Calypso's Cave

Landmark

Landmark · Xagħra, Malta 36.0614°N 14.2800°E

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on Calypso's Cave

Best time

Late afternoonSunset light on the bay

Effort

EasyShort paved track

Access

By car or busSigned car park at top

Open now

Is Calypso's Cave open?

No. As of July 2026, the cave was closed to the public and the site fenced off, while a clifftop viewing platform above it was still in use for the view over the bay. Visitors stay behind the fencing on the clifftop.

From Xagħra

How do you get to Calypso's Cave from Xagħra?

On foot the cave lies about 30 minutes from the Xagħra village square. By car, taxi or quad bike it is about 10 minutes from Victoria.

Tal-Mixta

Is Tal-Mixta Cave the same as Calypso's Cave?

No. Tal-Mixta is a separate cave, on the eastern side of Ramla Bay. Calypso's Cave is the one on the clifftop at Xagħra, reached by the lane from the village.

Stand on the clifftop at Calypso's Cave and you get a bird's eye view straight down on Ramla Bay, the red sand beach of Gozo, with the valley behind it.

What makes it special

Calypso's Cave, L-Għar ta' Calisso in Maltese, sits on the clifftop at Xagħra above Ramla l-Ħamra. The bay below holds the most famous beach on Gozo and the island's only sand dunes, a home to certain insects and wild plants.

Legend names this cave as the home of the nymph Calypso in the Odyssey. The cave mouth itself is plain to look at, so treat the legend as the story behind the stop rather than a sight in its own right.

Look along the shore below for the remains of the Marsalforn tower. The Knights of Malta built it in 1720 to guard the northern approach to Gozo against attack from the sea.

Visiting

Signs lead up the lane from Xagħra to a small car park at the top. From there a short paved track runs on to the lookout above the cave.

Without a car, Bus 322 has a stop called Calypso in Xagħra, 7 to 9 minutes after Ramla in the Marsalforn direction.

Ramla Bay lies down the hill, so the two stops combine. Route 302 runs to the Ramla Bay stop, and from the beach you walk up the hill to the lookout.

Tips

Drive in from Nadur or Xagħra, down a valley lined with bamboo, and leave out the road from Marsalforn, which is steep and rough.

Ġgantija, two Neolithic temples among the oldest freestanding stone buildings in the world, stands in the same village, so the temples and this lookout fit one Xagħra outing.