St. Patrick's Hotel

On the Xlendi bay promenade

St. Patrick's is in the middle of the Xlendi promenade, a former fishing port at the end of a narrow inlet between two cliffs, on the south-west coast of Gozo. The bay is watched over by the Xlendi Tower, built in 1650 by the grand master Lascaris. Victoria, the island's capital, is three kilometres away. It is the choice for sleeping by the sea without a car: the bus stops in front of the hotel and, a few metres away, you have the water.

Rooms

There are 64 rooms, spacious and simply decorated, arranged around an inner courtyard. Twenty face the sea, twenty-five the valley and nineteen the courtyard. If you come for the bay, ask for a sea view when booking: it is the one that gives the place its point.

On the roof there is a small paddling pool, a jacuzzi and a sun terrace; pool towels are requested at reception against a deposit. There is free wifi, a lounge with a reading and TV area and reception open 24 hours.

Eating on the promenade

The hotel restaurant extends outside to the water's edge, and in Xlendi you eat outdoors almost all year. It opens for breakfast (7:30–10:30), lunch and snacks (12:00–17:30) and dinner (19:00–21:30). The menu changes with seasonal produce, there is a set menu as well as à la carte and the fish is brought in every day by the village fishermen. If you leave before breakfast opens, they give you a packed meal, with notice the day before; from first thing there is coffee and tea in the lobby.

What to do from here

Xlendi is a place for swimming, diving and snorkelling, on an island famed for its dives, and it has coastal paths that leave the village towards the countryside. Next to the hotel, on the square, there is a small shop and a cash machine; the other services are in Victoria. By car, the hotel estimates twenty minutes or less to almost anywhere on the island, such as Dwejra and the Inland Sea or the Cittadella. Gozo Garage, the hotel's sister company, hires cars and organises transfers.