In a nut shell, Gozo is the tranquil island 3 miles northwest of Malta and a must when visiting the archipelago. Whilst Malta can get extremely busy (especially in the summer), Gozo offers a far quieter and serene side of Malta. We fell in love with the architecture and thoroughly enjoyed just walking and exploring, until of course we boiled. It gets extremely hot! Let’s explore Gozo together below.
How to get to Gozo from Malta?
In order to visit Gozo you must hop on the ferry from Ċirkewwa, Malta to cross the channel, which takes 45 minutes. Nowadays, the schedule shows it runs 24 hours daily which is fantastic! You can check out the schedule and prices here.
On arrival there are plenty of taxis and public buses to take you to your next destination. It was super easy, especially with the Tallinja card as mentioned in our ‘Everything you need to know about Malta’ blog. The ‘explore card’ allows unlimited travel by bus for 7 days at 21 euros per adult and 15 euros per child.
Our Gozo highlights
Gozo offers a variety of things to do, mostly enjoyed along the beautiful coastline. There is a slower pace and such a relaxed vibe in Gozo with beautiful landscapes and buildings for you to enjoy.
Festa in Victoria
The origin of the word ‘festival’ can be traced back to the Latin word ‘festa’ meaning ‘a religious holiday’. We visited in July and were welcomed by the feast of Santa Marija in Victoria, the Capital City of Gozo, a place that should be visited anyhow. You will find thousands of locals and foreigners all coming together to enjoy the music, food and marches. We found this web page particularly useful highlighting all festivals in Malta and Gozo throughout the year.
When in Victoria you must visit the Citadel. This wonderful historic centre must be explored to really capture the essence of Gozo with amazing 360 views of the surrounding landscape.
Marsalforn Bay
The perfect place to enjoy sunset with a glass of wine, appetisers and an evening meal. Marsalforn Bay offers wonderful snorkelling and swimming opportunities as well as the chance to sunbathe. We would recommend staying overnight with plenty of guesthouses and hotels along the promenade. Just a stunning location to enjoy a romantic evening! If you’re into the nightlife scene, then stay here, as many of the venues stay open late into the night with live music and cold drinks flowing.
Terrible quality of photo, but you get the idea! This was taken before we thought of Travelling Translated, when we were taking photos on cheap phones, so please forgive us…
Il Gardjola Bed & Breakfast
One of the highlights on our Gozo trip was honestly just relaxing. Our bed and breakfast was absolutely stunning with a lovely pool and air conditioned room. Did we mention it gets hot?! We stayed in ‘Il Gardjola Bed and Breakfast’ in the village of Gharb which was a fantastic base to explore the island. It’s worth mentioning that we were feeling particularly lazy in Gozo and therefore didn’t explore too many places in our 4 nights here. From Gharb you can visit the Ta’ Pinu National Shrine, which in retrospect we would have loved visiting!
Hop on Hop off bus Tour
Where better to see 360 degree views than on top off a bus taking you all over the island of Gozo. We did the same in Malta and thoroughly enjoyed it. The blistering sun counteracted by the cool breeze is the perfect recipe for comfort and sunburn so be careful. Enough health and safety talk, the hop on hop off bus is the perfect way to hop on and hop off at a huge variety of destinations. You can book this activity here and find out more about the ‘City Sightseeing Gozo Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour’.
Tal-Massar Winery or Ta’ Mena Estate
We are big fans of trying local produce when visiting new countries, so where better to visit than a vineyard? These are the two vineyards we researched and ended up visiting Tal-Massar Winery due to the close proximity to our hotel in Gharb. This particular winery is open for vineyard tours and wine tastings every Tuesday and Saturday. Both offer wine tasting in the vineyard if the weather allows with food pairings to match. It wouldn’t be mediterranean without also accompanying the wine with olives and olive oil production. More information can be found directly via their websites:
Dwerja Bay
Dwerja Bay is located on the west coast of Gozo offering stunning rock formations as well as diving and snorkelling opportunities. There are plenty of underwater scenes to enjoy with Gozo’s top diving site being located here in the ‘Blue Hole’. We recommend visiting in the morning to enjoy the fresh sea breeze and magical coastline, also avoiding the heat.
Need to know!
The famous landmark the ‘Azure window’ or ‘Dwerja window’ has been subject to some very angry TripAdvisor reviews and we were equally as disappointed dedicating a morning to visiting this attraction. With all of the advertising of the stunning ‘Azure window’ across Gozo and even Malta you’ll be miffed when you realise it collapsed in 2018.
We stood at the end of the bay unable to find the 28 metre tall, natural arch until eventually wikipedia helped to solve the puzzle.
If you don’t plan on staying in Gozo you can also combine a full day trip of Gozo with Comino, the stunning blue lagoon and island that lies between Gozo and Malta. Check this tour out here. Be warned it does get extremely busy!
Gozo is only separated from Malta by a small channel and must be visited to get the true essence of this archipelago. Now to travel back to Malta, how about a hop on hop off bus tour?
Or check out ‘everything you need to know about Malta?’ with us!
