar), E (Lvant) Entry into the water: ladder Good for: Swimming, Snorkelling, Quiet Facilities present: Parking Access: Track down from Għajnsielem, slow but passable. Parking: Rough area at the end of the track. Walk from the car: A few minutes over rock. How busy: quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Flat rock with ladders fixed into it, dropping straight into deep water. Popular with locals who want a swim rather than a beach day, and quiet almost all the time. ## The wind South-facing, so a nofsinhar or a xlokk makes the ladders awkward and the exit harder than the entry. Calm in a tramuntana. ## Getting in Ladders only. There is no shallow end and no sand. ## Xlendi Bay URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/xlendi Type: bay. Locality: xlendi. Coordinates: 36.0297, 14.2189 Summary: A narrow inlet between high cliffs, with the deepest easy swimming on the island and restaurants along the front. Sheltered from: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), E (Lvant) Exposed to: SW (Lbiċ), W (Punent), S (Nofsinhar) Entry into the water: shingle Good for: Swimming, Diving, Sunset, Short dip Reported in the water: Octopus, Moray eels, Seabream Facilities present: Restaurant, Cafe or kiosk, Toilets, Sunbeds, Umbrellas, Parking, Bus route, Dive centre, Boat access Access: Straight down from Victoria, well signposted, surfaced the whole way. Parking: Paid parking at the head of the bay. Full from mid-morning in summer. Walk from the car: None. You park at the water. How busy: very busy Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Xlendi is the opposite of Ramla: small, deep, enclosed by cliff on both sides, and built up along the front. The swimming is off a short shingle beach or straight off the rocks, and it drops away quickly. The restaurants along the quay are the reason a lot of people come at all. ## The wind The bay opens to the southwest. An lbiċ or a punent funnels straight up it and the water turns rough fast, which is also when the swell comes over the promenade. In a tramuntana or a grigal it is glass, which makes it the natural alternative when Ramla is unusable. ## The cliff walk The path out along the southern side towards Ta’ Ċenċ is worth the twenty minutes, particularly in the hour before sunset. ## Xwejni Bay URL: https://gozolife.com/beaches/xwejni Type: rocky. Locality: marsalforn. Coordinates: 36.079, 14.248 Summary: Flat rock, the big mushroom-shaped boulder, and the salt pans running along the shore behind. Sheltered from: S (Nofsinhar), SW (Lbiċ), SE (Xlokk) Exposed to: N (Tramuntana), NE (Grigal), NW (Majjistral) Entry into the water: rock Good for: Diving, Snorkelling, Swimming, Quiet Reported in the water: Moray eels, Octopus Facilities present: Parking Access: Coast road west from Marsalforn, past Qbajjar. Parking: Roadside. Walk from the car: None. How busy: quiet Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like The most photographed stretch of this coast, because of the salt pans and the weathered rock stack at the water's edge. Swimming is off flat rock into deep clear water. There is no sand at all. ## The wind North-facing and completely open to it. In a tramuntana this is a place to look at rather than swim in. In a southerly it is calm and the water is exceptionally clear. ## The salt pans Worked since at least the Knights' period and still harvested by hand in summer. Walk along them rather than across them. --- # Villages and hamlets ## Fontana URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/fontana A village in central Gozo. Population (2021 census): 1042 Area: 0.5 km2 Festa: The Sacred Heart, a moveable feast, in June or July Coordinates: 36.03639, 14.24222 Summary: The smallest village by area, strung along the road below Victoria, named for its springs and old wash-house. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Fontana is half a square kilometre and about 900 people, which makes it the smallest village on Gozo by both measures. It is not a place you set out for. It is strung along the road that drops from Victoria towards Xlendi, so most people pass through it on the way to the bay and never register that they have been in a separate village at all. The Maltese name, It-Triq tal-Għajn, means the street of the water springs. Fontana is simply the Italian for spring. ## What is actually here Għajn tal-Ħasselin, the old wash-house, is the thing to stop for. Sixteenth century arched shelters stand over the springs, fed by an irrigation system of stone gutters, and it is still in working order. It takes five minutes to see and is genuinely unusual. The parish was erected on 27 March 1911, but the church came first: a small group of fishermen and their families paid for it and built much of it themselves, with the foundation stone laid on 29 January 1893. The art inside is out of proportion to the village, with two paintings by Giuseppe Calì, Silvio Galimberti's Agony of Saint Joseph, work by Lazzaro Pisani, Paul Camilleri Cauchi and Robert Caruana Dingli, a Sacred Heart sculpture by Agostino (Wistin) Camilleri from 1923 and a St Andrew statue by Karlu Mallia from 1909. Local crafts are ganutell bouquets and lacework. ## Fireworks Fontana produced many of Gozo's finest firework manufacturers, which is worth knowing in June: the festa displays here are made by people who do this properly rather than bought in. ## Getting there Walk. The village is a few minutes downhill from Victoria, and buses on the Xlendi route pass through it. Driving in is possible but there is little reason to, and almost nowhere to park. ## When to come Mid-June for the festa, late October for the Autumn Funland event, and any morning at all for the wash-house, which is never busy. ## Għajnsielem URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/ghajnsielem A village in east Gozo. Population (2021 census): 3523 Area: 4.4 km2 Festa: Our Lady of Loreto, the last Sunday of August Coordinates: 36.02694, 14.29028 Summary: The first village most people pass through, since the ferry lands below it at Mġarr. Fort Chambray sits on the headland. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like The village you drive through without noticing, because the road from the ferry climbs straight past it towards Victoria. Stop and it is a square, a very large church in an unexpected Lombard-Gothic style, and streets that run down towards the harbour at Mġarr, which is part of the same council. The name means a peaceful spring, and Grand Master Perellos put up an arcade of public washbasins and fresh water spouts over it in 1700. ## What is actually here The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Loreto, begun in 1924, is worth the stop. Its building history is a small catalogue of misfortune: four architects in all, the first of whom resigned and the second of whom died, and a master mason, Toni Vella, who fell from the works and broke his legs twice. The bell tower was blessed in June 1979. The titular statue came from Gallard et Fils of Marseilles and reached Gozo on 14 October 1866, commissioned in thanks for the island escaping the plague that struck Malta the year before. Pjazza tad-Dehra, the square of the apparition, is where tradition says Our Lady spoke to a shepherd named Anglu Grech. ## Fort Chambray On the headland above the harbour, an 18th century fort intended as the beginning of a new fortified town, Gozo's Valletta. The town never happened. What exists is the fort, the gate and a private residential complex inside the walls, so there is less to walk around than the scale of the place suggests. ## Getting there Every bus from the ferry passes through, and Victoria is about ten minutes on. Walking up from Mġarr is possible but steep. Xatt l-Aħmar is reached by a rough track off the Mġarr road. ## When to come The festa falls on the last weekend of August. Christmas is the other date that matters, for the live nativity village with actors and animals, which runs for several evenings and draws people from across the island. ## Għarb URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/gharb A village in west Gozo. Population (2021 census): 1549 Area: 4.6 km2 Festa: The Visitation, the first Sunday of July Coordinates: 36.06111, 14.20917 Summary: The far west. Ta’ Pinu stands alone in the fields just outside it. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like The far west of the island, where the fields open out and the lanes mostly stop going anywhere in particular. The core around the square is one of the better preserved on Gozo, with the Parish Church and Collegiate Basilica of the Visitation at the top of it. The church went up in 1699 and was consecrated in 1729. Before that, the old church known as Taż-Żejt served as the parish church for fifty years. ## What is actually here Ta’ Pinu, the national shrine, stands alone in the fields just outside the village. It is not in Għarb proper, and the road out to it is exposed, which catches people out in August. Opposite the shrine, Ta’ Għammar hill carries white marble Stations of the Cross up its slope. Ta’ Dbieġi Crafts Village sells hand-made pottery, mouth-blown glass, leather, Gozo lace and silver filigree. Nothing official names the individual workshops or publishes hours, so do not plan a day around it. Għarb also gives its name to the Sikkina tal-Għarb, a traditional sharp knife still made in the village, and it hosts the Gozo International Puppet Festival. ## The Ta’ Ġurdan walk A circular route of roughly 10 km starts and finishes in the village square. It takes in Ta’ Ġurdan lighthouse, Ta’ Pinu, the valleys of Wied il-Mielaħ and Wied il-Għasri, and the 15th-century chapel of San Dmitri, returning through the fields behind the sanctuary. There is very little shade on any of it. ## Getting there Buses from Victoria serve Għarb and Ta’ Pinu, and the drive takes about ten minutes. The western routes are thinner than those to Xagħra or Nadur, so check the timetable rather than assuming one will be along shortly. ## When to come The festa weekend in early July is the loudest the village gets all year. Spring is the better bet for the walks, when the valleys still have water in them and the fields are not yet burnt off. ## Għasri URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/ghasri A village in north Gozo. Population (2021 census): 518 Area: 5 km2 Festa: Corpus Christi, a moveable feast, in May or June Coordinates: 36.05833, 14.22778 Summary: The smallest population on Gozo. Mostly fields, with Wied il-Għasri cutting down to a narrow inlet. