good morning!

OK, we have decided on a farm house and have been looking on the owners direct website.

Just wondered which town/village do you think would be good for us?.

I like the sound of Xaghra and we have found a lovely house, is it ok to post the link on here?.

Thanks guys!

Tracey

Hi

will you have a car ?

if yes, then I'd suggest any of Sannat, Qala, Nadur, Xaghra, Gharb. If no, then forget Sannat and Gharb

ok, no i dont think we will hire a car, do you think it will be easy enough to get from the ferry to the villa without one?.

I cannot post the links to the places we have been looking at as it wont let me

One of the farmhouses with ownersdirect states its in a town called "House in Xaghara, Gozo", is this the same village/town as Xaghra?

The other is called Ta Pupina, Xaghra - Gozo .

There are both too big for us really but we dont mind paying the extra!.

Bye for now!

you can easily pickup a taxi at the ferry terminal

yes, thats the same as Xaghra (its just a spelling mistake - Xaghara doesn't exist) - what are the ref nos of the places - eg is the first one G59 ?

yes it is G59,

The other one is not on ownersdirect website, Its on with James Villas.

both look fine, and typical of farmhouse retals in Gozo - as you will see from the photos, alot of them are farmouse style, and either recently built from nothing, or are a smaller old place rennovated and extended - the ones though James Villa seem more expensive

yes JV are on the expensive side, can book with or without flights, although they dont use flights from Heathrow which is much better for us than Gatwick.

booking direct should be cheaper, as eliminating a level of commission - what I don't know is what your legal protection is if things go wrong by booking direct - hopefully someone else will advise on the plus/minus of direct v agent

We used owners direct once before to Turkey and it was great -

Not sure if things did go wrong though....................

off to read the small print!

Thanks!

have found some nice places in Xlendi,

Is this a nice town/village?.

Thanks!

Xlendi is a small town by the sea - quite touristy, with a big expat community - alot of good restaurants, good swimming, but no real beach - if you are after a quiet secluded holiday, maybe not the right pick

Have been reading this post with interest. Mark is full of good advice..but i would now like to stick my 2p in if I may..

Xlendi is a delightful place, has a beautiful little bay with a very small beach and quieter than Marselforn. We stayed in Xlendi in August and absolutley loved the place but must admit, did get bored with the resort after couple of nights as it is quiet. We explored every inch of the island ( see my Gozo adventures sticky).

The best advice I can give is arrive at Malta, go straight up to Cirkewwa, get on the ferry and then spend the rest of your holiday in Gozo. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter where you stay, the island is so small you can explore everywhere. There are plenty of cottages for rent (i have a card somewhere with details of a place on..I will PM you when i find it) and I am sure that Mark can advise you of plenty of places.

Enjoy!!

thanks alot!.

Yes I agree Mark has been so very helpful with our search!.

If you could pm me that info that would be great too!.

Thanks Guys!

Hi Justval

agree with all you have written. However, if they won't have a car, it is difficult to explore the island using buses. I was going to recommend some places, but realised that as I live here it would appear I was just promoting places for commission

Tracey - you will miss out by not hiring a car - OK the roads are not great, but its all part of the adventure !

oooh yes.. you must hire a car. We were lucky in that we have friends with property in Xhagra and they sorted out a car for us in advance and it was waiting at Mgarr along with a very nice bloke called Raymond.

There are buses, but they are really a law unto themselves and you will miss out on so much if you rely heavily on them. if you don't fancy a car, there are mopeds for hire..which really will be an adventure!!

two mopeds are more expensive than one car - they are great fun (I have one), but you need to know what you are doing !

ok guys, talked us into getting a car then!

now, we have come across a company called gozovillas. They have an office here in the UK and over there too.

We have made contact with them already and they have some seriously lovely places.

They have one we like in Xaghra, Property Ref: 020115 and another we particularly like in Kacem, Property Ref: 000103. It says its within walking distance of Victoria and Xlendi.

They also recommended to us property ref: 020118 in Gharb. Its much bigger but a lower grade so its no more expensive than the higher grade ones!. Dont know much about Gharb though.

If you can see them on their websit (couldnt post a link here) which do you think (if any!) we should choose?. Bearing in mind, we want to be able to walk into the town in the evenings for dinner/drinks.

Also, do we hire the car to pick up in Gozo or can we hire one to collect from the airport and bring it across on the ferry with us?.

Thanks again folks!

for convenience of walking to/from restaurants, Xaghra and Gharb are preferable as they have restaurants in the town - Kercem doesn't - yes its walkable to Xlendi, but its a very steep hill coming back !

Gharb - do you really want a place that big ?? personally I'd say go for a smaller palce, but better quality

at a quick glance, those prices seem quite a bit higher than owners direct

car - I'd say pickup at the airport and bring it across

steep hill............................... lol

well I think we have kinda of decided of Xaghra now

Is aircon a must in the farmhouses or are they quite cool anyway?, bearing in mind it will be august.

oh, just had a thought, a few years back I stayed at the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Valetta (I think that was the location, i was only 11!). I had a look for its website and I see it has had some major changes to it since i was there!.