Golden stone villages, turquoise seas, and the scent of fresh pastizzi drifting from tiny bakeries — that’s how our Easter 2024 began. When we spotted bargain flights to Malta during the school holidays, we knew it was time for a new adventure.
After a little research (and a lot of daydreaming), we decided to skip the busier main island and head straight for Gozo — Malta’s smaller, sleepier sister, just a short ferry ride away. We booked a villa through Airbnb, grabbed direct Ryanair flights from East Midlands, and started counting down the days.
This trip was a first for us in more ways than one — our eldest daughter, nearly 17, was off in France with her grandmother, so we travelled as a family of five. Our crew: a 13‑year‑old, 9‑year‑old twins, and two excited parents. We were joined by friends with two kids (10 and 8), which meant five children, two hire cars, and one mission: explore every corner of Gozo. You can see more photos of our stay by clicking on the Instagram and Facebook social media links at the top of the page.
- Why Malta?
- Malta facts and figures
- Gozo
- Xaghra
- Victoria old town and the Citadel
- Ramla Beach and Tal Mixta Cave
- Wied il-Għasri gorge
- Xlendi
- Day trip to Valletta
- Our Accommodation
- Holiday Run
- Overall Opinion
🌞 Why Malta?
We had three big reasons for choosing Gozo this Easter:
- Bargain flights — rare in the school holidays, so we grabbed them.
- A brand‑new pin on our travel map — we’d never set foot in Malta before.
- Spring sunshine — with Easter falling early in 2024, we wanted somewhere warm and dry without a long‑haul flight.
Gozo ticked every box. Just a short ferry ride from Malta’s main island, it promised slower days, fewer crowds, and that irresistible mix of history, culture, and sea views.
📌 Malta at a Glance
- 🏝 Location: Southern Mediterranean, 50 miles south of Sicily
- 🏖 Islands: Malta, Gozo, and tiny Comino
- 🇬🇧 History: Former British colony until independence in 1964
- 🚗 Driving: On the left (a relief for UK visitors!)
- ☀️ Climate: Warm, dry, with mild winters and hot summers
- 📏 Size: 122 sq miles — one of the world’s most densely populated countries
- 🙏 Culture: Majority Catholic, with 360 churches — that’s one for every 1,000 residents
- ✈️ Flight time: Just over 3 hours from East Midlands
🏝 Gozo
Just 4km north of Malta’s main island, Gozo feels like a world apart — slower, quieter, and wrapped in golden light. Getting there is easy: a roll‑on, roll‑off car ferry runs every 45 minutes, and the 25‑minute crossing gives you your first taste of the island’s laid‑back charm.
We picked up our hire car straight from the airport — inexpensive, easy to arrange — and drove directly to the port. From there, it was a short ferry ride and an even shorter drive inland to our holiday villa in Xaghra.
Gozo is tiny — you can cross it in under half an hour — which meant every village, beach, and viewpoint was within easy reach. The weather during our stay was dry and mild, with a few blustery days that made the sea sparkle even more. Most of our week was spent exploring, eating, and soaking up the island’s warm hospitality.
🌟 Highlights of Our Week on Gozo
- Xaghra Village Square & Good Friday Procession – A moving, full‑scale re‑enactment of the Passion, complete with Roman soldiers, brass bands, and candlelit streets.
- Victoria & The Citadel – The island’s main town, crowned by a medieval fortress with sweeping views in every direction.
- Ramla Beach & Tal Mixta Cave – Red‑gold sand and a cliffside cave framing one of the best views in Malta.
- Wied il‑Għasri Gorge – A narrow inlet carved into the coastline, perfect for photos and (for the brave) a chilly swim.
- Xlendi – A small seaside village where you can eat fresh seafood with the waves almost lapping at your feet.
Xaghra
Our holiday villa sat in the charming inland village of Xaghra, just 2km from Ramla Beach. Perched on a hill, it offered sweeping views of both the north and south coasts — the kind of balcony panorama that makes you linger over your morning coffee.
Like most Gozan villages, Xaghra’s heart is its central square, dominated by an impressive Roman Catholic church. Around it, a handful of small restaurants and a cosy pub spill tables onto the pavement, perfect for people‑watching as the day winds down.
On our first evening, we strolled to the square and tucked into dinner at Rubble Bar – a friendly spot serving everything from burgers and pasta to fresh fish and pizza. We couldn’t resist sampling the local specialities: smoky Maltese sausage, tangy Gozon peppered sheep’s cheese, and a sweet shot of prickly pear liqueur to finish.
✝️ Good Friday in Xaghra
Mid‑week, we heard whispers about an Easter procession taking place on Good Friday evening. Curiosity won, and we joined the crowds in the square as the sun dipped behind the church.