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Around 500 people live here, which makes Għasri the least populated village on the island. There is a church, a square, some houses and then fields. If you want a village with cafes and something to do in the evening, this is not it, and nothing about the place pretends otherwise. The name is probably Arabic in origin and may derive from a verb meaning to press, which would fit olive pressing. That is a plausible reading rather than a proven one. ## What is actually here The parish church of Corpus Christi, dedicated to Christ the Saviour, was built between 1903 and 1916 to a design by Dun Ġużepp Diacono, with the foundation stone laid in 1903. Għasri only became an independent parish on 16 December 1921, under Bishop Giovanni Marija Camilleri, which makes it one of the youngest parishes on Gozo. The chapel of Our Lady of Patronage keeps its own feast on the second Sunday of October. ## Wied il-Għasri The gorge is the reason most people come. It cuts inland from the north coast and ends in a pebble beach a few metres wide, reached by steps cut into the cliff face. The rock is Lower Coralline Limestone under Globigerina Limestone. Prickly pears and capers grow out of the dry stone walls on the way down, and there are red poppies in late spring. A cave at the mouth of the inlet has a shaft running up to the clifftop. It once held ropes and buckets for hauling seawater up to the salt pans. There are no facilities of any kind at the gorge. ## Getting there From Victoria, take the Għarb road and bear right at the fork just after the aqueduct. The village sits between the hills of Żebbuġ and Għammar. The turning is easy to miss. ## When to come Late spring, for the poppies and for water still running in the valley. In high summer the gorge takes the full sun and the inlet closes out in any northerly swell. ## Kerċem URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/kercem A village in west Gozo. Population (2021 census): 1881 Area: 5.5 km2 Festa: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, the second Sunday of July Coordinates: 36.04056, 14.22972 Summary: Quiet and green, with the Lunzjata valley below and Santa Lucija within its boundary. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Kerċem sits on the western edge of Victoria and feels like an extension of it until the houses stop and the fields start. About 1,900 people live here. It is green by Gozitan standards, because the valleys below it are fed by springs, and it is quiet in a way that is pleasant to stay in and thin on things to do. ## What is actually here It is the only village on the island with two patron saints. St Gregory the Great is kept on 12 March, when the procession still walks out from Victoria to the chapel; Our Lady of Perpetual Help falls on the second Sunday of July and is now the bigger of the two celebrations. The chapel of Pope St Gregory the Great dates from around 1581. This is also one of the earliest inhabited places on Gozo, with settlement going back some 7,000 years. The Roman baths and early Christian cemetery at Għar Gerduf are part of that record, but the site is closed to visitors and there is nothing to see from outside. Less expected: Kerċem has one of only three full-size football pitches on Gozo. ## Il-Lunzjata valley The valley below the village, with the chapel of the Annunciation at its entrance, was a hunting ground for the Knights and is now worked agricultural land fed by springs. It is marked as accessible for people with a disability, which almost no other stretch of Gozitan countryside is. ## Getting there A few minutes from Victoria by bus or car, and walkable from the Victoria bus terminus if you do not mind the climb back. Parking in the village is straightforward outside festa weekends. ## When to come March for the St Gregory procession, July for the larger festa, and spring for the valley. In summer Kerċem is a base rather than a destination: the coast is a drive away and there is no beach within its boundary. ## Marsalforn URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/marsalforn A village in north Gozo. Sits within Żebbuġ. Coordinates: 36.0725, 14.259 Summary: Gozo's seaside resort, busy in summer and surprisingly open in winter. The salt pans run west along the coast. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Marsalforn is the closest thing Gozo has to a resort, and it carries the island's summer crowd without much complaint. The bay is small, the promenade runs around it, and the restaurants are stacked along the water. Hotels, guesthouses and self-catering are mostly within five minutes of the sea, along with shops and dive centres. It is also one of the few places on Gozo that stays genuinely open through winter, which makes it a reasonable base out of season when half the island has shut. It has no parish of its own and falls under the Żebbuġ council. ## The salt pans West of the bay, past Qbajjar and on towards Xwejni, the salt pans run for about 3 km: a chequered grid cut into the flat rock, described as 350 years old and worked by a method going back to the Phoenician era. The Cinis family has harvested here since the 1860s. Seawater is let into shallow rock-cut reservoirs and left to evaporate over several days, the cycle repeating through the summer, and the salt is dried and stored in caves cut into the coastal rock. The harvest runs mid-May to September, though the formations are there all year. Visitors are asked not to walk on them. ## Swimming The bay is sheltered from the south and west and exposed to the north and north-east. When the gregale blows, the water goes choppy and the swimming is poor. There is a small sandy area in front of the police station, protected by the breakwater promontory, and that is the family option. Il-Ponta ta’ Santa Marija and Għar Qawqla suit stronger swimmers and should be left alone in rough weather. Qbajjar, a little further along, is a shallow pebbly inlet with a couple of bars and a few fishing boats. Xwejni, beyond it, is a cove of shallow pools among large boulders and a common site for first dives. ## Walking from here Marsalforn Valley and Merżuq Hill take you inland. The Saltpans circuit runs from Victoria through the Sara valley, Wied il-Għasri, the pans and the two bays. The Ramla walk crosses from here to Ramla by way of Xagħra. ## Getting there Fifteen minutes by bus from Victoria, or a ten-minute drive. Parking fills by mid-morning in July and August. ## Mġarr URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/mgarr A village in east Gozo. Sits within Għajnsielem. Coordinates: 36.0245, 14.2985 Summary: The harbour. Everything arriving on Gozo arrives here, and the marina and seafront restaurants sit around it. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A working harbour that happens to be the front door of an island. Ferries come and go on the far side, the fishing fleet fills the inner basin, the yachts sit in the marina, and a line of restaurants faces all of it across the road. Our Lady of Lourdes stands on the slope above, which is the view people photograph from the deck coming in. Mġarr is not a village in its own right: it has no parish and no festa, and belongs to Għajnsielem up the hill. ## What is actually here The fishing port, mostly. Over 70 percent of Gozo's fishing boats berth at Mġarr, which makes it the second largest fishing harbour in the Maltese islands by number of boats, and it is one of only three places on Gozo where the seafood on the menu is reliably local; Marsalforn and Xlendi are the other two. Iż-Żewwieqa, round the coast, is where people actually swim. Otherwise this is a transport hub with a good view. There is no old core to walk around, and the buildings behind the waterfront are mostly recent. ## Getting there and onward The Gozo Channel ferry crosses to Ċirkewwa in about 25 minutes, as often as every half hour in the daytime, and both terminals have facilities for people with disabilities. A separate foot passenger fast ferry runs to the Grand Harbour in Valletta in about 45 minutes: over 300 passengers, wheelchair accessible, pets welcome, one bag each, WiFi on board, bicycles and electric scooters carried free if you say so on arrival, and check in 15 to 20 minutes before departure. Every bus route on Gozo starts from the terminus by the quay. ## When to come Arrival times decide this more than the season. If you want the harbour at its best, come down in the early evening when the fleet is in and the light is on the fort above. Midday in August is queues, heat and coach parties. ## Munxar URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/munxar A village in south Gozo. Population (2021 census): 1707 Area: 2.8 km2 Festa: St Paul, the last Sunday of May Coordinates: 36.03028, 14.23528 Summary: Small and inland, though Xlendi below it is what everyone actually visits. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A small village on the ridge between Victoria and the south coast cliffs, with a square, a modest baroque church and not much else laid on. Munxar was the last village on Gozo to become a parish, in December 1957, which tells you something about how long it stayed a scatter of farmhouses. The name is old Maltese for a bucksaw, taken from the zigzagged cliffs below as they appear from the Bardan Heights, and the place is first recorded as il monxar in a notarial deed of 1584. ## What is actually here The church of St Paul, the square, and underneath the square a set of WWII shelters 25 metres long, dug in 1942 by Public Works Department labourers under the architect Ġużeppi Savona, with the entry in the square itself. Munxar also produced Professor Joseph Aquilina, born here on 7 April 1911, who wrote the Maltese-English Dictionary that is still the standard reference for the language. Beyond that, the village is residential and quiet, and most of what visitors come for falls within its council area rather than within the village: Xlendi Bay, which the council administers, and the cliffs at Sanap. ## The cliffs and the walk The south coast here is the good part. A trail runs from the Sanap cliffs down into Xlendi Bay, and the cliff edge path continues east towards Ta’ Ċenċ. There is no shade, the ground is loose in places, and the climb back up from Xlendi is harder than the walk down. ## Getting there Buses from Victoria take about ten minutes and continue down to Xlendi. Parking in the square is straightforward outside festa week, which is more than can be said for the bay below. ## When to come The village festa falls on the last Sunday of May, rather than on St Paul's own feast of 10 February. For the cliff walks, spring and autumn; in July and August the exposed ground makes it unpleasant by mid morning. ## Nadur URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/nadur A village in east Gozo. Population (2021 census): 4548 Area: 7.2 km2 Festa: St Peter and St Paul, 29 June Coordinates: 36.03806, 14.295 Summary: High, spread out and fiercely proud of its carnival. San Blas and Daħlet Qorrot are both below it. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A ridge village, strung out along the high ground, with the church of Saints Peter and Paul in the square facing an old stone cross. The name comes from the Maltese nadar, to observe at length, because this is where people watched the sea from. Nadur is large and residential rather than pretty, and the interest is at the edges: the lanes dropping north to the coast and the fields of pomegranate and citrus between them. ## What is actually here Ta’ Isopu Tower, also called Ta’ Sopu or San Blas Tower, is a Knights-period watchtower on the cliff between Daħlet Qorrot and San Blas. Ta’ Kenuna Tower was put up by the British in 1848 to carry the telegraph between Malta and Gozo, and now sits inside a new botanical garden of Maltese plants. Daħlet Qorrot below the village is a row of boathouses, most of them converted out of natural caves and ledges in the rock. The village keeps a small maritime museum with naval material from the Knights, the British period and the twentieth century. ## Carnival and Imnarja Two things here are genuinely unlike anywhere else. L-Imnarja, the festa of Saints Peter and Paul on 29 June, is a national holiday. Carnival in February is the other: no programme, no committee, no floats worth the name, just people in unusual and often satirical costumes filling the streets after dark. If you want organisation, go to Victoria instead. ## Getting there Buses from Victoria take about fifteen minutes and run along the ridge road. The village itself is easy to drive in; the lanes down to the bays are not, and the one to San Blas is steep enough that most hire cars should be left at the top. ## When to come Late June for Imnarja, February for carnival. The bakeries are worth a detour at any time of year. Late autumn brings the Nadur Garmin 10K and a Halloween event in the square. ## Qala URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/qala A village in east Gozo. Population (2021 census): 2300 Area: 5.9 km2 Festa: St Joseph, the first Sunday of August Coordinates: 36.03528, 14.31028 Summary: The eastern edge of Gozo, looking across to Comino. Ħondoq ir-Rummien is below it. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like The far eastern end of the island, where the road runs out at the channel. Qala is quiet, low built and residential, with St Joseph's and a square at the centre of it and the ground dropping away east towards Comino. It has grown quickly in the last twenty years, and the newer development on the approach roads is not its best feature. The views from the cliff edge are. ## What is actually here St Joseph's was built between 1882 and 1889, consecrated in 1904 and made archipresbyteral in 1965. Its architect, Dun Ġużepp Diacono, was the parish priest at the time. Two older churches matter more. Il-Madonna tal-Blat, St Mary of the Rocks, stands on the cliff looking straight at Comino, built so islanders could hear Mass when the sea kept a priest from crossing. The church of the Immaculate Conception, on the way down to Ħondoq, goes back to 1575 and was the parish church of the whole eastern half of Gozo for about twelve years from 1688. Għar Minka, a cave on the coast, can be reached by boat. ## Ħondoq ir-Rummien The bay below the village is the reason most people come. It holds Blue Flag status, faces east, and has sunbeds, showers, kiosks, boat and kayak hire and enough parking. Being east facing it is good at sunrise and sheltered when the northwesterly is up, and it is busy for most of July and August. ## Getting there Buses from Victoria take about twenty minutes through Nadur or Għajnsielem. Bus 303 stops at Kunċizzjoni for Ħondoq, about fifteen minutes on foot above the bay. Tal-Mulejja bakery is on Nadur Street if you want something for the beach on the way down. ## When to come The festa is on the first weekend of August, and the Qala International Folk Festival runs in autumn. For the bay, late spring and September are better than high summer. ## San Lawrenz URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/san-lawrenz A village in west Gozo. Population (2021 census): 772 Area: 3.6 km2 Festa: St Lawrence, the Sunday closest to 10 August Coordinates: 36.055, 14.20417 Summary: The village above Dwejra, quiet most of the year and busy whenever the sea is calm. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like About 800 people live in San Lawrenz, and the village is organised around a square and a church rather than around visitors. The traffic comes from what is below it: the road down to Dwejra starts here, so the village fills up on calm days in season and empties again when the wind turns. A five-star hotel sits on the outskirts, which has not changed the character of the centre much. The area was called Ta’ Ċangura before it took its saint's name. It is one of only two Gozitan localities named after a patron, the other being Santa Luċija in Kerċem. ## What is actually here The church was built between 21 September 1886 and 28 April 1889 and consecrated on that second date by Bishop Gwann Maria Camilleri, with a relic of the saint placed beneath the foundation stone. The parish itself came later, by pastoral letter of Pope Leo XIII on 15 March 1893, effective on 7 May. The titular statue is the work of Louis Ramat, who had just taken over the Gallard et Fils company in Marseilles; it reached Gozo on 4 August 1895 and was first carried a week later, in procession from the Collegiate of Għarb. Behind the village, Ta’ Dbieġi rises to 195 metres, the highest point on the island. ## Dwejra, below the village The Inland Sea has a pebbly beach and a quayside. Dwejra Bay next to it is deep swimming rather than paddling. Fungus Rock stands offshore, there are salt pans along the coastline, the rocks are full of marine fossils, and a small watchman's cave has rock-cut steps down to an old slipway. No facilities are listed at Dwejra. Treat that as accurate and bring water. ## Getting there By car from Victoria the drive takes about fifteen minutes. Buses run, but the western routes are thinner than those to the larger villages, so check the timetable before counting on a return. ## When to come Spring and autumn, when Dwejra is calm and not full. In July and August the road down is congested by mid-morning. In a westerly, Dwejra is closed out and there is little reason to make the trip. ## Sannat URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/sannat A village in south Gozo. Population (2021 census): 2186 Area: 3.8 km2 Festa: St Margaret, the last Sunday of July Coordinates: 36.02444, 14.24583 Summary: Lace-making village on the southern cliffs, with Ta’ Ċenċ behind it. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Sannat sits on the southern edge of the island with the Ta’ Ċenċ plateau behind it and nothing beyond that but the cliffs. About 2,200 people live here. The village itself is ordinary in a way that is not a criticism: houses, a square, a church, a każin or two, and almost no provision made for visitors. What brings people is the ground behind it. The name probably comes from an Arabic-Greek family that moved to Gozo from Sicily. ## What is actually here The parish was established in 1688, among the first to be separated from Rabat, and made archipresbyteral in 1893. The church of St Margaret the Martyr was built in 1718 on the site of a smaller one, consecrated in 1755 and re-consecrated in 1868 after structural changes. The altarpiece is by Stefano Erardi. Sannat is the historic centre of Gozitan bobbin lace. Bizzilla is worked by hand on a cylindrical cushion with wooden bobbins called ċombini, and this is where that tradition is rooted, though you will find lace for sale all over the island and not all of it is local. ## Ta’ Ċenċ The plateau is garigue: thin soil, low scrub, bare rock. On it are the remnants of L-Imramma temple and three dolmens, none of them presented or interpreted in any way. The cliffs below are the highest on Gozo. There is no fence, no shade and no water, and the wind up there is stronger than it looks from the village. The Ħanżira valley cuts a gorge between Sannat and Xewkija. ## Getting there About ten minutes from Victoria by bus or car. The walk up from Mġarr ix-Xini is steep and considerably harder than the map suggests. ## When to come Spring and autumn for the plateau and the clifftop walks. July for the festa, with the date confirmed first. Avoid the cliffs altogether in strong wind. ## Santa Luċija URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/santa-lucija A hamlet in west Gozo. Sits within Kerċem. Festa: St Lucy, the Sunday closest to 13 December Coordinates: 36.04333, 14.2175 Summary: A hamlet of a few streets within Kerċem, and the quietest named place on the island. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A few streets, a chapel and then countryside. Santa Luċija is officially part of Kerċem, and it is the quietest named place on Gozo, which is worth saying plainly: there is no shop, no square worth the name and nothing scheduled. People come here to walk, or because they are staying in a farmhouse nearby. It is also one of the greenest parts of the island, and for a specific reason. Three hills around the hamlet, Għar Ilma, Il-Mixta and Santa Luċija, each have a natural water spring. ## What is actually here The chapel of St Lucy was already recorded when the inquisitor Pietro Dusina made his visitation in 1575. It was rebuilt from its foundations in the 1790s and last enlarged in 1950. St Lucy is invoked for eyesight problems, and the feast falls on the Sunday closest to 13 December, which makes it one of the handful of Gozitan feasts held in the cold. Saint Raphael Lake is close by. ## The walk out to Ras il-Wardija Above the hamlet, the Għajn Abdul plateau is described as the site of Gozo's earliest settlement and leads on to the Mixta caves. From there a path runs parallel to the cliffs out to Ras il-Wardija, where there are remnants of a Punic settlement and a small temple. Nothing on this route is signposted in any useful way, there is no shade, and the cliff edge is unfenced. ## Getting there Easiest by car from Kerċem, which is itself a few minutes from Victoria. Bus coverage is Kerċem's rather than the hamlet's own, so check where the stop actually is before relying on it. ## When to come Spring, when the springs are still running and the plateau is green, or December for the feast. High summer is hot and shadeless up on the plateau. ## Victoria (Rabat) URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/victoria A town in central Gozo. Population (2021 census): 7242 Area: 2.9 km2 Festa: St George, the third Sunday of July Coordinates: 36.04388, 14.23906 Summary: Gozo's capital and the one place that feels like a town. The Citadel above it, It-Tokk below, and most of the island's shops and buses. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Gozo's only town, and the one place on the island where you queue: at the bank, at the pharmacy, at the lights on the ring road. It-Tokk, properly Pjazza Indipendenza, is the centre of it, with the Banca Giuratale of 1733 to 1738 on one side and a morning market smaller than the guidebooks imply. The Ċittadella sits above the town, walled and visible from most of the island. ## What is actually here Inside the Ċittadella: the Cathedral, the Museum of Archaeology, the Folklore Museum, the Nature Museum, the Old Prison, the Old Gunpowder Magazine, grain silos and a WWII shelter. The Cathedral's dome is a painting on a flat roof, done in 1739. The Old Prison holds the largest known collection of historical graffiti in the Maltese islands, cut into the walls by inmates; La Valette served four months in it in 1538. Down in the town, St George's Basilica is buried in a knot of narrow streets and is easy to walk past from the outside. Villa Rundle Gardens, laid out by the British in 1910, is the only real shade in the centre. ## The two band clubs Victoria has two rival band clubs, La Stella and the Leone, and each owns an opera house: the Astra and the Aurora. In October both stage a major production, so a town of some seven thousand people puts on two operas in the same month. The rivalry is not a show for visitors. It runs through the shops, the families and the colour of the bunting. ## Getting there Every bus route on Gozo passes through the central terminus, so almost any journey on the island starts or ends here. Parking is the problem: the streets inside the ring road are mostly full by mid morning, and the car parks on the edge of the centre are the realistic option. ## When to come July or mid August for a festa, October for the opera. The Sweet Tooth Festival fills Villa Rundle in early November, and the Ċittadella is lit for the Festival of Lights in spring. Summer afternoons in the centre are hot and there is very little shade. ## Xagħra URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/xaghra A village in north Gozo. Population (2021 census): 5161 Area: 7.6 km2 Festa: The Nativity of Our Lady, 8 September Coordinates: 36.05028, 14.2675 Summary: The largest village by population, sitting on a plateau above Ramla. Ġgantija, Ninu's Cave and a square that fills up on summer evenings. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like Xagħra sits on a plateau, which is why it feels airier than most of Gozo and why the walk down to Ramla is a walk down rather than along. The square is the centre of village life, with the basilica on one side and a handful of cafes that stay open later than you would expect outside August. It is the largest village on the island by population and behaves like one: something is open most of the year. ## Why people come Ġgantija is here, on the edge of the village: two megalithic temples that predate the pyramids and are among the oldest free-standing structures anywhere. The interpretation centre is worth the entry on its own. Ninu's Cave and Xerri's Grotto are both private houses with caves of stalagmites and stalactites underneath, open to visitors. They are small, odd and entirely genuine, and nothing about them is signposted well. Ta’ Kola windmill is here too; its miller signalled good milling weather by blowing a triton shell called a bronja. Calypso's Cave, above Ramla, is the one to manage expectations about: a viewpoint more than a cave, and the official tourism site does not list it at all. Mixta Cave, off Triq l-Għassa tal-Maħraġ, looks over the same bay to better effect. Ramla itself is below the village: red sand, a Natura 2000 dune habitat and Roman remains under the beach. A few cafes and one stall set back from the sand are the lot. ## The church Parish status came in 1688, granted by Bishop David Cocco-Palmieri. The medieval chapel of St Anthony Abbot was the parish church from 1688 to 1692 and still stands; it has blessed animals every 17 January since 1948. The present church's foundation stone was laid in 1815, it was consecrated in 1878, became Gozo's fourth Collegiate in 1900 and a Basilica in 1967. ## Getting there Buses from Victoria run regularly and take about ten minutes. Parking around the square is tight in summer and straightforward the rest of the year. ## When to come The festa falls on 8 September and is the biggest date in the village year. Ramla below is busiest in July and August, and in winter the beach is often empty on a weekday. The Xagħra Heritage Trail is an easy stroll in any season. ## Xewkija URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/xewkija A village in central Gozo. Population (2021 census): 3555 Area: 4.5 km2 Festa: St John the Baptist, the Sunday closest to 24 June Coordinates: 36.03306, 14.25833 Summary: Dominated by the Rotunda, whose dome is visible from most of the island. Also where Gozo's industrial estate sits. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like The dome comes first. You see it from Victoria, from the ferry road, from halfway across the island, and then you arrive in a village that is mostly ordinary streets around a very large church. Xewkija works for a living: the industrial estate, the football stadium and the university campus are all here, and the result is a place with more vans than tourists in it. ## What is actually here The Rotunda, dedicated to St John the Baptist, is the reason to stop. Inside it is vast and sparer than most Gozitan churches, and a small museum keeps carved pieces of the church it replaced. Beyond that the village rewards a short wander rather than a visit. There is a windmill from the time of Grand Master Perellos, who ruled from 1697 to 1720, with an octagonal ground floor. The Chapel of St Cecilia, out towards the fields, is described as the oldest in Gozo. Megalithic ruins were dug up somewhere in the area in 1647 and nothing of them is left to see. ## Beer and bread Lord Chambray, Gozo's only craft brewery, is on the industrial estate, with tours and tastings and beers named Blue Lagoon, San Blas and Fungus Rock. Ta’ Saminu bakery on Soil Street is the other reason locals from other villages drive in. Between them they are a better argument for Xewkija than the church museum. ## Getting there Buses between Victoria and Mġarr pass through, so it is a few minutes from either, and the ferry road runs along the edge of the village. Parking near the Rotunda is usually easy, which cannot be said of most of Gozo in August. ## When to come The festa falls on the Sunday closest to 24 June, St John the Baptist's own day. Outside that week there is no particular season for Xewkija, and the walk down the valley towards Mġarr ix-Xini is best in spring before the heat sets in. ## Xlendi URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/xlendi A village in south Gozo. Sits within Munxar. Festa: Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the first Sunday of September Coordinates: 36.02972, 14.21889 Summary: A narrow bay with restaurants along the quay, sheltered when the north wind blows. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like A steep-sided inlet on the southwest coast, with a quay, a short promenade and the cliffs squeezing the view at the mouth. The bay itself is good. The valley behind it has been built up hard over the last few decades, and some of what went up is plain at best, so the honest description is a fine piece of coast with an indifferent village attached. Xlendi has no parish of its own and belongs to the Munxar council on the hill above. ## What is actually here A small beach of sand and pebble at the head of the inlet, shallow where it meets the water, and rock on both sides where it gets deep quickly. There are caves and underwater tunnels along the coast. Caroline's Cave is reached by stairs cut into the cliff from the promenade. Restaurants line the waterfront, several of them serving fish landed locally, which is true of only three places on Gozo. ## Diving and the walks Several dive centres are based here, partly because Xlendi Cave and Reef is an easy first site: a shallow tunnel through the headland at 6 to 10 metres. The cliff walk out towards Sanap and Ta’ Ċenċ starts above the bay, and a trail runs down into Xlendi from the Sanap cliffs, which makes a one way walk possible if someone will collect you. ## Getting there Buses connect the bay to Victoria and the ride is short. Driving down is simple; parking on the quay is limited and gone early on a summer day, and the road back up is narrow in places. ## When to come The bay faces southwest, so it stays swimmable in a northerly when the north coast is unusable, and it takes the sunset. The village feast and the Gostra fall on the first Sunday of September, which is also when the sea is at its warmest. ## Żebbuġ URL: https://gozolife.com/villages/zebbug A village in north Gozo. Population (2021 census): 3303 Area: 7.6 km2 Festa: Santa Marija, late August, the week after Victoria's Assumption Coordinates: 36.07083, 14.23694 Summary: A hilltop village with long views, and the council that Marsalforn belongs to. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is like One of the highest villages on Gozo, sitting on a hill with the land falling away on most sides, which gives it long views and a reliable breeze. The village is small, quiet and lived in rather than visited: a church, a square, a few każini and lanes narrow enough that two cars meeting is an event. Marsalforn, on the coast below, belongs to the same council and gets all the attention. ## What is actually here The parish church of Santa Marija is the reason to climb up. It was begun in 1690 and consecrated in 1726, making it the oldest consecrated parish church on the island apart from the Cathedral, and it is clad in onyx found in 1738 on a slope called is-Sagħtrija. The high altar, the choir and the baptistery are carved from the same stone. In the chapel of the left transept hangs an Immaculate Conception known as tal-Virtù, of the miracles; folklore holds that the Virgin's face turns pale before a natural catastrophe. The best known street niche in the village is il-Madonna Omm tal-Ħniena, called taċ-Ċiċri. ## Crafts and sheep Żebbuġ still has a craft tradition that is not entirely a performance for visitors: bizzilla, bobbin lace worked on a cylindrical cushion; nsiġ, or weaving; and kutri tas-suf, blankets made from sheep's wool. The same sheep supply the milk for ġbejniet. None of it is organised into a visitor attraction, so you will find it by asking rather than by following signs. ## Getting there Buses from Victoria take about fifteen minutes and continue down to Marsalforn. By car the approach is steep from either side. Park at the edge of the village and walk in. ## When to come The festa falls in late August, about a week after Victoria's Santa Marija. Spring is the best time for the walks along the ridge and down towards Xwejni, where the salt pans are worked in summer. --- # Guides ## Diving in Gozo URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/diving-in-gozo Category: Diving. Written for: visitor. Summary: Why divers pick Gozo over Malta, the shore sites that make it unusual, what the water does through the year, and where the wrecks are. Why Gozo: An unusual share of the best sites are shore entries, so no boat fee and no schedule. Water temperature: Around 15°C in February and March, mid twenties by August and September. Best known sites: Dwejra and the Blue Hole, Reqqa Point, the wrecks off Xatt l-Aħmar. Easiest training water: Mġarr ix-Xini, sheltered and shallow at the head of the inlet. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What you meet in the water Grouper on the walls, octopus and small moray through the boulder fields, cuttlefish and seabream over the sand, and barracuda hanging out in the blue off the points. Amberjack and tuna come through on the deeper offshore sites. Seahorses are reported at Coral Cave and Ħekka Point. The north coast drops into open water quickly, which is why the occasional large pelagic animal turns up at all. In August 2014 a diver filmed an ocean sunfish, *Mola mola*, off Wied il-Mielaħ and described it as a once in a lifetime experience. That is the right way to hold it: an event, not a season. Nobody should book a week expecting one. The shallow sandy bays sit on *Posidonia oceanica*, Neptune grass. It is protected seagrass, it grows a few centimetres a year, and the etiquette is to fin above it rather than through it. ## Why Gozo and not Malta Most Mediterranean diving is done from a boat. Gozo's distinction is that a large share of its best sites are reachable from the shore, which changes the economics of a diving holiday completely: no boat fee, no schedule, and you can dive twice in a morning because the entry is a short walk from where you parked. That is the reason dive centres cluster here out of proportion to the island's size, and the reason a meaningful part of the local economy runs on it. ## The sites people come for **Dwejra** is the best known. The Blue Hole is a natural shaft through the rock that opens into the sea at around fifteen metres, with an arch at the bottom leading out to the wall. The Azure Window stood alongside it until it collapsed in March 2017, and the rubble field it left is now a site in its own right. Entry is over rock with a chain to help, and it is serious in any swell. **Reqqa Point**, the northernmost tip of the island, is a vertical wall dropping past fifty metres with caves cut along it. Visibility here is usually the best on the island. **Xatt l-Aħmar** on the south coast is the wreck site. Two vessels, the MV Karwela and the MV Cominoland, were scuttled within recreational depth and sit upright on sand. Shore entry is straightforward, which is unusual for wrecks. **Ras il-Ħobż**, further west along the same coast, has a pinnacle rising from about fifty metres to within a few metres of the surface. Divers call it the Middle Finger. **Mġarr ix-Xini** is the sheltered option. The inlet walls are good for training dives and for anyone's first dive of a trip. ## The water through the year Diving runs all year. The sea sits around 15°C in February and March and reaches the mid twenties by August and September, which is when visibility is also at its best. September and October are the months most experienced divers pick: warm water, fewer people, and the summer haze gone. Winter diving is genuinely good when the weather allows, but the north coast closes out in a tramuntana and Dwejra closes in a westerly, so plan around the wind rather than the calendar. ## What to check before booking Whether the centre dives from shore or boat, and which sites are included. Whether they will take you to Dwejra at all, since some will not in any swell. And whether your certification covers the depth at Ras il-Ħobż and the wrecks, which sit deeper than they look. ## Fishing in Gozo: the boats, the seasons and the fish URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/fishing-in-gozo Category: Fishing & farming. Written for: all. Summary: Mġarr is the island's working harbour, not a picture of one. What the fleet catches, when each fish is in, and how to order so you are eating what came off a Gozo boat. Lampuki season: 15 August to the end of December, peaking roughly September to November. Bluefin tuna: April to July, under tight international quota. The harbour: Mġarr, where most of the island's fleet berths. The dish: Torta tal-lampuki, on menus from late September to about January. