Gozo is Malta’s second-largest island. It’s known for a laid back “country” vibe, cool beaches, and scenery, so we decided to spend a day here while on our trip to Malta. We rented a car, so we got up super early in Valletta and drove about 45 minutes to the Ferry terminal at the northern tip of Malta. We put our car right on the ferry for the 15-20 minute ride across the channel to Gozo. The ferry itself is huge and they have a cafe where you can get some food items and coffee, and it was packed full of commuters and tourists. Note that when you take the ferry to Gozo, you only pay on the way back, so on the way there you just queue up to get on.

We arrived in Gozo and drove straight for the beach. It was really hard to narrow down what to do in Gozo, especially since we wanted to spend the morning at the beach, but we kind of had a sketched-out plan and changed course as necessary. The beach I chose was Ramla Bay, one of the most beautiful, sandy stretches of beach in all of Malta. Ramla actually means red sand and the sand there is totally RED. It was beautiful with dramatic cliffs flanking either side of the bay. You could rent beach chairs and an umbrella for 15 Euro. The water there was warm, calm, and clean, and you could see all the way down to your feet, even in 4-5 feet of water! Ramla bay also has an area that offers food as well as surprisingly clean bathrooms where we changed after a few hours soaking up some rays and enjoying the calm beach. Honestly, I wished we could’ve spent the whole day here!

After Ramla Bay, we headed to lunch at Qbajjar restaurant, a highly recommended place by the Michelin guide as well as several locals that we had spoken to. Unfortunately, we were pretty disappointed with the place. While we were in no hurry, and enjoyed the atmosphere right on the harbor, the service was the worst that we had experienced in all of Malta. They had about 4 different people working our table, but none of them seemed to know what they were doing. Our drink orders were forgotten on several occasions, yet we were still charged for the drinks we never received. The food was fine, but didn’t stand out to me as something spectacular to go out of your way for. Unfortunately, due to the spotty and erratic service, we spent a lot more time there than we wanted to before we were on our way again.

Our next stop was the Ggantija Temples, which I plan to write a full article about. These are the largest and oldest neolithic temples on Malta, and they were really impressive compared to the Tarxien temples we visited a few days before. The walls were highly intact and large, and you could really imagine the peoples using these spaces for rituals, etc. The surrounding area was cool too with views to the sea, which was part of the point of those people building the temples there. This was a super cool stop, and I highly recommend checking it our if you’re in Gozo.

Next, we drove to the capital city of Victoria to check out the Cittadella. Unfortunately, the visitor center, which has been recently redone and highly recommended to see, was closed on that day. We wandered around the enormous fortified city, though, and checked out the incredible views from the top. We were kind of aimlessly wandering here and it was the heat of the day and we were getting pretty tired, so we didn’t see quite as much as a typical visitor might have. You could probably spend 3+ hours here if you had a map and some time at the visitor center, but we petered out after about an hour.

After this, we had some time to kill before our dinner reservation at 7pm, so we drove to the town of Xaghra. I had read about some of the underground caves in this town and thought it might be cool to check them out. They were still open later in the day, so we pulled up to Xerri’s Grotto around 4:30pm. An adorable old woman who spoke English with a heavy accent walked up to our car to show us around. It was 2 Euro per person to get in and you enter through a regular house. You then are taken down the tiniest spiral staircase in the world about 25-30 feet down into the cave. The old woman takes you around showing you the interesting stalagmites and stalactites and cool formations made over thousands of years. The tour took about 10-15 minutes and I have to say this was one of my favorite, totally weird stops in Gozo! There were other caves in the area as well, and if we had more time I probably would have insisted on checking them out, but we decided to go to the main plaza in Xaghra for a drink instead. The main plaza in Xaghra, called Pjazza Vittorija, is adorable and headed up by the Basilica of the Nativity of Our Lady. As we sat enjoying some cool drinks, they were setting up large stages for the upcoming Catholic feast day. It was lovely to see the community, including kids, coming together to ready the town for this event.

Finally, it was time to head back to Mgarr, close to the ferry terminal, for dinner. We still had some time to kill beforehand, so we sat at The Royal Lady bar right on the harbor for a pre-dinner drink. Service here was actually really attentive and the drinks were reasonably priced.

For dinner, we went to Tmun, which I will also be writing an entire review of. It was highly recommended, and this time, it really delivered. This was the best meal we had in Malta so far on the trip. We ate outside and the food and service was incredible. Unfortunately, we really wanted to catch the 9pm ferry home, so we had to rush out the door there. It had been a long day, and waiting another 40 minutes for the next ferry was just not an option for us, especially since the drive back to Valletta was 45 minutes. We did make the 9pm ferry back, and then made the slog back to Valletta in the dark. We passed out that evening completely exhausted and totally ditched our plan for the next day in order to sleep in and just hang out in Valletta instead.

I absolutely loved Gozo, and this was easily one of my favorite, if not most tiring days of our eight day Maltese adventure. When I was initially planning the trip, I was really thinking of doing an overnight or two in Gozo, and I kind of wished that we did that. It would have been a lot of effort packing and repacking and unpacking though, so I ditched the idea and planned on just a day instead. Gozo is such a pretty place, though, with so much to do, that you could easily spend a few days here. If you want to slow down and have some beach time, visit the Cittadella properly and maybe even visit a few wineries (which we unfortunately did not get to do), definitely plan on staying a few days in Gozo.