Mġarr, the harbour where every Gozo trip begins and ends

Mġarr is the first thing you see of Gozo and the last thing you leave, and hardly anyone gives it more than the five minutes before the bus pulls away. I think it’s a pleasant harbour, with a quayside of bars, a marina full of fishing boats and a neo-Gothic chapel above, and it’s worth knowing well because the logistics of your whole Gozo trip hinge on it.

A harbour that’s part of Għajnsielem

Mġarr has no local council of its own. The Ministry for Gozo explains that it belongs to Għajnsielem and falls under its council, though for visitors it works as a place of its own. It’s Gozo’s main harbour, the first sight for anyone arriving by ferry, with bars and restaurants along the quay, a marina with yachts and fishing boats, and Gozo Channel’s head office on Shore Street.

Above the harbour, on a promontory, stands the neo-Gothic Lourdes chapel, opened in 1893. You can walk up from the quay, and it’s the best viewpoint over the ferries coming and going.

The Gozo Channel ferry, from this end

The Malta to Gozo ferry links Mġarr with Ċirkewwa in about 25 minutes. The key thing to know from the Gozo side is that this is where you pay. The ticket is a return; at Ċirkewwa you board without validating, and at Mġarr terminal you buy and validate your way home. You’ll pay €4.65 a head on foot, or €15.70 for a car with its driver. There’s a €1.15 child fare for ages 3 to 12, but only from the ticket desk on Gozo.

Between November and March, sailings out of Mġarr later than 20:00 or before the first morning boat are charged at a night rate, €4.05 a head and €12.80 per car. There’s no booking, boarding is first come, first served, and the terminal is open 24 hours. Gozo Channel’s present timetable is valid until 8 November 2026 (it began on 19 May 2025), so after that I’d look again on the operator’s website.

The fast boat and boats to Comino

If you’re heading to or from Valletta, the Gozo fast ferry leaves Mġarr and reaches the Grand Harbour in roughly 45 minutes by the operator’s reckoning, carrying foot passengers only, with one piece of luggage each, and bikes and e-scooters go free if you mention them on arrival. The Ministry for Gozo suggests turning up a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes ahead.

For Comino, Mġarr is the best departure point in the archipelago, to my mind. The ministry reckons about 15 minutes on the small ferries and water taxis from the harbour, against around 35 from Ċirkewwa. The details, and what can actually be verified for each option, sit in my Comino ferry guide. Several companies running boat trips along the Gozo coast are also based right here.

Coming straight from the airport

Plenty of people reach Mġarr on the day they fly in, so it helps to know what the journey before it involves. The Ministry for Gozo puts the airport to Ċirkewwa leg at around an hour by bus or taxi, with the bus alone taking one to two hours according to when you travel. The TD1 runs hourly from 05:00 until midnight, and taxis charge a fixed €32 from the airport to Ċirkewwa, prepaid at a booth in the arrivals hall. Online ferry tickets are issued per person, and each traveller has to show their own on paper or on screen.

From the harbour to the rest of the island

The bus is the most practical option. The Ministry for Gozo says the Mġarr to Victoria service runs every 30 minutes, every day of the year, and Malta Public Transport lists the 323 via Xewkija and Għajnsielem. From Victoria every other route on the island fans out. Single journeys cost €2.50 on the summer fare and €2 on the winter one. There are taxis too, and both the Mġarr and Ċirkewwa terminals have facilities for people with disabilities.

If you’ve time to kill in Mġarr

An hour goes a long way. Besides the climb to Lourdes, you can swim at Żewwieqa, which the Ministry for Gozo recommends for a dip, or eat something on the quay watching the boats. With half a day, Mġarr is the starting point for two of the ministry’s walking routes, the Xlendi Walk along the south coast to Xlendi via Mġarr ix-Xini, and the circular Ħondoq ir-Rummien walk through Qala and Nadur.