# Gozo Malta's second island, rural and peaceful: the Ġgantija temples older than the pyramids, a citadel on a hill and the Dwejra coast, 25 minutes away by ferry. Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/malta/gozo · Revisado: 2026-11-12 ## What is Gozo like? The second island of the Maltese archipelago, north-west of Malta: about 14 km from end to end, flat hills with terraced fields, villages with enormous churches and a coast of cliffs. Compared with Malta it has less traffic, fewer big hotels and a more countryside pace. People come to see temples and fortresses, to swim in coves and to walk along the coast, and almost everything is less than twenty minutes by car from Victoria, the capital, which Gozitans still call Rabat. You can do it in a day from Malta, but it falls short. With two or three nights you see the island without rushing and stay for the sunsets in the west. ## What to see The Cittadella of Victoria. The fortress on the hill in the centre of the island, visible from almost anywhere. It has been used since prehistory; the southern part was rebuilt by the Knights of St John between 1599 and 1603, after an Ottoman attack in 1551 took almost the entire population away as slaves. Inside are the Baroque Cathedral of St Mary, the old prison, small museums and a paid visitor centre. The best part is the walk round the walls: you see all of Gozo and, in the distance, Malta. The Ġgantija temples, in Xagħra. Two megalithic temples built in the late Neolithic, between 3800 and 2000 BC. The visit begins at an interpretation centre with objects found on the island and continues along an open-air path. The ticket, combined with the Ta' Kola windmill in the same village, costs €10. Dwejra, on the west coast. This is where the Azure Window was, the rock arch that collapsed in 2017 and is now a dive site. What remains are the Inland Sea, a lagoon joined to the open sea by a tunnel of about 100 metres through which the fishermen's boats go out; the Blue Hole, one of the best-known dive sites on the island; Fungus Rock, the islet the knights guarded for a medicinal plant; and the 1652 tower, open when its flag is flying. Ramla Bay, in the north, between Xagħra and Nadur. A beach of reddish sand, Ramla il-Ħamra in Maltese, with little built around it and a few cafés behind. The Xwejni salt pans, on the north coast, past Marsalforn. Grids dug into the limestone, about 350 years old, still worked by village families. Salt is harvested from mid-May to September and sold in shops and at stalls beside the road. Do not walk across the pans. The Basilica of Ta' Pinu, in the countryside in the west. A Neo-Romanesque shrine built between 1920 and 1932 on the spot where, in 1883, a local woman said she had heard the voice of the Virgin. It is a place of pilgrimage, with a Way of the Cross on the hill opposite. Wied il-Għasri, a gorge with high walls that ends in a narrow cove with a pebble beach, which you reach down steps cut into the rock. Good for swimming on calm days; in wind, the waves break against the walls. If you dive, at Dwejra there are shore dives at the Blue Hole, Crocodile Rock and the remains of the Azure Window. ## How do you get there? From Malta, the Gozo Channel ferry leaves Ċirkewwa, at the northern tip of Malta, for Mġarr, in Gozo, every day and, by day, as often as every half hour. The crossing takes about 25 minutes and carries passengers and cars. The ticket is not paid on the way out: it is validated only on leaving Gozo, on the return journey. Buses 41, 42 and X300 from Valletta, and the X1 and TD1 from the airport, reach Ċirkewwa, in one or two hours depending on traffic. If you do not want to cross Malta by bus, the fast Gozo Highspeed ferry leaves Valletta's Grand Harbour for Mġarr; it carries passengers only, and you must be at the quay 15 or 20 minutes before. From Spain you fly to Malta: there are direct flights all year from Madrid and Barcelona, and in summer from more cities. Gozo has no airport. ## How do you get around the island? The most comfortable is the car: you can hire it in Malta and take it across on the ferry, or hire it in Gozo. You drive on the left, on narrow roads. If you hire it in Malta, check that the insurance covers the ferry and your stay in Gozo. Without a car, Gozo's buses run from Victoria to the villages and beaches, and are cheap. You can also hire scooters, quads and bicycles, and there are tuk-tuks and a tourist train. Walking between villages is easy, with many coastal and country paths. ## What to do, where to eat and where to sleep What to do: the Ġgantija temples, the Cittadella of Victoria, Dwejra and the Inland Sea, a try-dive in Marsalforn and the boat to Comino's Blue Lagoon. Where to eat: Al Sale, on the square in Xagħra; Tmun, fish beside the Mġarr