First of all, if you visit Malta, do NOT skip Gozo! I think I enjoyed Gozo over the main island of Malta altogether, which is why I wrote this Guide to Gozo.
We spent 48 hours on Gozo Island and could have easily stayed longer. However, if you want an action packed itinerary that allows you to see a great deal, I believe you’ve come to the right place. This post will detail how we spent our time on Gozo as well as some of the logistics for getting to and around the island. If you’re looking for more information from this guide to Gozo you can always feel free to message me with any questions.
How to get to Gozo
To get to Gozo you need to take a ferry from mainland Malta. We took a ferry from Valetta and it was a very easy journey. The high speed ferry takes about 45 minutes. You can book tickets and look at times and routes by clicking here —> Gozo High Speed Ferry
How to get around Gozo
I highly recommend having some sort of vehicle on Gozo. You could stay in the main town of Victoria and get around using public transport and taxis, but the freedom of your own ride here is SO much better. There are so many small beaches, hidden gems, and landscapes to see, you’ll want to be able to go where you please. Throughout this entire guide to Gozo most things we did required a vehicle.
Rent a Quad
We always find renting a quad to be the most fun and we rented them here as well. Gozo Quad Hire was the perfect place to rent from. They were so kind and professional. They picked us up directly from the ferry and even rode ahead of us on the way to our hotel to make sure we got there safely upon arrival.
There are also a number of quad tours you can do on the island —-> Quad Tours Here
Rent a car
It would also be beneficial to rent a car on Gozo. This would be especially smart if you are a group, or aren’t interested in the exposed ride of a quad.
You can look for car rental options here if needed ——> Gozo Car Rental
Use Bolt
In the evenings, when we wanted to have a few drinks, we used BOLT Malta and it was a very good service. BOLT is a driver service, just like Uber. They were timely, affordable, and easy to use. I wanted to make sure to add them to this guide to Gozo because it was a very helpful service for us.
Where to Stay
We loved our location on Xlendi Bay. We stayed at Hotel San Andrea It was so picturesque and peaceful! Our hotel was nice and had balcony views over the bay, they had a good breakfast and we loved eating out on the water each morning. Our rooms were clean and comfortable and the area was nice for some exploring. I went running from here each morning and followed some cool trails that led to salt pans and neat cliff-sides. It was also within a 10 minute ride to Victoria, which is the “main town” of Gozo. If you don’t decide to stay here, it is also a nice spot to have lunch and enjoy the views!
Victoria Gozo
I feel it should be mentioned in any Guide to Gozo, that the “main town” is called Victoria. If you’d feel better basing in the main town, you can look for accommodation options here. ——> Hotels in Victoria, Gozo
Where to Eat
We had two very special dinner experiences on Gozo island! I feel so lucky to have had both of them and I couldn’t recommend either of them more highly! I am so happy to add them both to this Guide to Gozo.
Maldonado Bistro
The first is having the dinner and wine tasting experience at Maldonado Bistro. I had been chatting with the owner of this place for years, we had to cancel our trip to Malta a few times due to Covid. When we finally got to go it EXCEEDED my expectations.
We were taken to a special upstairs room and got to enjoy learning about Maltese wine and cuisine while the chef cooked dinner right in front of us and taught us all along the way. He let us taste little snacks, taught us SO much about wines, and was so lively and fun!
It is a shared group experience and it was so nice to meet and get to know some other travelers as well. The food was absolutely fantastic, we enjoyed trying all of the wines, and honestly I would do this again if we return to Gozo Island.
Gozo Picnic (no guide to Gozo is complete without this experience!)
The second experience was a picnic at the Salt Flats hosted by Gozo Picnic. Truly this was not only one of the coolest things we did on this trip, but one of the coolest ever. The picnic was set up for us and EVERYTHING was thought of! We showed up to the most beautiful scene, a blanket, and even comfortable cushions for each of us. We got to choose from a selection of menus in advance and there was SO MUCH food!
We had snacks to start, a lovely dinner, desert, and honestly we were all full and the food was so good! It was homemade by Ana herself! There were fairy-lights around the whole set up, a speaker so we could play our own music, she even had bug spray for us, water, and wine. EVERYTHING you could possibly think of was covered!
You can also choose the location of your picnic, it doesn’t have to be at the Salt Flats. However, this was the most incredible spot to watch the sunset! This should 100% be on any guide to Gozo island.
We actually loved this experience so much I wrote a whole post about it, you can find it here —-> A Curated Picnic Experience on Gozo Island
Il Kantralido
This was another excellent spot that we stumbled upon by accident when we were looking for beaches. What an amazing find it was! The entire place is a beautiful terrace overlooking the cliff-sides and the sea. We had some fantastic seafood here and absolutely loved the vibe.
Beaches of Gozo
No guide to Gozo would be complete without mentioning all of the amazing and unique beaches Gozo has to offer. We didn’t get to every single one, but we visited a number of them and I have included pictures when possible.
Ramala Bay Beach
This is a very long sand orange sand beach. It is a nice place to lay out and relax. It is listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in Gozo, and it is beautiful. Honestly, there are so many incredibly wild and different beaches on Gozo that I found this one to be the least appealing. But if you want a nice relaxed sand beach, this is your spot.
Dwerja Beach
This spot is so unique! There is a big rock face with a literal hole in it that leads out to the ocean. The bay here is calm and crystal clear. It is a stone beach so it would be very wise to have water shoes here. We saw people kayaking through the hole, it looked like a lot of fun. This was not super crowded because the rocks can be a little uncomfortable, but we loved it! It was so beautiful and different. It’s definitely worth making a stop on your beach hopping day.
Wied il-Ghasri
If you’re going to go beach hopping, I recommend heading here first. It is SO cool, but the actual beach area itself is quite small so you want to get there and make sure you get a spot. You can enjoy it and then leave before it gets more crowded. It’s really neat to swim in the little inlet created by the rocks. We saw people practicing scuba diving here and you could absolutely do some snorkeling.
Mgarr Ix-Xini Beach
We enjoyed hanging out here too, there was a little stand with snacks and drinks and a flat area we could hang out on. We also did some cliff jumping into the water here which was super fun. It was a very relaxed spot and easy to quad to!
Other Things to Do
Explore Victoria
Victoria is a main area on the island and was really lovely to walk around for a bit. The architecture here so beautiful and the sand colored buildings look like they could be out of a movie scene. It was a nice area to explore, grab a drink, and shop around a bit before dinner. We’d likely have gone to dinner in this area again if we hadn’t done the picnic dinner.
Adventure around Xlendi
As I mentioned above, the area around the Xlendi bay had a lot to explore. There were some amazing cliffside trails, some salt pans, some secret stairs and caves on the other side of the bay. It was fun to explore around in the mornings and on my runs. We also found a DELICIOUS coffee shop that made the most delightful chocolate coffees! There are also a few spots along the cliffside and promenade to have a drink and relax and just take in the views.
If you’re looking for more to do on Malta & Gozo you can check out some tour ideas here —-> Malta & Gozo Tours
If you’re visiting Malta & want to check out some more info I also have a post on —–> How to Spend 48 Hours in Valetta, Malta
This guide to Gozo post contains affiliate links. This means if you book through my links I will earn a small commission at no cost to you!