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## A working harbour, not a picture of one Most of Gozo's fishing fleet berths at Mġarr, which makes it the island's most important port and, by number of boats, the second largest fishing port in the Maltese Islands. The painted hulls in the inner harbour are not kept there for the photographs. They go out. Smaller numbers of boats work out of Xlendi and Marsalforn, pulled up on the slipways out of season and put back in when the weather settles. Two traditional shapes are still in the water. The **luzzu** is the one on the postcards: double-ended, high prow, heavy. The **kajjik** is smaller, flatter at the stern, and in practice more common. Both carry an eye painted on the bow, which locals will tell you descends from the Phoenicians; whether or not that is literally true, nobody paints it ironically. Alongside them you will see multi-purpose vessels, plainer and more modern, which now make up a large share of the registered fleet. ## How the fleet actually fishes The Maltese fleet is artisanal rather than industrial. Most boats are under ten metres and most of the catch comes off hooks and lines rather than nets. Set bottom longlining is the single most common method, worked seasonally by more than half the boats that go out at all. Trawlers exist but are the exception, and they are a different kind of vessel entirely. What this means for anyone eating here is simple: the fish is landed in small quantities by many boats, so what is available changes week to week, and a restaurant that tells you the catch depends on the day is telling the truth. ## The lampuki season, and the palm rafts From **15 August to the end of December** the fleet goes after *lampuki*, the dolphinfish, and this is the fishery that matters most to the local calendar. One fish is a **lampuka**, several are **lampuki**. The method is older than it has any right to be. Fishermen cut the heavy lower fronds from palm trees and weave them into flat rafts called **kannizzati**, which are towed out and laid in a line. Lampuki are a surface fish with nowhere to shelter in open water, so by the middle of the day they gather in the shade underneath. The boat circles at a short distance trailing a jig, hooks one, and leaves it hanging over the side, which brings the rest of the school up alongside. Then the net goes over. The rafts are not laid wherever a skipper likes. Each licensed boat draws a lot for a stretch of sea, a **rimja**, in an annual draw held by district. A licence holder has to lay a substantial run of rafts in a straight line, the sites start several miles offshore, and a corridor is kept clear of rafts altogether so that the swordfish longliners can work. So when a Gozitan says the lampuki are late this year, it is not small talk. It is a season with a fixed opening date, a draw, and a quantity of woven palm behind it. ## What is in when Rough shape of the year, worth checking against what is actually on the ice: | When | What is landed | | --- | --- | | April to July | Bluefin tuna (*tonn*) dominates the market | | All year, steadily | Swordfish (*pixxispad*), the one fish landed in quantity every month | | 15 August to December | Lampuki, peaking roughly September to November | | Autumn and winter | Octopus (*qarnit*) and squid (*klamar*) | | Year round, in small numbers | Grouper (*ċerna*) and the rock-dwelling fish taken on longlines | Bogue is the small pelagic fish landed in the greatest numbers, with mackerel behind it. Prawns come off the trawlers rather than the small boats. One honest note on menus. Gilthead bream (*awrata*) and sea bass (*spnotta*) are on almost every list all year, which is possible because both are farmed in the region at scale. There is nothing wrong with farmed fish, but it is not the same thing as the day's catch, and the price sometimes suggests otherwise. If you want what came off a boat this week, ask what is *frisk* and be willing to be told it is something you had not planned to order. ## Torta tal-lampuki The autumn dish. A lampuki pie: the fish filleted and fried, then baked under pastry with spinach, cauliflower, olives, and, in the traditional version, walnuts and sultanas, which sounds wrong on paper and is not. It appears on menus and in bakeries from late September, disappears by about January, and is one of the few genuinely seasonal things left on the island. Gozitan bakeries make it alongside the ftira and the qassatat, which is usually where the better ones are. ## Where the fish goes Some of the catch is sold directly off the quay at Mġarr in the morning, which is the closest thing Gozo has to a fish market and runs on an informal schedule. Some goes to the fish shops in Victoria and the larger villages. A good deal of it crosses on the ferry to Malta, including to the Sunday market at Marsaxlokk, and a share of the lampuki and tuna is exported. The restaurants worth eating fish in are mostly the ones close to the water at Mġarr, Xlendi and Marsalforn, not because the view is better but because the supply chain is two hundred metres long. ## Fishing yourself Shore fishing off the rocks needs no licence for personal use and is a normal evening activity at Xwejni, Qbajjar, Ras il-Ħobż and along the Marsalforn coast. Bring your own everything; there is no tackle shop at the water. Boat charters out of Mġarr will take you trolling, and in the lampuki months some will work the rafts. Bluefin tuna is a different matter: it is under tight international quota and recreational catch is regulated and in some seasons catch-and-release only, so take what the skipper tells you as the rule rather than a suggestion. Spearfishing has its own rules, including on where and with what, and the rules on protected species and minimum sizes apply to you whether or not anyone is watching. The Fisheries Department publishes the current position, and it changes. ## If you only do one thing Be in Gozo in October, order the torta tal-lampuki, and eat it within sight of the boats that caught it. That is the whole of this page in one afternoon. ## Ġbejniet: the Gozo cheeselet URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/gbejniet-gozo-cheeselets Category: Eat & drink. Written for: all. Summary: What ġbejniet actually are, the four ways you will meet them, and why Gozo makes them better than Malta does. What they are: Small round cheeselets of sheep's or goat's milk, about the size of a flattened golf ball. The four kinds: Friski, moxxi, tal-bżar and fil-ħall. One or many: One is a ġbejna, several are ġbejniet. Eat them in: Ravjul tal-ġbejna, on a ftira, or plain with bread and tomato. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What they are Ġbejniet are small round cheeselets, roughly the size of a flattened golf ball, made from sheep's milk or goat's milk. They are the single most Gozitan thing you can eat, and the island makes more of them and better than Malta does, because Gozo still has the flocks for it. The name is a diminutive. One is a ġbejna, several are ġbejniet. ## The four kinds **Friski**, fresh. White, soft, barely set, eaten within a day or two. Mild and faintly sweet, and the version that surprises people who expect something sharper. **Moxxi**, dried. Left to dry out until firm and yellowing. Sharper, saltier, and what goes into cooking. **Tal-bżar**, peppered. Dried and then rolled in cracked black pepper, which is the version you will see stacked in jars at every market stall. **Fil-ħall**, in vinegar. Preserved in vinegar with pepper, and the sharpest of the lot. ## Where you will meet them In a ftira, sliced over the top. In ravjul tal-ġbejna, the ravioli that is Gozo's own, served with a simple tomato sauce. On a plate with galletti, tomatoes, olives and capers as the standard Maltese cold table. And crumbled into a soup or a baked pasta where a harder cheese would be used elsewhere. ## Buying them The Victoria market and the village shops sell them loose. A dairy sells them fresher and cheaper than a supermarket, and if you are offered them from a farm directly, take them. Fresh ones do not keep, so buy for the same day. ## Getting to Gozo, and getting around once you are there URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/getting-to-gozo-and-around Category: Practical. Written for: visitor. Summary: The car ferry, the fast ferry from Valletta, the buses that all go through Victoria, and whether you actually need a car. Including the fare quirk that catches everyone once. The crossing: Ċirkewwa to Mġarr, about 25 minutes, every day of the year including Christmas Day. The fare quirk: You pay at Mġarr when you leave Gozo, not when you arrive. Coming over is free at the gate. Fast ferry: Valletta to Mġarr in about 45 minutes, foot passengers only. The buses: Almost every route runs through Victoria, so most journeys mean changing there. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## Two ferries, and they are not interchangeable There are two ways across and they serve different people. The **car ferry** runs from Ċirkewwa, at the top of Malta, to Mġarr on Gozo. It takes about twenty-five minutes, it carries vehicles, and it runs every day of the year including Christmas Day. This is the one you want if you are driving, and it is the one almost everyone means by "the Gozo ferry". The **fast ferry** runs from Valletta to Mġarr in about forty-five minutes and takes foot passengers only. It is longer on the water but it saves the drive up to Ċirkewwa, which is most of Malta, so door to door from Valletta it usually wins. In summer it books up. ## The fare quirk You pay at Mġarr, on the way out. Nobody takes your money at Ċirkewwa. You drive on, you cross, you drive off, and the first time it happens you will spend the day wondering whether you got away with something. You did not: the fare covers the round trip and it is collected when you leave Gozo. This is worth knowing for two reasons. The obvious one is that leaving costs money you were not expecting to spend. The less obvious one is that the ticket booths at Mġarr are the thing between you and the boat, so arriving at the terminal five minutes before a sailing is not the same as being on it. ## The queue, and when it is bad The car ferry is a queue rather than a booking. Most of the year that is pleasant: you turn up, you wait a sailing at most, you go. Three times it is not. Mid-August, and above all the week of Santa Marija on 15 August, is the busiest stretch of the Maltese year and much of Malta comes over. Easter weekend is the same in miniature. And on any hot Sunday in July or August the afternoon return queue builds from about four o'clock. If you are travelling on one of those, go very early or very late and leave the middle of the day alone. ## Once you are here Gozo is about fourteen kilometres across. Nothing is far. What is true instead is that the roads are narrow, the last stretch to several bays is steep or unsurfaced, and parking at the popular ones fills by mid-morning in season. **Buses** radiate from the terminus in Victoria. Almost every route runs through it, which means Victoria to anywhere is straightforward and village to village usually means going in and coming out again. The fare system is the same Tallinja one as Malta and the same card works on both islands. For reaching Victoria, Marsalforn, Xlendi and the larger villages this is perfectly good. For the coast it is not. San Blas, Daħlet Qorrot, Mġarr ix-Xini, Reqqa Point and Wied il-Mielaħ are either unserved or served by a stop a long hot walk from the water. If those are why you are coming, you want a car. **Taxis** exist and there are ranks at Mġarr and in Victoria. Agree the fare before you set off. **Cycling** is better than the contour lines suggest, because the distances are short, but the island is a plateau cut by valleys and almost every journey involves a climb out of one. In July and August it is a genuinely bad idea between eleven and four. ## Whether you need a car Honestly: it depends entirely on what you came for. If you are staying in Victoria or Marsalforn for a few days, eating well, walking into town and swimming at the nearest bay, you do not need one and parking in Victoria will annoy you if you have one. If you want the bays this island is actually known for, you do. The ones worth the drive are the ones the buses do not reach, and that is not an accident: they are quiet because they are awkward. ### Questions Q: Do you need to book the Gozo ferry? A: Not for the car ferry. It runs on a frequent timetable and works as a queue: you drive up, you wait, you board. In August and over the big public holidays that queue can be two or three sailings long, which is the one time booking would help and the one time it is not available. The fast ferry from Valletta is a fixed timetable and foot passengers only, so that one is worth booking ahead in summer. Q: Why did nobody take my money on the way to Gozo? A: Because the fare is collected at Mġarr, on the way out. Both directions are paid for in that one transaction, so arriving feels free and leaving feels double. It catches almost everyone once and it is not a mistake. Q: How much is the Gozo ferry? A: At the time of writing the standard adult foot passenger fare is €4.65 for the round trip, with children aged three to twelve and Gozo residents paying a subsidised rate, and infants free. Vehicle fares depend on the vehicle and change more often, so check Gozo Channel directly rather than trusting a figure on any guide page, this one included. Q: Do you need a car on Gozo? A: For a short stay in Victoria, Marsalforn or Xlendi, no. For reaching the bays that make the island worth coming to, San Blas, Dwejra, Mġarr ix-Xini, Daħlet Qorrot, effectively yes, unless you are happy walking the last stretch in the heat. The buses reach the villages; they do not reach most of the coast. Q: Can you take a hire car from Malta to Gozo? A: Usually, but check the rental agreement before you book the ferry rather than at the gate. Most Maltese hire companies allow it; a few charge extra or exclude it, and the ferry staff will not know which yours is. Q: How do the buses work on Gozo? A: Nearly every route radiates from the terminus in Victoria, so a journey from one village to another almost always means going into Victoria and out again. That is fine for Victoria to anywhere and slow for anywhere to anywhere else. Fares are the same Tallinja system as Malta, and the same card works on both islands. ## The Gozitan ftira, and why it is not a pizza URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/gozitan-ftira Category: Eat & drink. Written for: all. Summary: Malta's ftira is on the UNESCO heritage list. Gozo's version is a different thing again, and worth seeking out properly. Heritage status: UNESCO inscribed Il-Ftira in December 2020, the first Maltese entry on the Representative List. Malta's version: A ring loaf split and filled, eaten cold. Gozo's version: Baked flat with potato, onion, ġbejniet and anchovy on top. Where to buy it: Village bakeries, best in the morning and sold until they run out. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## A protected thing In December 2020 UNESCO inscribed *Il-Ftira, culinary art and culture of flattened sourdough bread in Malta* on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It was the first Maltese entry on that list. What was recognised is not a recipe but a practice: sourdough, a wood or stone oven, and the bakery as a village institution. ## Malta's ftira and Gozo's In Malta, ftira usually means the bread itself: a flattened sourdough ring, split and filled with tuna, tomatoes, capers, olives and ġbejniet. The famous version is a sandwich. In Gozo, ask for a ftira and you are as likely to get something baked: a flatbread with the topping cooked onto it, closer in shape to a pizza and nothing like one in taste. The standard Gozitan version carries sliced potato, onion, ġbejniet and often anchovy, baked until the potato has gone soft and the edges have caught. It is heavier than a pizza, saltier, and properly a meal. ## Where to get it Village bakeries rather than restaurants, and ideally one still using a stone oven. Nadur and Xagħra both have bakeries with a reputation for it. The thing to ask is whether they bake it to order, because the difference between a ftira straight from the oven and one that has sat on a counter is the whole point. Bakeries run early. A ftira is a morning or lunchtime thing, and by late afternoon in a village you will be too late. ## The Gozo countryside: terraces, walls and valley walks URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/gozo-countryside-and-walks Category: Countryside. Written for: all. Summary: A plateau cut by valleys, held up by dry stone walls somebody still maintains. Where to walk, when not to, and what you are actually looking at. The shape of it: A limestone plateau cut by valleys, with flat-topped hills standing above it. Highest cliffs: Ta’ Ċenċ, behind Sannat, unfenced the whole way along. Best months: November to April. Everything is green and the walking is comfortable. Worst months: July and August, when there is no shade and no water on any of these routes. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What you are looking at Gozo is a limestone plateau that has been cut to pieces by valleys. The flat-topped hills (Ta’ Dbieġi, the Qortin above Nadur, Ta’ Ċenċ behind Sannat) are what is left of the original surface. Everything between them has either been eroded away or terraced into fields. That terracing is the thing worth understanding, because it is the landscape. There is almost no natural flat ground on this island. Every level field you see is held up by a dry stone wall that somebody built and somebody still maintains, and the pattern of them is centuries old. The walls are called **ħitan tas-sejjieħ**. They are built without mortar, which is not primitive but deliberate: water passes through rather than building up behind and pushing the wall out. They are legally protected, and more to the point they are private property and a great deal of work. Walking beside them is fine. Climbing on them is not. ## The walks worth doing **The south cliffs: Mġarr ix-Xini to Xlendi.** Out of the inlet, up on to the Ta’ Ċenċ plateau, along the top of the highest cliffs on the island, past the Sanap cliffs and down into Xlendi. Exposed the whole way, no shade, no water, and the finest thing on Gozo in February. The plateau is garigue rather than farmland, which is why it looks bare; that bareness is a habitat, not neglect. **The north coast: Marsalforn to Wied il-Għasri.** West along the salt pans at Qbajjar and Xwejni, past Reqqa Point, and down into the narrow cleft at Wied il-Għasri. Shorter and gentler than the south, and the most interesting shoreline on the island: the pans are still worked, the rock is weathered into shapes, and the inlet at the end is a crack in the cliff with a beach at the bottom of it. **Wied il-Mielaħ.** The arch on the north-west coast, which does the thing the Azure Window used to do and gets a fraction of the visitors. Short walk from the parking. **The Xagħra plateau to Ramla.** Across the fields from the top, down past the Mixta cave, and out on to the red sand. The view back up from the beach, and the view down from the cave mouth, are the two best-known compositions on the island for good reason. ## When not to July and August, in the middle of the day. This is not fussiness. There is no shade on any of these routes, no water on them, and no shelter if you misjudge it. The cliff walks in particular are a long way from a road. Spring and autumn are comfortable. Winter is excellent, and the island is at its best in late November and December when the rain has brought everything back and the fields are properly green. It is a thing most visitors never see, because they come in August and reasonably conclude that Gozo is brown. ## What grows here Carob and olive, prickly pear along every wall and track, and in spring a short, intense wildflower season across the garigue. The valley floors hold citrus and vegetables where there is water. Capers grow out of the walls themselves. The garigue on Ta’ Ċenċ and the exposed plateaus looks like waste ground and is not: it is a protected habitat with its own plants, and several stretches of the Gozitan coast and countryside are designated Natura 2000 sites. ## Manners Most of the land you walk past is somebody's. The paths are generally rights of way or long-accepted routes, but the fields beside them are worked. Gates get left as you found them. Walls do not get climbed. Dogs go on a lead anywhere near livestock, and there is more livestock here than the landscape suggests. And in the open seasons, when you can hear shooting from the hillside, keeping to the track is both the safe thing and the polite one. ### Questions Q: When is the best time to walk in Gozo? A: Between November and April, and the first half of that is the best of it: the countryside is green from the autumn rain, the light is long, and you can walk at midday without consequence. By late May the green has gone and by July the same walk is a different proposition entirely. There is no shade on any of the cliff routes and no water on them either. Q: What are the dry stone walls for? A: They hold the soil on. Gozo is terraced almost everywhere that is not rock, and each terrace is retained by a wall built without mortar, which lets water through rather than damming it behind. They are called ħitan tas-sejjieħ, they are protected, and they are somebody's property and somebody's work. Do not climb on them: a wall that takes a day to