ferry, and Ta' Frenċ, the special dinner in an old farmhouse. Where to sleep: the Cornucopia, a farmhouse over 300 years old in Xagħra; Ta' Ċenċ, five stars on the cliffs of Sannat, and the St. Patrick's, on the Xlendi promenade. Plans: Gozo in a day from Valletta, the Blue Lagoon and Gozo and the two nights in Gozo getaway. ## Dónde está - Zonas: Game of Thrones Locations - Cerca: Valletta (a 29.0 km), Val di Noto (a 118.7 km · Italy) ## Qué hacer - **Ġgantija Temples and the Ta' Kola windmill** (1 h 30 · All ages; wheelchair-accessible route · 10): Ġgantija is the visit that on its own justifies crossing to Gozo: two stone temples raised more than five thousand years ago, with walls that still impress up close. What it is The archaeological park is on the Xagħra plateau, in a landscape full of prehistoric remains. There are two temples built in the late Neolithic, between 3800 and 2000 BC, with separate entrances and surrounded by a single outer wall of great blocks. Each has several apses, like lobes, on either side of a central passage. They form part of the Megalithic Temples of Malta, a World Heritage Site. Their builders used two stones from the island: hard coralline limestone for the walls, and softer globigerina for the inside: doorways, altars and decorated slabs. Two fragments of plaster with red ochre, seen in the interpretation centre, suggest that the inner walls were plastered and painted. The visit You enter through the interpretation centre, which explains what life was like in Gozo in the Neolithic and holds some of the most important objects found on the island. Then an open-air path leads to the temples and goes round them. The whole route is wheelchair accessible, with adapted toilets and reserved parking spaces. There is a café, shop, cloakroom, baby-changing and a room for children (always with an adult). You can ask for an official guide in advance on the Heritage Malta website. The Ta' Kola windmill The ticket includes the Ta' Kola windmill, an old windmill in the same village of Xagħra, also run by Heritage Malta and with the same winter hours. Go after the temples. Opening hours and tickets From 1 November to 3 January it is open every day from 9:00 to 17:00, with last entry half an hour before; the summer timetable is published on the website. On Thursday 26 November 2026 it is closed all day. It also closes on 1 January, Good Friday and 24, 25 and 31 December. Combined ticket with Ta' Kola: €10 adults; €8 for ages 12 to 17, over-60s, students and concessions; €6 for ages 6 to 11; free for ages 1 to 5. How to get there By car, there is parking next to the site. By bus, the nearest stop is two minutes' walk away. From Xagħra square it is a few minutes' walk, and there you eat at Al Sale. If you sleep at the Cornucopia, you come on foot. - **Victoria Cittadella and the old prison** (2 h · All ages; there are stairs on the walls · Desde 5 € combined ticket): The Cittadella is the centre of Gozo in every sense: the fortress that crowns the hill of Victoria, the capital, and from whose walls you see the whole island, with Malta in the distance. What it is A walled citadel that has been in use since prehistory. The southern part was rebuilt by the Knights of St John between 1599 and 1603, after an Ottoman attack in 1551 took almost the entire population of the island away as slaves. Inside remain the Baroque Cathedral of St Mary, the law courts, the old prison, stone alleyways and ruined houses. The walk round the walls The best part of the visit, and free: go up on the walls and walk all the way round the top. From the north side you see Xagħra and the Ġgantija plateau; from the west, the flat hills and Ta' Pinu; from the south, the terraced countryside down to the coast and, on clear days, Malta and Comino. At sunset the stone turns golden. There are stairs: with small children, hold their hands. The old prison Beside the law courts, on Cathedral Square, is the oldest surviving prison in Gozo, used from the mid-sixteenth century to the early twentieth. It has the largest collection of historic graffiti in the islands: mostly ships, but also hands, crosses, names, dates, games and figures, and the tally marks with which some prisoners counted the days. There is a hall that was a common cell in the nineteenth century, with casts of graffiti including a sixteenth-century carrack, and a separate block with six individual cells. Among its prisoners was Jean de la Valette, the future grand master who gave Valletta its name, locked up for four months in 1538 for attacking a man. It is run by Heritage Malta. In winter it is open Tuesday to Sunday from 9:00 to 17:00. You enter with the Cittadella combined ticket: €5 adults; €3.50 for ages 12 to 17, over-60s and concessions; €2.50 for ages 6 to 11; free