What followed was nothing short of spectacular. The entire village seemed to turn out — locals packed shoulder‑to‑shoulder, watching as a large cast in biblical costumes brought the story of the Crucifixion to life. Roman soldiers marched alongside donkeys and horses, priests walked solemnly with disciples, and a brass band filled the air with music.
Even as non‑religious visitors, we were swept up in the atmosphere — the flicker of candles, the sound of drums, the sense of tradition stretching back generations. It was one of those moments that makes you feel you’ve truly stepped into the heart of a place (see more at https://www.facebook.com/reel/749495583979697).
Victoria & The Citadel
At the heart of Gozo lies Victoria — the island’s bustling capital and cultural hub. Known locally as Rabat, it’s a lively mix of narrow streets, open squares, and everyday island life. But the real jewel here is The Citadel, a fortified city that rises above the town like a golden crown.
We parked just outside the old town and wandered in on foot, following winding lanes lined with tiny shops selling lace, honey, and local crafts. The air was warm and carried the faint scent of baking bread from hidden cafés.
🏛 The Citadel Experience
Climbing up to The Citadel feels like stepping back in time. Its honey‑coloured limestone walls have stood for centuries, guarding the island from pirates and invaders. Inside, you’ll find a maze of quiet streets, a cathedral with an ornate façade, and viewpoints that stop you in your tracks.
From the ramparts, the whole of Gozo stretches out before you — patchwork fields, church domes, and the glittering Mediterranean on all sides. It’s the kind of view that makes you pause, breathe, and take it all in.
💡 Travel Tip
Entry to The Citadel is free, and it’s worth visiting in the late afternoon when the golden light makes the stone glow. Wear comfortable shoes — the cobbles and steps can be steep in places. Modest clothing is required to enter the churches on the island – covered legs and shoulders.
See more photos on our Instagram page:
On the outskirts of Victoria we found a reasonably large Lidl supermarket where we were able to stock up on essentials for our self-catering villa. There were a few small convenience stores a few minutes walk from our villa but it was good to be able to do a ‘big shop’ for breakfast items, snacks and drinks at Lidl, which was just a five minute drive away.
Ramla Beach and Tal Mixta Cave
Ramla Beach is one of the few sandy beaches in Malta and was just 2km from where we were staying. It was within walking distance but as Xaghra is built on a hill the walk home would have been too steep (I did jog there and back one morning but this nearly killed me, see more below).
The beach is in a picturesque bay of fine red sand and is approximately 400m wide.
Tal Mixta Cave is a large cave high in the cliffs overlooking the bay. It can be reached up a steep path from the beach or from the road above, down some steps into the back of the cave. This is one of the most photographed attractions on Gozo and was great for a quick visit.
Wied il-Għasri gorge
We visited Wied il-Għasri on our last full day on Gozo as we’d seen lots of images of it in tourist guides and on social media. It is a 300m canyon with a small pebble beach accessed down over 100 steps which have been cut into the rock.
It was a windy day and the sea temperature was cool but we took the opportunity for a bit of open water swimming while the few other tourists on the beach watched on wrapped up in coats and jumpers (see photographic evidence here – https://www.instagram.com/p/C5JOG1_Mg0C/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==)
💡 Travel Tip
Wear sturdy shoes for the walk down, and bring water — there are no facilities here. If you visit in peak season, go early in the morning to enjoy the gorge before the crowds arrive.
Xlendi
We enjoyed a lovely lunch at a restaurant right on the sea wall in this small seaside village. The views from the table were great and the waves crashed up right next to the table which was a great source of entertainment for the kids!
💡 Travel Tip
Xlendi is especially magical at sunset, when the cliffs turn golden and the bay glows. If you have time, take the short coastal path to the viewpoint above the watchtower for a panoramic sweep of the coastline.
Day trip to Valletta
Whilst we spent most of our time exploring Gozo in our hire car, we didn’t want to miss the chance to visit the Maltese capital of Valletta. We decided to catch the passenger ferry direct from Gozo to Valletta which was much easier than catching the car ferry, driving and then trying to park in the densely populated city.
The historic walled old town was built from 1566 following the ‘Great Siege’ of 1565 where the Knights Hospitaller of St John (Maltese Knights) fought off the invading Ottoman Empire. The city was named after the Grand Master of the order Jean de Valette who masterminded the defence of the island (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valletta). The town is laid out on a grid pattern and most of the buildings date from the 16th century.
Our ferry tickets included a pass for the Barrakka Lift which takes passengers up the 58m from the Grand Harbour to street level of the city centre. We rode the lift and were just in time to watch the firing of the midday cannon over the harbour.
