The Azure Window, the Gozo arch the sea took in 2017

The Azure Window still turns up on posters, fridge magnets and old brochures about Malta, so it’s worth saying plainly and early. It isn’t there any more. It collapsed in March 2017, and anyone arriving at Dwejra today expecting to see it finds open sea where the arch used to be.

What was the Azure Window?

It was a natural rock arch on the Dwejra coast in western Gozo, next to the village of San Lawrenz. In the words of the Ministry for Gozo, it was a beautiful arch and for many years the defining image of that coastline, alongside the Inland Sea, Fungus Rock and the Blue Hole. Writing about another arch on the island, the Ministry explains that these windows are cut by the sea and by storms working through the cliff, and it was a storm that finished this one off.

Plenty of people search for it as the ‘Azure Window Malta’, which makes sense, since Gozo is part of the Republic of Malta. It stood on Gozo rather than the main island, though, so if you see it placed in Malta with no further detail, it’s the same formation.

March 2017, the storm that brought it down

The arch fell during a storm in March 2017. The Ministry for Gozo doesn’t give the exact day on the pages I’ve read, so I’ll leave it at the month. I haven’t found an official source with measurements of the arch before the collapse either, and I’d rather not repeat figures that float around online with no one’s name on them.

What the Ministry does tell us is what became of it. The remains ended up under water and are now simply another Dwejra dive site, close to the famous Blue Hole. If you dive, it’s a site with a story attached, and always with an MTA-licensed centre, as I explain in diving in Malta.

Is Dwejra still worth it without the Azure Window?

For me, absolutely, and by a distance. Dwejra is still the most dramatic stretch of coast on Gozo. The Inland Sea (a lagoon linked to the open sea by a tunnel through the rock), Fungus Rock, the islet the Order smoothed so no one could climb it, and the 1652 tower are all still there. The area is a Natura 2000 site and, under the name ‘Qawra/Dwejra’, has been on the UNESCO Tentative List since 1998.

What I’d change is the expectation. You won’t get the arch photo, but you’ll see a living coastline that’s still being reshaped, and the gap where the window stood tells that story better than any sign.

The window that’s still standing, at Wied il-Mielaħ

If you want to see a natural arch on Gozo, go to Wied il-Mielaħ. It’s at the end of the valley of the same name, in the Għarb area, and the Ministry for Gozo says it used to be a little-known alternative to the Azure Window that came into its own after the 2017 collapse. You can drive there, the structure is in excellent condition, and you can see it from land or get closer by boat.

There are two ways in. One is the country road down the valley from Għarb, the other the cliff-edge path from Għasri. Recent works have made it more accessible, and opposite, from a small passage, you can make out another arch in the cliffs from a distance. The area is also a Natura 2000 site, covering 65.31 hectares.

Planning the visit

I’d fit both into a single day. Mornings are for Dwejra at an easy pace, a swim in the Inland Sea if the sea allows and the tower if its flag is flying. In the afternoon, Wied il-Mielaħ to see an arch that’s still standing and, on the way back, the Ta’ Pinu Basilica on the edge of Għarb. It all fits into western Gozo, and bus 311 connects Victoria with Dwejra by way of Għarb.