build takes a moment to pull down. Q: Can you walk the Gozo coast all the way round? A: In practice yes, in sections, though there is no single waymarked coastal path and some stretches run along field edges rather than a trail. The south, from Mġarr ix-Xini along Ta’ Ċenċ and the Sanap cliffs to Xlendi, is the most dramatic and the most exposed. The north from Marsalforn west past the salt pans to Wied il-Għasri is the easiest to do in an afternoon. Q: Is there hunting and trapping in the Gozo countryside? A: Yes, in season, and you will see the stone hides and the netted clearings all year. Open seasons are set nationally and vary. In practice it means some tracks are posted as private during those weeks, you may hear shooting in the early morning, and the courteous thing is to keep to the paths and not walk into a clearing that is obviously set up. It is a live political argument in Malta and not one this page is going to settle for you. Q: Are the cliff edges fenced? A: No. Ta’ Ċenċ, Sanap, the Dwejra headland and the Għarb coast are all open to the edge, the rock is friable in places, and the wind at the top is stronger than at the car. This is the one genuine danger in the Gozitan countryside and it is worth taking seriously with children and in a strong majjistral. ## Crafts and makers on Gozo URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/gozo-crafts-and-makers Category: Crafts & artists. Written for: visitor. Summary: Lace, filigree, blown glass and pottery, the crafts village at Ta’ Dbieġi, and how to tell what was made on the island from what was flown in to be sold here. The crafts village: Ta’ Dbieġi, near Għarb, with workshops you can watch people working in. The old craft: Bizzilla, bobbin lace, worked on a cushion with wooden bobbins called ċombini. The silver: Filigree, fine drawn wire coiled and soldered, usually in a Maltese cross. The question to ask: “Was this made here, and by whom?” It is asked often and answered gladly. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What is still actually made here Four things, broadly: lace, filigree, glass and pottery. Knitwear and weaving persist in smaller numbers, and there is a working contemporary art scene that has nothing to do with any of them. The honest framing is that none of these is a large industry. They are a small number of people, many of them not young, doing skilled work slowly. That is worth knowing before you compare a price to something in a souvenir shop, because you are usually not comparing like with like. ## Bizzilla Bobbin lace, worked by hand on a cylindrical cushion with dozens of small wooden bobbins called **ċombini**. The craft as it exists now was deliberately revived in the nineteenth century with technique and patterns brought in from Genoa, and it took hold most strongly on Gozo, with **Sannat** as its centre. It is slow. A sizeable piece is weeks. There is a fuller account on its own page, including how to tell handmade from machine-made, which is the thing most worth knowing before you buy any. ## Filigree Silver drawn into very fine wire, coiled and twisted into open patterns and soldered. The motif you will see most is the eight-pointed Maltese cross. The technique is Mediterranean rather than Maltese in origin, but it has been worked in these islands a long time. One practical advantage over lace: silver sold in Malta is subject to hallmarking, so there is an objective check on the metal available to you that there is not on the provenance of a piece of lace. ## Glass The craft with the most to watch. Molten glass is gathered, blown and shaped in front of you, and the forty minutes spent watching it is more interesting than anything you will take home. One practical note: the furnaces run in the morning. Turning up at four in the afternoon generally means a shop with the lights on and nobody working. ## Ta’ Dbieġi The crafts village near **Għarb** is a cluster of workshop units rather than a single attraction, and it is the easiest place to see several crafts in one stop with people actually working. What is open varies with the season and the day. Mid-week mornings are the best bet; late afternoons in winter are the worst. ## The question worth asking A fair amount of what is sold as Maltese or Gozitan craft across these islands was made somewhere else. That is not a scandal and it is not hidden. It is simply not volunteered. The question is: **was this made here, and by whom?** It is asked often enough that nobody finds it rude, and it is the single question that separates a workshop from a stall. People selling their own work, or their neighbour's, answer it immediately and usually at length. The answer tells you most of what you need, including whether the price makes sense. ### Questions Q: Where can you watch crafts being made in Gozo? A: Ta’ Dbieġi crafts village near Għarb is the obvious place: a cluster of workshops where lace, glass, filigree and knitwear are worked on site rather than only sold. Which units are open varies with the season and with the day, so it is worth going in the morning and mid-week. Individual studios are scattered around the villages as well, and several are open by arrangement rather than by sign. Q: How do you tell handmade Gozo lace from imported? A: Handmade bizzilla has small irregularities: the ground is not perfectly even and the thread shows tension differences where the work was put down and picked up. Machine lace is flawless and flat, and cheaper by a large multiple rather than a small one. A sizeable handmade piece is weeks of work, so if the price looks reasonable for the size, it is almost certainly not handmade. Q: What is Maltese filigree? A: Silver drawn into very fine wire, then coiled, twisted and soldered into open patterns, most often around the eight-pointed Maltese cross. It is a Mediterranean technique rather than a uniquely Maltese one, but it has been worked in these islands for a long time and the cross motif is local. Hallmarking applies to silver sold in Malta, so there is a check available that there is not for lace. Q: Is there glass blowing on Gozo? A: Yes, and it is the craft most worth watching rather than only buying, because the working is the interesting part. The furnaces run in the morning, so arriving in the afternoon often means seeing a shop rather than a workshop. Q: Is the stuff in the Victoria market made locally? A: Some of it. A good deal of what is sold as Maltese or Gozitan craft across the islands is imported, and that is not a secret so much as an unasked question. Sellers of island-made work are generally pleased to be asked where a piece came from and who made it, because it is the thing that distinguishes their stall. ## Gozo’s history, from Ġgantija to the Ċittadella URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/gozo-history-and-heritage Category: History & heritage. Written for: visitor. Summary: Temples older than the pyramids, a citadel whose population was carried off in a single raid, a windmill from 1725 and a lighthouse on the highest hill. What is actually worth your time. Ġgantija: Late Neolithic, built on the Xagħra plateau. Part of the Megalithic Temples of Malta World Heritage inscription. The raid: In 1551 an Ottoman force took most of Gozo’s population into slavery. Ta’ Kola windmill: Built in 1725, beside Ġgantija, on a joint ticket with it. Ta’ Ġordan lighthouse: 1853, on the highest hill above Għasri. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## Ġgantija On the Xagħra plateau there are two temple structures inside a single boundary wall, built in the Late Neolithic. Heritage Malta gives a range of roughly 3800 to 2000 BC for the complex, with the construction usually placed early in it. The number that matters is the comparison: this was standing before the pyramids at Giza and before Stonehenge. It is among the oldest free-standing built structures anywhere. The name means "of the giantess", from the tradition that a giantess built it while carrying a child, and the stones make that story feel less unreasonable than it should. Some of the blocks in the outer wall are enormous. Entry is through an interpretation centre with finds and audiovisual material, and a path out to the temples themselves. An hour covers it comfortably. The same ticket covers **Ta’ Kola windmill** a short walk away, built in **1725**, with the miller's living quarters preserved. It is small and it is worth the twenty minutes. ## What is not on show Close to Ġgantija is the **Xagħra Stone Circle**, an underground burial complex of the same period, excavated in the late twentieth century. It produced a great deal of what is now known about the people who built the temples. It is not open to the public and the finds are in museums. It is worth knowing about anyway, because it corrects the impression the temples give: what survived above ground is the fraction that was built in stone big enough not to be carted away. ## The Ċittadella, and 1551 The fortified citadel above Victoria is the oldest continuously occupied site on the island and was, for most of Gozo's history, the island itself: in periods of danger the whole population was expected to shelter inside it. In **1551** that failed. An Ottoman force took the citadel and carried off almost the entire population into slavery. The figure usually given is around five thousand people. Gozo was effectively emptied, and repopulated afterwards from Malta and Sicily. The Knights refortified it in the decades that followed, and for a long period Gozitans were still legally required to spend the night within its walls. What is there now: a free bastion walk around the top with a view over most of Gozo, the cathedral, and several small museums inside the walls on separate or combined tickets. The bastion walk is the thing. Go in the last hour of light. ## The nineteenth century on the skyline **Ta’ Ġordan lighthouse**, above Għasri, was built in **1853** on the highest hill in that part of the island, and the walk up to it is one of the better short walks on Gozo for the view rather than the building. The **salt pans** at Qbajjar and Xwejni are older than they look and are still worked by hand by a small number of families, which makes them one of the few places on the island where a historic industry is a current one rather than a display. ## And 2017 The **Azure Window** at Dwejra collapsed into the sea during a storm in March 2017. There is nothing above water. It is included here because it is still the single most common reason people drive to Dwejra, and because the honest answer is that the headland remains worth the trip for Fungus Rock, the Inland Sea and the diving, but not for the arch, which is gone. ### Questions Q: How old is Ġgantija? A: Late Neolithic. Heritage Malta dates the two structures to roughly 3800 to 2000 BC, with the building usually placed in the earlier part of that range, which makes them older than the Egyptian pyramids and older than Stonehenge. They are part of the Megalithic Temples of Malta inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and they sit on the Xagħra plateau. Entry is through an interpretation centre and an hour is about right. Q: What happened to Gozo in 1551? A: An Ottoman force took the Ċittadella and carried off most of the island's population into slavery. The figure usually given is around five thousand people, effectively emptying Gozo. The island was repopulated afterwards from Malta and Sicily, which is why the Gozitan surname map looks the way it does. The Knights refortified the citadel in the decades that followed, and for a long period Gozitans were