Why Gozo? A local's honest guide

I've lived on Gozo all my life, born to families from Gozo and Għarb who have been here for generations. As a student I tried living near the University in Msida and couldn't manage more than two days at a time in the city before the island pulled me back. These days my work takes me to the airport sometimes more than once a day — and I still spend as little time as possible on the other side.

If you want to understand what Gozo really is, here's the secret the day-trippers never learn: the island belongs to you in the early morning and the late afternoon. During COVID, when the ferry closed, Gozo returned to its former glory for a while — quiet beaches, space for everyone — and it reminded me of my teenage years, when we'd walk down to Xlendi or catch a bus to a beach that felt like our private paradise.

You can still have that, every single day. The trick is rhythm. Skip Victoria and the popular beaches in peak hours, when the day-trip crowds have taken every parking space and every patch of sand. Why fight for a spot for your towel? Instead, go for a swim just before sunset, then relax over dinner and a few beers when it's quiet and the locals come out. Visit the beaches at eight in the morning and have them almost to yourself.

And this is the whole argument for staying rather than day-tripping: you never have to rush back to a ferry in time for dinner on the other island. You're here when the herd leaves. In summer, that's when Gozo celebrates — village feasts most weekends, and if the crowds aren't your thing, find a quiet country spot, park at the side of the road, and watch the fireworks from the best seat on the island.

Start with a detail only locals mention: we don't leave our own cars at Malta Airport when we fly. The car park isn't secured, there's no real long-term parking, and the road there can be a roller coaster. We drive people instead — it's our job, sometimes more than once a day.

Meeting you at the airport is the priority. Our fleet is fully licensed with the permits to enter the airport's designated pickup areas. We ask for your flight details so we schedule our arrival with yours. Flight delayed? Luggage lost? As long as we're in touch, we wait — the 60-minute rule only exists for passengers who vanish without a word. If you call to say you're stuck at the luggage belt, we'll go sit with a coffee and wait comfortably. Nobody should stand in the arrivals hall wondering whether the person with the sign has the right details.

The road between Malta Airport and the Ċirkewwa ferry is not one simple highway — it's a chain of roads that congest quickly and can be tricky to navigate. Google Maps will get you there eventually; our drivers talk to each other, so we know about the situation around the corner before driving into it, and we know when the long way through the country lanes is actually the fast way.

And because we work closely with most of Gozo's accommodations, we usually know exactly where your farmhouse or flat is — often we have the owner's number saved. Worried about the ferry queue or the weather? That's a conversation, not a problem: we watch the forecast and plan around it together, so the journey is part of the holiday instead of a puzzle you solve with luggage in hand.

Picture a wheel: Victoria is the hub, and every village and beach sits at the end of a spoke. That one picture explains all Gozitan navigation — and its only traffic problem. When a ferry arrives, it can discharge 150 cars, a hundred of which aim straight for Victoria, and the main road through town congests for the next ten minutes or so. Locals simply aren't on that road at that moment. When we hand over your hire car, we'll tell you the current parking situation, how the parking disc and the coloured bays work so you never collect a fine, and which sights combine best at which hours.

As we say here: Gozo is too small to get lost — you simply discover a spot you hadn't marked. If you do lose your bearings, look for a church: every village has one at its centre, usually visible from miles away. Head for your village's church and, if you pray hard enough, you'll get home. Otherwise you'll end up at a beautiful country view or a beach — which was probably the better outcome anyway.

One honest tip to finish: the best beaches are the ones the buses don't reach. That's exactly why having your own car on Gozo changes the holiday — and why we'll happily mark a few of our favourites on your map at the key handover.

If you want the holiday to begin the moment you step off the plane, let us prepare everything before you arrive. The booking form saves as you go, so answer the questions in your own time. We arrange the airport pickup, drive you to your accommodation — helping with the key arrangements if needed — and the car is either waiting there or arriving shortly after. With your details and choices settled in advance, you're driving away in your hire car within minutes.

At handover we photograph the car's condition into our photoblog — for fairness on both sides, so there's never an argument later about whether a scratch was already there. It's one of the reasons our reviews read the way they do. Booking the transfer and the car together also earns you combo freebies — extras added to your booking at no charge. And when it's time to leave, we'll collect you early enough that the ferry, the roads and the check-in queue are our problem, not yours.

So book your holiday on Gozo, not just near it — and if you'd like company for the journey, you know where we are.