for ages 1 to 5. The Gozo Archaeology Museum closed on 13 April 2026 to become the future Gozo Museum; its shop remains open. The cathedral has its own opening hours and ticket, separate. How to get there Victoria is the hub of Gozo's bus network, and the station is at the foot of the hill: you walk up to the main gate. By car, park below, in the town. From here, Dwejra is to the west, close by car. - **Dwejra, the Inland Sea and Fungus Rock** (2 h · All ages, away from the edge of the rocks): Dwejra is the western corner of Gozo, in the parish of San Lawrenz: an amphitheatre of limestone dropping into the sea, with three or four things to see a few minutes' walk from each other. Go in the late afternoon: the sun sets straight ahead. What to see The Inland Sea. A lagoon of seawater enclosed between rocks and joined to the open sea by a natural tunnel about a hundred metres long under the cliff. On its shore are fishermen's huts and a small pebble beach. When the sea is calm, the fishermen take visitors out by boat through the tunnel to the open sea and the cliffs; ask the price at the quay. Fungus Rock. A solid islet at the entrance to the bay. The knights of the Order guarded it because a plant grew on it to which they attributed medicinal properties. Dwejra Tower, from 1652, a lookout tower of the Order above the bay. It is open when its flag is flying. The Blue Hole, a natural well of water in the rock, open to the sea through an arch underwater, one of the best-known dive sites in the Mediterranean. From above you see its round shape; below begins the dive. Where the Azure Window was. Malta's most photographed rock arch collapsed in 2017. Nothing remains above the water; below it, its blocks form a new landscape that divers explore. Diving or swimming The Blue Hole is a shore dive: you enter over the rock into a sheltered pool and descend through a great arch that begins at about 6 metres and reaches 15, with a cave at the bottom, and deeper down passages and a chimney for experienced divers. To do it, book a guided dive at a centre such as Atlantis, or, if it is your first time, start with a try dive. For swimming, the pebble beach of the Inland Sea is peaceful when the sea is calm. On the Blue Hole rocks you can snorkel, but only when the sea is flat: with a west swell, waves sweep the platforms. How to get there By car, from Victoria via San Lawrenz; the road ends beside the Inland Sea. Wear sturdy shoes: the ground is uneven limestone. There is no shade anywhere on the site. The Dothraki wedding Visit Gozo recalls that Dwejra Bay was a setting for Game of Thrones: the wedding of Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo was filmed here, with the arch of the Azure Window in the background. The arch collapsed in 2017, so the scene can no longer be recognised in full; what remains is the rocky coast that surrounded it and Dwejra Tower above the cliffs. - **Try dive in Gozo from Marsalforn** (2 h · From age 10, in good health and comfortable in the water · Desde 55 € per person): Gozo draws divers from all over Europe for its clear water and its rock bottoms, caves and arches. If you have never dived, here you can try in a morning, with an instructor beside you and without earning any qualification. What it is The try dive is the PADI Discover Scuba Diving programme: a first scuba experience for anyone without certification. It is run by Atlantis, a family dive centre in Marsalforn, in the north of Gozo, open since 1993 and with PADI 5 Star IDC status. It lasts about two hours and takes place at a dive site close to the centre. You start on dry land: the instructor explains the equipment, how it is prepared and how it is used. Then, in the water, you practise the basics (equalising your ears, moving underwater, hand signals) and, when you feel comfortable, you dive with them along the bottom to see fish and rocks and feel the weightlessness. All the time you are under the supervision of a PADI professional. Requirements and price Age: from 10 years. Health: good general health and being comfortable in the water. Medical questionnaire: before diving you must fill in the PADI one. If you answer "no" to everything, you do not need a doctor; if you answer "yes" to anything, a doctor has to review and sign it. Atlantis recommends reading it before you arrive to avoid delays. Price: €55 per person, with all equipment included. It is not a qualification: you are registered with PADI as having done the programme, but to dive on your own you have to take the Open Water course, which Atlantis also teaches. If you already have a qualification Atlantis organises guided dives along the Gozo coast, among them the Blue Hole at Dwejra, with its entrance arch at 6–15 metres and the cave at the bottom, and the remains of the