This article said Mġarr ix-Xini allows dogs. The official dog beach is Ras il-Ħobż, on the road down to it, and Gozo has four.
Gozo has sixteen of the sixty-nine bays on this site.
They are spread around a small island, so nothing is far. The coast behaves very differently on each side.
The north coast has the sand and the swell
Ramla l-Ħamra and San Blas have the red sand Gozo is known for.
Both face north with nothing in front of them, so both turn rough when the wind comes from that direction.
Wied il-Għasri and Xwejni sit on the same coast and behave the same way.
San Blas is reached down a very steep concrete track. Walking back up it in August is the part nobody mentions.
The east side stays calmer
Ħondoq ir-Rummien faces Comino across the channel and has water the colour of the Blue Lagoon without the boats.
Gorgun Bay near Mġarr faces east and stays usable when the north coast is unswimmable.
Daħlet Qorrot is on the same side, with boathouses cut into the rock and almost nobody there.
If the forecast shows a northwesterly, the east side is where the day still works.
The west and south
Xlendi sits between two headlands with a small sandy strip and a row of restaurants along the front.
Dwejra is open rock and cliff, with the Inland Sea behind it and the Blue Hole below. It is a diving site first and a swimming spot second.
Mġarr ix-Xini is a narrow inlet on the south coast. Dogs are allowed at Ras il-Ħobż, on the road down to it, one of four official dog beaches in Gozo.
The inlet is deep and sheltered, which makes it the calmest water on the island on most days.
Facilities are concentrated in three bays
Ħondoq and Marsalforn each record ten facilities. Xlendi records eight.
Those three are also the accessible ones in Gozo.
Most of the rest have little or nothing. Take water if you are heading somewhere small.
Getting to them
Buses from Victoria reach Ramla, Marsalforn, Xlendi and Ħondoq. The smaller bays need a car or a long walk.
Roads to San Blas, Daħlet Qorrot and Wied il-Għasri are narrow and end in very little parking.
Go early. On a Sunday in August the parking at Ramla is gone by nine.
