Day trip to Gozo, Malta

The last full day at Malta I did something I have not done in 20+ years, visited Gozo. I was at Malta for an English course when I was a teenager and back then after a beach day at the Blue Lagoon we went to Gozo for ice cream. I have for a long time looked forward to see more of the sister island and although I really had not time for it I made myself time to head over there. It was worth it. In my opinion Gozo is calmer and more like old style Malta. Not rubbish on the streets and a lot of property investments that ended up in bankruptcy now staying half way finished. Gozo was charming and had less cars so well worth to head over there. Ideal would be also to stay over for one night since there is quite some things to see if you want to explore it all.

How to get to Gozo

There are multiple of organized tours brining you to Gozo but if you would like to do your own tour you can either take a car or a local bus to the ferry terminal at Crikewwa where the public ferries depart from. They depart at least once every half hour and cost around 5 EUR for a return trip so you won’t be ruined. Also busses are very cheap at Malta. 2 EUR for a single ride no matter of distance and tickets you buy onboard just blipping your credit card. Same thing with Gozo, easy to get around with public transport if you don´t bring your own car.

Captial city of Victoria

The capital of Gozo is called Victoria and is located in the middle of the island. Worth a visit. I took the bus halfway there and walked half way through some cute villages. The island is small but you cannot walk all around it.

In February it is carnival season at Gozo so they had a market catering for mostly children with ferries wheels and other rides and also some stands with locally made products for sale. I walked around there for a bit and had a short stop for people watching and a coffee.

After that I continued my exploring and checked out some more churches from the outside. Of course in limestone. What else to expect at Malta? there were some nice squares with restaurants and cafés and great vibe to sit down. I had unfortunately not time for that so I headed up to the citadel to get a 360 degrees view of the island.

February is a good season to visit Malta. Not a lot of tourists and weather wise it is spring temperatures of around 15 degrees. We were a bit unlucky and had the worst storm in a long time earlier that week and it was also extremely rainy. New record of 140 mm in 24 hours. Cars that hade broke down were standing all over the island on the roads and it was water everywhere.

Hiking at Gozo

Gozo is filled with costal paths for hiking so I picked one to try for a couple of hours. Due to the rain it was very muddy and my shoes were everything else than clean when I headed back. I made the beginners mistake for 100th time, not bringing anything to eat or drink so was pretty hungry all the time.

But the sunny day and landscape made up for the shortcoming of food and I looked forward to having my last sushi at Asian Kingdom when I got back. Honestly, there are only four good places for food at Malta, have tried plenty after all months at the island and all disappoints (including McDonalds) except the just mentioned one, tikka masala at TukTuk, pizza at Biancos and a bit more upscale PadThai at Zest.

The Gozo day was over for me after five efficient hours. I had to get back home to prepare for the last widebody departure. Well invested time to head over to Gozo I must say and could easily spent more time there. But who knows if and when I will be back. Then I will definitely go. Malta I am not a fan of but Gozo definitely made up my impression of the country.

Have you been to Gozo? if so, did you liked it?

/ Pernilla that explored a bit of Gozo