Azure Window. Check their website for departures and what they include. When to go and how to get there You can dive all year. The water is warmest from June to October. Marsalforn is on the north coast, by car from Victoria. Book on the centre's website. - **Boat to Comino's Blue Lagoon, on the way to Gozo** (4 h · All ages · Desde 15 € return, adult): The Blue Lagoon is the image of Malta on the posters: an arm of turquoise water with a white-sand bottom between the island of Comino and the islet of Cominotto. Comino lies between Malta and Gozo, so it fits as a stop halfway. Access, with booking since 2025 Since May 2025 the Blue Lagoon has had a visitor control system: anyone arriving by sea needs a free pass on the official website blcomino.com, with three slots a day (from 8:00 to 13:00, from 13:30 to 17:30 and from 18:00 to 22:00) and a capacity of 4,000 people at a time. Arriving without it can mean a fine. With Comino Ferries, the boat cooperative that has crossed since 1990, access is included in the ticket: you do not have to get the pass separately or choose a slot. Their ticket is valid for three months from purchase, so you can buy it before the trip and wait for a calm-sea day. The boat It leaves from Ċirkewwa, the same port as the Gozo ferry, at the northern tip of Malta, or from Marfa, very close by. The crossing takes about 20 minutes, with departures every half hour: from Ċirkewwa from 8:40 to 17:00 and from Marfa from 8:30 to 16:00, according to the timetable they publish. Returns from the lagoon leave from 9:30 to 17:00, and some boats pass the coastal caves if the sea allows. The return ticket costs €15 for an adult. And if you are going to Gozo, you can ask to be dropped there after the lagoon, for the same price, with departures from the lagoon to Gozo from 11:00 to 16:00. Then you return to Malta on the Gozo Channel ferry, which is paid for in Gozo. At the lagoon There are no hotels or villages: Comino is almost uninhabited. In summer there are food and drink kiosks beside the lagoon. In July and August it fills up: go on the first boat of the morning or in September and October. Bring water, a hat, water shoes for the rocks and a parasol if you have one, because shade is scarce. Out of season, from November to April, the water is cold for swimming, but seeing the lagoon empty and walking around Comino has its charm. ## Dónde comer - **Al Sale** (Restaurant, Xagħra, €€). Qué pedir: the prawn and scallop ravioli with bisque, or the beef short rib with salsa verde; if you sit outside, the terrace looks onto the church square - **Tmun** (Restaurant, Mġarr (Għajnsielem), €€€). Qué pedir: the ceviche of the day's catch or the grilled octopus, the grilled fish and seafood trio, and Jane's cheesecake, the house dessert - **Ta' Frenċ** (Restaurant, Xagħra, €€€€). Qué pedir: the three-course menu with the house rabbit ravioli, a main flambéed at the table such as the steak Diane, and for dessert the home-made imqaret or the Grand Marnier soufflé ## Consejos ### Sleep at least one night The excursion groups arrive by mid-morning and leave by mid-afternoon. In the evening, Dwejra and the Cittadella are something else. ### Go to the Inland Sea early and in calm weather The fishermen's boats go out through the tunnel when the sea allows. In heavy swell, do not go near the edge of the rocks. ### Check your hire car insurance If you take it across from Malta, ask whether it covers Gozo and the ferry before you sign. ### Bring water shoes Many coves are rock or pebbles. For Wied il-Għasri and the Dwejra rocks, water shoes help. ### Buy salt at Xwejni In summer it is sold by the families who work the salt pans, beside the road. ## Preguntas frecuentes ### How many days do I need in Gozo? Two or three nights to see the Cittadella, Ġgantija, Dwejra and the coves without rushing. In a day from Malta you see three or four places. ### How do you pay for the ferry to Gozo? The Gozo Channel ferry ticket is validated only on leaving Gozo, so you pay once, on the return. Children aged 3 to 12 pay €1.15. ### How long does the ferry take? About 25 minutes from Ċirkewwa to Mġarr. There are sailings every day, as often as every half hour by day. ### Is the Azure Window still there? No. The arch collapsed in 2017. Dwejra is still worth the visit for the Inland Sea, Fungus Rock and the diving. ### Are there sandy beaches in Gozo? Yes, a few. The best known is Ramla Bay, with reddish sand. The rest of the coast is rock or pebble coves. ### Do I need a car? It is not essential: buses run from Victoria across the island. With a car you see more in less time. ### Can you go with children? Yes. The Cittadella, the Ġgantija temples and Ramla beach work well with children. At Dwejra and on the cliffs, keep them close to you near the edge.