Gozo is a different proposition from Malta, not a smaller version of it. It is greener, slower, considerably quieter, and separated by a ferry that governs everything about daily life there.
People who love it really love it. People who move there for the idea of it and commute to Malta often do not last.
What living in Gozo is like
The ferry decides your day
Every trip to Malta means the Ċirkewwa crossing, and in summer a queue for it. A commute that looks like forty minutes on a map is not.
If you work in Malta, think very hard about this before you sign a lease.
Ferry times and faresBook a Gozo day trip
Space, quiet and a real community
Bigger houses for less money, countryside on your doorstep, and villages where people know each other. The pace is different.
It is also easier to become part of a community there than in the Maltese towns, because the scale is human.
Meeting people
You give up choice and some services
There are fewer shops, fewer restaurants and fewer schools, and the job market is smaller. Specialist healthcare means going to Malta.
Winter is very quiet. Some people find that restful and others find it isolating.
Healthcare
Everything depends on the ferry
Every journey to Malta involves the crossing between Mġarr and Ċirkewwa. That is about 25 minutes on the water, plus the drive at each end and a vehicle queue in summer. A commute from Gozo to Valletta is entirely possible and is done by many people; it is also long. It is at the mercy of weather that suspends sailings a handful of times each winter.
If your work is in Malta and requires attendance, think carefully. If you work remotely or your life is in Gozo, the calculation reverses completely.
What is better and what is not
The honest ledger
- Space and quiet
- Far less traffic, far less construction, actual countryside, and the best walking and diving in the islands.
- Property
- Cheaper than the equivalent in Malta, and farmhouses with land exist here in a way they largely do not on the main island.
- Community
- Strong, and more open to newcomers than Malta’s towns, partly because there are fewer of them.
- Services
- Gozo General Hospital handles most things but complex cases transfer to Mater Dei, which means the ferry. Schools, shops and specialists are fewer.
- Winter
- Very quiet. Restaurants close, the resorts empty, and some people find it too still.
- Getting anywhere
- Everything in Malta is an expedition rather than an errand. This is either the point of living here or the reason you will not.
Almost everyone falls for Gozo in September. The test is February, when the tourists are gone, the ferry is rough and the stone house is cold. Rent for a winter before buying anything.
Ferry fares and timings are on the ferries page.