Gozo · South Gozo
Mġarr ix-Xini
A narrow creek at the foot of a steep valley on Gozo's south coast — sheltered, deep, and the best swimming water in the islands.
Mġarr ix-Xini is a long, narrow inlet cut into the south coast of Gozo at the end of a steep valley, between Sannat, Xewkija and Għajnsielem. The cliffs come down close on both sides, which is what gives it the character: it is sheltered from the northerlies, the water barely moves, and it stays clear when half the coast is stirred up.
It reads as a fjord more than a bay. There is a small shingle beach at the head, a handful of tables, and then rock on either side that you can walk out along and jump from — the shallow end and the deep end are a few metres apart. Divers come for the caves in the cliff faces, and for the visibility.
The watchtower above the entrance was built by the Knights in 1661, and the creek has been a landing place for a long time before that: the Knights' galleys used it, and in 1551 an Ottoman force used it to load captured Gozitans onto ships in the raid that effectively emptied the island. The name means "the harbour of the galleys".
It is small, and that is the constraint. A busy August afternoon fills it.
Getting it right
- Getting there
- A single narrow road down the valley, with very little parking at the bottom.
- When
- Calm water in almost any northerly. Avoid it in a southerly, when the swell comes straight up the creek.
- How busy
- Quiet outside the peak. Small enough that August afternoons feel full.
- Shape of the day
- A short run from Mġarr on Gozo. From Malta it is a full day and worth committing to.
Where it is
- Departure marina
- Destination
Sailing here
Boats we list that are berthed within reach of Mġarr ix-Xini:
Also on Gozo
- Ramla BayThe red-sand bay on Gozo's north coast — the largest beach in the islands and, from seaward, the most recognisable.
- San Blas BayRamla's smaller neighbour — the same red sand, a punishing walk down, and almost nobody on it.
- DwejraThe Inland Sea, the Blue Hole and Fungus Rock, on Gozo's west coast — spectacular, and only approachable when it is genuinely calm.
- Xlendi BayA narrow inlet on Gozo's south-west coast with a village at the head of it — restaurants on the water and a wall of cliff on either side.