required to spend the night inside its walls. Q: Is the Ċittadella worth visiting? A: Yes, and it is the one historic site on the island you can walk into for nothing. The bastion walk round the top is free and open, and the view from it covers most of Gozo, which is the quickest way to understand the shape of the island. Several museums sit inside the walls and are ticketed separately or on a combined ticket. Go late in the afternoon when the stone turns colour and the coach parties have gone. Q: Can you still see the Azure Window? A: No. It collapsed into the sea in a storm in March 2017 and there is nothing above water. The rubble is now a dive site, and the Blue Hole and the chimney beside it, which were always the better dive, are unaffected. The headland at Dwejra is still worth the drive for Fungus Rock and the Inland Sea. Q: What is the Xagħra Stone Circle? A: A Neolithic underground burial complex near Ġgantija, excavated in the late twentieth century, which produced a great deal of what is known about the people who built the temples. It is not open to the public, and the finds are in museums rather than on site. Worth knowing about precisely because you cannot visit it: the temples are the part that survived above ground, not the whole of the story. Q: Was Calypso’s Cave on Gozo? A: Gozo has been identified with Homer's Ogygia since antiquity, and the cave above Ramla carries the name. The viewpoint over the red sand is excellent and the identification is a tradition rather than a finding. Access to the cave itself has been restricted for safety for some years, so check before you make a special trip for it. ## Bizzilla: Gozo lace and the ċombini URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/gozo-lace-bizzilla Category: Crafts & artists. Written for: all. Summary: Bobbin lace has been made on Gozo for nearly two centuries. What to look for, how to tell handmade from imported, and where it is still worked. What it is: Bobbin lace worked by hand on a cylindrical cushion with wooden bobbins called ċombini. Where it revived: Reintroduced from Genoa in the nineteenth century, with Sannat as the centre. The motif to look for: The eight pointed Maltese cross. Where to find it: Ta’ Dbieġi crafts village and the Victoria market stalls. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## What it is Bizzilla is bobbin lace, worked by hand on a cylindrical cushion with dozens of small wooden bobbins called **ċombini**. The lacemaker throws and crosses them in sequence, and the pattern is pinned out on the cushion underneath as the work advances. It is slow. A sizeable piece is weeks of work, which is the first thing to understand about the price. ## How it got here Lace was made in the Maltese islands from at least the sixteenth century, but the craft as it exists now was deliberately revived in the nineteenth century, with the technique and patterns brought in from Genoa. It took hold most strongly in Gozo, and Sannat became the centre of it. The motif you will see most is the eight-pointed Maltese cross worked into the ground of the piece. ## Telling the real thing Handmade bizzilla has small irregularities: the ground will not be perfectly even, and the thread will show tension differences where the work was picked up and put down. Machine lace is flawless and flat, and it is usually cheaper by a large multiple rather than a small one. If a piece is being sold as handmade and the price looks reasonable for the size, it is almost certainly not. ## Where to find it The Ta’ Dbieġi crafts village in Għarb has lacemakers working on site, which is the easiest place to watch it being done. Sannat retains the tradition most strongly. Village markets and the Victoria market have stalls, but the quality and the provenance vary. Ask whether a piece was made on the island, and by whom. The answer is usually given gladly and tells you most of what you need. ## Ta’ Pinu, the wayside chapels, and what people still believe URL: https://gozolife.com/guides/ta-pinu-chapels-and-folklore Category: Faith & folklore. Written for: all. Summary: A national shrine built because one woman heard a voice in 1883, a countryside full of small chapels, and the older beliefs that sit quite comfortably beside the Church. The date: 22 June 1883, when Karmela Grima heard a voice calling from the old chapel. The basilica: Begun 1920, opened 1932, raised to minor basilica by Pius XI in 1935. Papal visits: John Paul II in 1990, Benedict XVI in 2010, who presented a Golden Rose. The older chapel: Still standing, behind the altar of the new church, and still the point of it. Written: 2026-10. Not yet confirmed on the ground. ## The chapel in the field Ta’ Pinu sits on its own in open country below Għarb, with no village attached to it, which is the first thing to understand about the place. It is not a parish church. It is a shrine in a field, and it was a small roadside chapel for centuries before anything else happened there. It takes its name from **Pinu Gauci**, who became its procurator and in 1611 paid for its restoration, put in a stone altar, and commissioned the painting of the Assumption that is still above it. ## 1883 On 22 June 1883 a forty-five-year-old woman called **Karmela Grima** was passing the chapel when she heard a woman's voice calling her. The voice called again from inside; she went in, prayed, and was asked to recite three Ave Marias. She then fell ill and was bedridden for over a year. She told nobody for some time. When she eventually told a friend, Francesco Portelli, he said that he had also heard a voice near the chapel urging him to pray, and his mother's recovery from illness was afterwards attributed to Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu. The bishop of Gozo, Pietru Pace, examined the accounts and concluded the voice was of heavenly origin. What followed was not a single event but a slow accumulation: pilgrimages, reported favours, and eventually a building. ## The basilica The present Romanesque church was begun in **1920** and opened in **1932**. In **1935** Pius XI raised it to the dignity of a minor basilica, and the image of Our Lady was crowned the same year. The old chapel was not demolished. It stands behind the high altar of the new church, which you can walk through to, and it remains the actual point of the place. The new building is in effect a very large shelter built around a very small one. John Paul II prayed in that chapel in May 1990 and decorated the image with five golden stars. Benedict XVI presented a Golden Rose in April 2010. Along the approach are mosaic panels, and beside the church is the corridor of **ex-votos**: crutches, plaster casts, children's clothes, photographs, letters, fragments of wrecked vehicles, left by people in thanks. Whatever you make of the theology, that corridor is a hundred-year record of what Gozitan families feared and what they were grateful for, and it is the part of the site most visitors walk past. ## The small chapels The Gozitan countryside is scattered with chapels, most of them small, many of them old, a good number of them locked except on one day a year. They are not decorative. Several predate the parishes around them, and some were built as a field chapel so that farming families a long walk from the village could hear Mass. A few stand where a village used to be and no longer is. The ones worth looking for are the ones you come upon rather than drive to. ## What survives beside the Church Gozo is overwhelmingly and visibly Catholic. It also retains a layer of older belief that sits alongside that without any apparent contradiction, which is the thing outsiders find hardest to read correctly. The **għajn**, the eye, is the clearest example: the belief that envy can do harm, and that one guards against it. The painted eyes on the bows of the traditional **luzzu** fishing boats are the visible form of it, and they are not simply decoration, though whether a given fisherman today means it or merely keeps it is a question with eighteen different answers. Other fragments persist in the same way: things said when a child is admired, objects kept for luck, dates on which particular things are and are not done. The honest position is that this varies hugely by family and by generation, that it is not performed for visitors, and that the right posture towards it is interest rather than collection. ## Holy Week If you want to see all of this at once, come at Easter rather than in summer. Good Friday brings life-size statue processions through several villages in the afternoon and evening, and the island is silent in a way it never otherwise is: no music anywhere, nothing open, nothing playing. On Easter Sunday morning the mood inverts completely, and in several villages the statue of the Risen Christ is carried at a run, uphill. Those two days tell you more about Gozo than a week in August does. ### Questions Q: What happened at Ta’ Pinu? A: On 22 June 1883 a woman named Karmela Grima, then forty-five, was passing the old chapel when she heard a woman's voice calling her. When it called again from inside she went in and prayed, and the voice asked her to say three Ave Marias. She was ill and bedridden for more than a year afterwards. She eventually told a friend, Francesco Portelli, who said he had heard a voice urging him to pray as well, and his mother's recovery was attributed to Our Lady of Ta’ Pinu. The bishop of the day, Pietru Pace, concluded the voice was of heavenly origin. Q: Why is it called Ta’ Pinu? A: After Pinu Gauci, who became procurator of the chapel and in 1611 paid to restore it, put in a stone altar and commissioned the Assumption painting still above it. Pinu is a Maltese form of Philip. The chapel had previously been known by another name entirely; this one stuck after the property changed hands in 1858. Q: Can you visit Ta’ Pinu, and is there a dress code? A: Yes, it is open to visitors and it is free. It is a working shrine rather than a monument, so Mass and private prayer are going on around you. Shoulders and knees covered is the expectation, as at any church on the islands. The mosaics along the approach and the room of ex-votos are the two things people miss by walking straight in and straight out. Q: What are the ex-votos? A: Objects left in thanks for something believed to have been granted: plaster casts, crutches, children's clothing, photographs, letters, pieces of a crashed vehicle. They are displayed in a corridor beside the church and they are the most affecting thing on the site, whatever you believe about them. They are also a century-long record of what ordinary Gozitan families were frightened of. Q: Is the evil eye still a real belief in Gozo? A: The għajn, the eye, is still widely recognised and the protections against it are visible rather than hidden: the painted eyes on the bows of the luzzu fishing boats are the obvious example and nobody treats them as decoration alone. How seriously any individual takes it varies enormously, generally with age. It coexists with ordinary Catholic practice without any apparent difficulty, which is the characteristic thing about Maltese folk belief. Q: What is the biggest church in Gozo? A: The Rotunda at Xewkija, whose dome is among the largest in Europe and dominates the view from most of the island. It was built around the older parish church, which stayed in use throughout, and the earlier building was only dismantled once the new one was finished. --- Quoting with a link is welcome. Wholesale reproduction is not. Every page carries the month it was last checked; that date is the honest limit of its accuracy.