Gozo

📍 Dwejra, west coast of Gozo

A collapsed limestone sinkhole a few steps from the shore, opening into a vertical shaft that leads out through an arch to the open water beyond. Sheer walls, boulders and famously clear blue water — the island's signature swim.

Dwejra faces the open sea and swell: check the marine forecast before you commit, and treat it as a boat-free but exposed site. There is no coral here — the appeal is the rock, the light and the visibility.

📍 Between Comino and the islet of Cominotto

A shallow, sand-bottomed channel with extraordinary turquoise water — the easiest, brightest swim in the Maltese islands, and the one that fills a postcard.

Honest caveat: it is one of the busiest spots in the Mediterranean in high summer, with heavy boat traffic. Go early or off-season, expect a sandy bottom with little reef life, and watch for boats when you swim outside the sheltered channel.

📍 South coast of Gozo, near Sannat

A deep, narrow inlet cutting into the limestone, with calm, clear water and rocky sides that give the snorkeling real character — one of the island's most sheltered swims when the wind is up elsewhere.

The inlet is small and popular with swimmers: check for boat and swimmer traffic, and ask locally about conditions before you head in.

📍 Dwejra, Gozo

A landlocked lagoon connected to the sea through a natural tunnel in the cliff, with small boats running out to the outside reef and caves. A sheltered, shallow first swim with a genuinely dramatic exit to open water.

Local boats work the tunnel and the outside reef — snorkel where you are not in their path, and treat the outside water as exposed.

📍 Ramla Bay and Gozo's northern coast

Gozo's one big sandy beach, with rocky edges and clear shallows where you can wade in and read the reef structure as you go. The calmest option on the days the west coast is taking swell.

Sandy beaches mean less life than rock — swim the rocky margins for the reef, and expect the north coast to hold more swell than the sheltered south.

Small, mild, slightly salty cheeselets made from sheep's or goat's milk — Gozo's most characteristic food, eaten fresh with bread, olives and tomato, or dried and peppered as the hard version. The island's farmhouse cheese is as local as food gets in Malta.

Tip: Buy them plain and fresh from a village grocer rather than from a tourist stall, and try both the fresh and the peppered dried form before deciding which to take home.

Ftira is the Maltese sourdough flatbread, split and filled with tomato, tuna, olives and capers; lampuki pie is the autumnal version made with dolphinfish, caught around the islands and eaten with spinach, cauliflower and sultanas. Both are ordinary Maltese lunches done properly.

Tip: In season, look for lampuki (around late summer into autumn) specifically — it is a genuinely local, seasonal fish rather than a year-round import.

The Maltese islands have a long rabbit tradition, and fried or stewed rabbit — with wine, garlic and herbs — is the dish the islands treat as their own. Gozo's village restaurants serve the unhurried version of it, well away from the harbour crowds.

Tip: Book in the village rather than on the harbourfront in summer, and ask what the day's fish and seasonal vegetables are rather than taking the set menu.