We really enjoyed strolling through the streets of the old town and along the walls, looking at the architecture, churches and fantastic views out to sea. We had lunch on a large square outside the St Johns Co-Cathedral and also visited the World War Two siege memorial and amongst other sites. Walking down to sea level on both sides of the peninsular is quite steep but it was worth seeing the views from either side.
We didn’t go into any of the numerous museums around the town but did feel like we saw most of the old town in about four hours including time for lunch. The lift ticket down to the harbour again wasn’t included so we took the scenic route – counting 300 steps along narrow streets.
The passenger ferry between Valletta and Gozo is a fast catamaran and whilst the journey there was fine, the trip back in the afternoon felt quite choppy and we were all glad to get back onto dry land after 45 minutes.
See more images from our trip to Valletta on our Facebook Page – https://www.facebook.com/reel/949767546561595
Our Accommodation
After extensive research on Airbnb we found that the main types of accommodation within our budget, consisted of flats and apartments on the main island of Malta and town houses or small farm houses on the island of Gozo. You seem to get more value for money on Gozo and most of the places that we looked at had small private swimming pools.
We booked a three storey end-town house in Xaghra which had an outdoor pool and a hot tub. The house was very spacious with large living area, dining and kitchen and five large bedrooms each with an en-suite shower or bath and WC. There were also two further WCs on the ground floor! https://www.airbnb.co.uk/rooms/778066782546236182
The house was modern, clean and tidy internally with all the utensils and appliances that we could have needed. It would have been nice to have been provided with some of the basic cooking essentials like oil, salt and pepper though to save us from buying things that would only be used for that week.
The outside space was fairly small but included a large outdoor cooking area and the back garden was dominated by the swimming pool which the kids loved – even if it was freezing! There was no off-street parking but we were able to park our two hire cars on the street right outside the house.
The house is in a built up area on the outskirts of this large village but has views of the sea from the front and rear 2nd floor balconies. There was a small convenience store nearby and it was a twenty minute walk into the village centre. It would have been difficult getting around without a car but it was only a short drive to most of the tourist attractions, towns and the supermarket on the island.
The only downside of the accommodation was that there was a large building site next door and the workmen arrived at about 07:15 every morning and seemed to do a disproportionately high amount of pneumatic drilling at certain times which was not particularly relaxing! This wasn’t mentioned by the owner until we got there….
Holiday Run
When away from home I love to get out and go for a run around the sites or local countryside. I run a lot at home around the same few routes so it is really good to go for a run with more interesting sites to see along the way.
Unfortunately, I suffered a double leg break playing football for an over-35s 11 a side team at the end of October 2023. This required surgery and and I’ve now got a metal plate and ten screws in my right leg. Since getting the cast off mid-December I set the target of going for a run during our Easter holiday. The recovery has been a lot slower than I had hoped for, however my Physio gave me the green light to start light jogging on a treadmill two weeks before the holiday.
After three 5km treadmill runs at the gym I tentatively set out for my first outdoor run on the 2nd day of the holiday, heading to the beach from our villa. This was my first outdoor run for 155 days (not that I was counting). It felt great to be out again and I was pleased to be able to go about 5km – although I had to walk part of the way home as it was all up hill and really steep. I paid for it with a sore leg for the rest of the holiday!
You can find details of my route on Strava on the following link – https://www.strava.com/activities/11040265425
Overall opinion
We really enjoyed our six night stay in Malta. After the cold wet winter in the UK we really appreciated the warm, dry weather. Malta, and Gozo in particular, was beautiful and there were plenty of interesting places to visit to keep us occupied as the weather wasn’t quite hot enough for long days at the beach or in the pool.
Making the extra effort of getting the car ferry and staying in Gozo we found was well worth it as the island is slightly less densely populated than the main island and the accommodation and restaurants were more affordable. Being a former British colony we found that the locals spoke English and it was nice to be able to drive on the left.
Holidaying with friends was also great as the children had plenty of time to play together and the adults enjoyed spending quality time with the kids playing games, exploring new places and cultures but also relaxing when the kids were occupying themselves. It was nice to see the kids having fun organising and hosting evening entertainment for everyone which included a quiz, karaoke and a comedy night.
Would we go back? Yes, absolutely, if we found more cheap flights then we would definitely consider returning to Malta for a half-term or Easter holiday in the future. It would be nice to visit when the weather is slightly warmer to make the most of the pools and beaches.
About Us
After the shock of finding out that we were expecting twins in 2015, one of the first things that we realised was that …we’re gonna need a bigger car!
We’re a family of six with two girls and two boys aged 16, 13 and 9 year old twins.
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