Would like a hotel on the coast with nice food and snorkelling.

There are a few hotels on the front at xlendi which is a stunning location and you can snorkel straight out of the hotel .

Went twenty years ago – hated it… dull , dirty with really rude locals !

And as for snorkelling – the bottom of the sea just seemed to be a rubbish dump

I’d assume it got a lot better !!

Not gozo but I stayed at this hotel on Malta, really nice, away from the more crowded north shore and about 15mins from the gozo ferry .

http://www.radissonblu.com/goldensandsresort-malta

I have been to Gozo twice, but haven’t stayed in a hotel. The first time was a few years ago, when we went for a long weekend of diving, which was very good, then we stayed in a basic flat in Marsalforn. Last year my inlaws where celebrating a wedding anniversary and they hired a large farmhouse villa for a couple of weeks in Gharb, no diving this time, but me and the wife did hire bikes while we were there and explored the island a bit, with a bit of hunting there was some reasonable off road routes

It is worth hiring a car to get around the island, as despite it’s small size there is lots to see. The best place I remember for snorkelling was a little bay called Mgarr-ix-Xini, which was shallow and fairly quiet, I think there is a small cafe on the beach, but nothing else. There was a nice looking retreat hotel at the top of the hill not far from here, but I can’t remember the name… Xlendi and Marsalforn are the two biggest resorts (they are not that big really) Both have snorkelling in the bay, not sure how good it is.

Like everywhere in the Med don’t expect to see loads of fish, but the water is generally clear. The water temperature is pretty cold at the this time of year, a lot of people will currently be diving in dry suits, but gets very warm later in the summer.

Overall I really like Gozo, it is very laid back with lots of nice, not too expensive, restaurants dotted about. I have never felt like a tourist while on holiday there. It is totally different to Malta.

I’ve been to Xlendi Bay several times, which was nice 20yrs ago. My mum goes out every year to visit relatives that spend the summer there and she still loves it. Laid back, nice people There was a Hotel on the beach called St Patricks but we always stayed in Apartments. As above, renting a car would be advisable. We travelled around the Island a fair bit and I snorkelled everywhere, while its not outstanding, I saw some cool things like Octopus and small sharks.

Edit- you’ve got me thinking about revisiting Xlendi again, cheers 🙂