Comino only, or Gozo and Comino?

The short answer

The two trips overlap on Comino and differ in what else they add. The Comino-only sailing is a boat day built around swimming: the Blue Lagoon, the Crystal Lagoon in season, the Santa Maria Caves, sunbeds and a waterslide. The Gozo and Comino trip adds Gozo to the Blue Lagoon and the sea caves, and runs longer. If you want your hours on the water, choose the Comino-only boat. If you want a first look at Gozo too, choose the longer day, and read what its Gozo stop includes before you pay for it. Neither is better for everyone, and the rest of this guide shows how to tell which is better for you, using only what the sources and the trip pages state.

What each trip is

The Comino trip is a catamaran day of about six hours from Buġibba Jetty to Comino. The Gozo and Comino trip lasts about seven hours and is titled as a tour of the Gozo and Comino islands with the Blue Lagoon and sea caves. Both are boat days booked through the same marketplace. They are different products from different sailings, so compare them on their own pages, not by assuming the longer one is simply the shorter one plus a stop. Operators, boats, departure points and facilities can differ, and each page lists its own. Read both before you decide, and check the dates you want, since not every sailing runs on every day of the year.

Time: six hours or seven

The Comino trip runs about six hours and the Gozo and Comino trip about seven, and both can vary with the season and the sea. An hour more does not mean an hour more swimming. Any time spent ashore on Gozo, and any time in transit to it, comes out of the day. If you are travelling with children who tire quickly, or you want to be back for an evening plan, the shorter day leaves more room in the evening. If you have a whole day free and want variety, the longer one gives you somewhere to put the extra hour. Either way, the calendar and your confirmation show the actual time for your date, and the sea can still move it.

What Gozo adds

Wikipedia calls Gozo the second-largest island of the Maltese archipelago, rural in character and less developed than Malta. It names the Ġgantija temples, which it says are among the world’s oldest free-standing structures, the Inland Sea and the sandy beach of Ramla Bay among its sights. It also notes that the Azure Window, a limestone arch at Dwejra, collapsed in 2017. A sea trip will not cover all of that. What a boat day gives you is a look at the coast and, depending on the stop, time in one place, so read what the Gozo stop on the trip you choose actually is.

What you give up

Comino’s water is the shared attraction, so the main cost of the longer trip is how its hours are divided. Time that goes to Gozo does not go to the lagoons, and a longer day also means a longer stretch in the sun and on the water for everyone in your group. The Comino-only day does not stop at Gozo at all. If you want a long swim and a long lie on a sunbed, count how much of the longer trip is on Comino’s water and how much is elsewhere. The Gozo trip’s own page lists its stops, so use that page to answer the question, not this guide, which cannot promise what another operator’s boat does.

The landing pass applies to both

The Malta Tourism Authority’s booking system for the Blue Lagoon covers individuals and groups arriving by private or commercial vessels, and the authority says it applies exclusively to the Blue Lagoon area. That means anyone who wants to get off at the Blue Lagoon needs the free pass, whichever trip they take. Anyone who stays aboard at the lagoon does not use it. If you land at other points around Comino, such as Santa Marija Bay, the authority says no booking is needed. Follow the instructions of the operator you book, because each sets its own steps for the pass.

Read next: The Blue Lagoon landing pass

Weather and the sea

Neither trip can promise a route. On the Comino trip the captain may change the route, the stops or the departure place for weather, sea or operational reasons, and the operator offers a new date or your money back if the weather stops the boat sailing. A longer trip has more of the day exposed to the sea, which is one more reason to look at the forecast before choosing the longer day. A short sea crossing can feel very different from a day-long one in a swell, and the weather that cancels a sailing can arrive on either. If anyone in your group is prone to seasickness, that is worth weighing before you choose the longer day.

Doing it yourself

You can also reach Comino without a package. Wikipedia’s entry on Ċirkewwa says boat trips to Comino operate from there in summer, and its entry on Comino says scheduled boats run from Ċirkewwa or Mġarr. It also says group tours operate mainly between March and December, with larger excursion boats leaving from places such as Sliema and Buġibba. A do-it-yourself trip suits people who want to land and walk Comino. It does not come with a catamaran’s sunbeds, a waterslide or an audio guide, and you handle the Blue Lagoon pass yourself. For many visitors the package is simpler, and for some the freedom to choose their own time ashore is worth the extra planning.

Read next: Comino, the island behind the lagoon

Which one suits whom

A short way to decide is by what you want to bring home from the day. Use the list as a starting point, then read the pages of the trips you are comparing and check the dates in the calendar, because the sea and the season decide what is offered. If two items on the list both appeal, that is a sign to book the shorter outing first and plan a second day for the other.

• Swimming, sunbeds and the lagoons: the Comino-only catamaran
• Comino plus a look at Gozo: the Gozo and Comino trip
• A shorter outing that stays on the main island: a harbour cruise from Sliema
• To walk Comino at your own pace: a scheduled boat or a private trip

Who this comparison isn’t for

If your plan is Gozo itself, with its temples and its beaches, a boat day is a sampler and not the best way to see it. Wikipedia describes ferry crossings between Ċirkewwa and Mġarr and a separate fast ferry linking Mġarr with Valletta, Buġibba and Sliema. If your plan is Comino itself, a long walk on the island needs more time than either boat day gives, and a scheduled boat is the more flexible way to get there. Both of those plans are better served by something other than a package day on a catamaran, and neither needs a booking guide to arrange.

How to decide in a minute

Ask what the extra hour is for. If the answer is more sea, choose the Comino-only boat. If the answer is Gozo, choose the longer trip and read its stops. If you are unsure, pick the shorter day and keep your evening free. Either way, book the free Blue Lagoon pass for the slot the operator emails, and treat the route as a plan that the sea can change. This guide is independent of every operator mentioned and of the authorities, and it prints no prices because they change by date. When you are ready, open the calendar for the trip you chose, pick your date and read the confirmation carefully, since it carries the time, the operator’s name and the steps for the Blue Lagoon pass.

Read next: Comino boat trip: is it worth it?