Dwejra Bay, Victoria

This deep round bay on Gozo's west coast is a swim off rock-cut steps when the sea is calm, beneath the stretch of cliff that held the Azure Window.

Waterfront, Victoria. Meridian Dispatch.

Effort

Easy pathShort walk from parking

Season

October to MayBest for the walk in

Access

Rock-cut stepsInto the bay itself

From Victoria

How do you get to Dwejra Bay from Victoria?

By bus or by car across the island. Bus route 311 runs from Victoria, and visitors report it running about hourly during the day and taking about 20 minutes. A rental car is the easier way to get there.

Swimming

Can you swim in Dwejra Bay?

Yes, in warm weather when the sea is calm. The bay is deep, and the water is reached by going briefly off the walking track. The sea here is at its most tranquil in the warmer months.

Parking

Where do you park at Dwejra Bay?

Parking right at the bay is limited, so the usual approach is to park nearby and walk in. The main car park lies further down the road, a little north of the bay, so a map app set to Azure Window rather than Dwejra Bay leads straight to it.

Dwejra Tower

Is Dwejra Tower open to visitors?

Yes, when a flag is flying on its roof. The tower is one of the Knights' coastal watchtowers and stands on a rise overlooking Fungus Rock. It once served as a lookout to stop anyone climbing onto the islet.

Rough weather

Is it safe to walk the coast at Dwejra in rough weather?

Only with care. In rough weather it is not advisable to go close to the edge of the shore at Dwejra, so walkers keep to the paths well back from the water until the sea settles.

Filming location

Was Dwejra Bay a Game of Thrones filming location?

Yes. The bay served as the filming location for the wedding scene of Daenerys Targaryen and Khal Drogo in Game of Thrones. The same circular inlet, with Fungus Rock at its mouth, can be seen from the viewpoint above.

What makes it special

Dwejra Bay is a circular inlet, and its name probably comes from the Arabic word for round. Fungus Rock stands in its mouth, a 60-metre block known locally as Il-Ġebla tal-Ġeneral, the General's Rock.

The rock is named for a plant on its flat top, which is in fact a parasitic plant, not a fungus, once valued as a medicine. Under the Knights its sheer sides were smoothed so that nobody could climb up to it, and because the plant grows mostly here, the rock is a nature reserve today.

The Azure Window, a stone arch beside the bay, fell into the sea in 2017. Nothing of it is left above the water, and its blocks are now a dive site.

Look down at the ground as well as out to sea: the limestone here holds fossils.

Visiting

From the car park, an easy path of about five minutes passes Dwejra Tower and reaches the viewpoint above the bay.

To swim, step briefly off the track and take the rock-cut steps down into the bay itself.

Then walk on to the Blue Hole, a small natural pool in front of the old arch site, used by divers. Close by is the Inland Sea, a small lagoon ringed by high cliffs and joined to the open sea by a tunnel of about 80 metres that boats and divers pass through.

Tips

To arrive on foot, follow the marked 13 km walk from Victoria. It is graded moderate, with some steep inclines and a few rocky stretches, and a return bus runs from San Lawrenz or Dwejra if you would rather not walk back.

Visitors report a couple of kiosks opening on site for the summer, roughly May to September.

Know before you goDwejra has been a heritage park since 2004, and it is protected locally and as part of the EU's Natura 2000 network. Leave the fossils in the limestone: repeated attempts to steal them have damaged many, and a whole specimen is now hard to find.