As I’ve mentioned in a previous article, I was not really super into neolithic history and temples and things before coming to Malta. Seeing the temples and caverns for myself, though, really changed my mind. We came to the Ggantija Temples during our day trip to Gozo. Check out the full itinerary for our day on Gozo Island here! These are the oldest and largest of the neolithic temples in Malta, and they really were super cool, and you could really imagine more what they might have looked like thousands of years ago, as compared to the smaller temples.

You don’t have to get tickets in advance here, though I did purchase advance tickets because we got a Gozo combo ticket through the Heritage Malta website – a really excellent clearinghouse for tickets and descriptions of literally anything you might want to see in Malta. Individual tickets to the Ggantija Temples cost 10 euro, and you can buy them the day of your visit if you want.

We arrived during the heat of the day, but were greeted by a cool welcome and ticket area, and they also had a large “Interpretation Center” that has exhibits about the temples and the finds there. We then ventured out to the temples, which were about a five minute walk away on paved paths.

The temples themselves are truly gigantic, and the walls were taller than us, which was not the case at the Tarxien temples that we previously visited. You can read about those and the Hypogeum which was created around the same time (they call it the Temple Period) here. You can walk through the two temples that are adjoining, which was very cool.

The views outside the temple were also extraordinary, and you could see all the way to the Mediterranean, which they think is why the temples were built there in the first place.

After taking in the views, we headed back to the exit. We spent about 15-20 minutes in the interpretation center and 30 minutes at the temples themselves. It was a nice stop and really gave you more of an appreciation for Malta’s neolithic history. This is a very old and very impressive site, and worth the stop.