Can You Take a Rental Car from Malta to Gozo?

Short answer: yes. The Gozo Channel ferry between Ċirkewwa, on the northern tip of Malta, and Mġarr, on Gozo, takes cars — and unlike almost every other island ferry crossing in Europe, you don’t book a space for your vehicle in advance. You just drive up, join the queue, and go.

The crossing: Ċirkewwa to Mġarr

The Gozo Channel Company, Malta’s state-owned ferry operator, runs the route around the clock, every day of the year. The crossing itself takes about 25 minutes. During the day, sailings leave roughly every 30–45 minutes; overnight, the gaps between departures stretch out, with the quietest window somewhere between 1am and 5am.

There’s no online booking for vehicles and no way to pre-pay. You drive to the terminal at Ċirkewwa, follow the signs into the vehicle lanes, switch off the engine, and wait for a marshal to wave you onto the car deck.

What it actually costs in 2026

Ferry pricing is simple once you know the trick: you only pay on the way back. Heading out to Gozo from Ċirkewwa is free for the car; the fare gets charged when you return from Mġarr.

For a car and driver, that return fare is €15.70 for vehicles up to 5.3 metres, rising to €20.70 for anything longer — a category that catches out a fair few people renting a bigger SUV or a people-carrier without realising it crosses the threshold. Sailing back between November and March after 8pm brings the fare down to €12.80. Extra passengers pay their own foot fare on top, and children aged 3 to 12 travel for €1.15 (under-3s ride free, but still need a ticket from the booth).

It’s one of the cheapest car ferries anywhere in Europe, kept deliberately low so that Gozo residents can commute without it costing them a fortune. That winter discount is a hint at something bigger: the whole Gozo trip is easier and cheaper outside the summer peak, which is the case we make in Malta in November. If you’re pricing out a Malta trip that includes a Gozo day, book the car itself with free cancellation on DiscoverCars so you’re not locked in if your plans shift.

Does your rental company actually allow it?

Most Malta-based agencies are used to this and have no issue with it — Gozo is a normal day trip, not some obscure request. But “most” isn’t “all,” and this is the one part people get wrong most often.

The name that comes up repeatedly in traveller forums is Hertz: its standard rental terms state that CDW, TP and SCDW cover become void the moment the car goes on a ferry, leaving you liable for the full cost of any damage or breakdown. Other companies are more relaxed, but policies genuinely vary, so don’t assume based on what a company does in your home country. Ask the question at pickup, and get the answer written into your contract rather than relying on a verbal yes from whoever hands you the keys. For the fuller picture on what CDW does and doesn’t cover in Europe generally, see car rental insurance for tourists in Europe.

Skip the drive: the new fast ferry from Sliema

If you’d rather not drive up to Ċirkewwa at all, there’s now a genuine alternative. Since May 2026, Virtu Ferries has operated a passenger-only fast catamaran running directly from Sliema’s Tigné seafront and Buġibba to Mġarr — cutting out the trip up to the north of the island entirely. It’s foot passengers only, so no car goes with you; the idea is to walk on, then either rent a car once you’re on Gozo or manage with taxis for a short visit. Worth considering if you’re staying in Sliema or St Julian’s and don’t want a rental car for your whole Malta trip, only for the Gozo leg.

Beating the summer queues

This is the real practical issue with the traditional car ferry. In July and August, especially Friday evenings and Saturday mornings, the vehicle queue at Ċirkewwa can run 45 to 90 minutes. There’s no separate lane for foot passengers versus vehicles — everyone waits their turn for space on the next sailing.

A few things help:

• Cross on a weekday morning; Tuesday to Thursday before 11am is typically the calmest window.
• Avoid Friday afternoons, when Gozitan residents head home for the weekend, and Sunday evenings, when everyone comes back.
• Check the live webcam feeds of the Ċirkewwa terminal (searchable on sites like SkylineWebcams) before you set off in peak season — a quick look tells you if the queue is short or backed up onto the approach road.

If the wait still puts you off, there’s paid parking at the Ċirkewwa terminal for those who’d rather cross on foot and pick up a car directly on Gozo instead.

Why Gozo needs its own car more than Malta does

Malta itself is small enough that taxis and buses cover the main tourist circuit reasonably well. Gozo is even smaller, but its bus network is thinner and less frequent, which makes a car more useful there than on the main island.

Ramla Bay, generally reckoned to be Gozo’s best beach, needs a car to reach comfortably. So does Dwejra, home to the inland sea and a well-known dive site, and the Ta’ Pinu Sanctuary out on the west side of the island. Xlendi and Marsalforn, Gozo’s two main coastal villages, do have bus connections, but services thin out fast outside peak hours.

Victoria and the Citadel

Gozo’s main town is Victoria, also called Rabat by locals. Its centrepiece is the Cittadella, the fortified hilltop citadel that dates back centuries and is the island’s most visited historic site — parking sits at the base of the hill, and you walk up from there. Driving through Victoria itself is far less stressful than navigating Valletta; the road network is small enough that getting properly lost isn’t really a risk.

What happened to the Azure Window

Gozo’s most famous natural landmark, the Azure Window, collapsed into the sea in a storm in March 2017. The site at Dwejra is still worth the visit — the inland sea and the dive site remain — but a lot of older travel content and photos online still show the arch as if it’s there. Go in with the right expectation and you won’t be disappointed by what’s actually left.

Rules that catch visitors out

Malta and Gozo drive on the left, a legacy of British rule, which trips up plenty of visitors used to right-hand traffic — particularly at roundabouts, and especially the moment right after pulling out of a quiet junction, when people drift back toward the wrong side without noticing.

On the roundabouts themselves, traffic already circulating has priority — the same rule as the UK, and the opposite of what continental European drivers might expect. Cars entering have to give way to whatever’s already going around, though in practice not every local driver sticks to it, so approach with a bit of caution regardless of who’s technically in the right. For the full rundown of driving norms across both islands — parking colours, the Valletta access charge, minimum ages and more — see our complete guide to car rental in Malta.

One more thing worth knowing before you head out to Gozo specifically: petrol stations there are sparse outside Victoria and some close early in the evening, so fill up before you head into the more remote parts of the island.

Renting for a Malta trip that includes Gozo? Compare cars for both islands, with free cancellation if your ferry plans change.

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