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-   -   Seeking Gozo Farmhouse Rental Advice (https://www.fodors.com/community/europe/seeking-gozo-farmhouse-rental-advice-514768/)

ckdexter Mar 22nd, 2005 06:40 AM

Seeking Gozo Farmhouse Rental Advice
 
Hi all,

I'm planning a June honeymoon to Malta and we wish to rent a farmhouse on Gozo for about a week. The amount of information on rentals on the web is overwhelming and I'm hoping someone out there can tell me about their good (or bad) experience with rental agencies or can recommend a specific farmhouse that they have stayed in and enjoyed. We are looking for a relaxing stay in a nice house with a pool and view. It will only be two of us so we're not looking for something particularly large. I'd also love any feedback on the advantages/disadvantages of staying in different villages.

This will be our first trip together to Europe and we are so excited about Malta and Gozo. I wanted to thank everyone who has posted about Malta in the past. I've learned a lot from your posts and they have only served to whet our enthusiasm for the trip.

Thank you!
Carrie

p.s. I can also be reached at [email protected]

AnselmAdorne Mar 22nd, 2005 08:28 AM

Carrie, if you've searched previous threads on Malta you may have seen one or two postings from me. We spent a week on Gozo and a week on Malta in the spring of 2002.

As you've probably discovered, Gozo is by far the quieter of the two islands. You will be able to fill a week there, there is plenty to see and do. However, I would strongly recommend you rent a car to get around the island, as the Gozo bus system is nowhere near as extensive or as frequent as it is on Malta. (We rented from the Gozo Garage in Victoria. They had the car waiting for us in the ferry terminal parking lot. I thought I'd kept their phone number, but I can't find it.) Driving on Gozo is nowhere near as hair-raising as Malta, although I should warn you that most drivers regard the rules of the road as no more than guidance. On the other hand, there was only one traffic light on Gozo in 2002, so that gives you some idea of how little traffic there is there.

We rented a house in the village of Xahgra, which is about a 15-minute drive from Victoria. It was a quiet place, with a couple of restaurants and one or two small grocery stores.

We found our house through Holiday Rentals, a UK-based association of individuals who rent out their vacation properties. The site lists six places on Gozo at the present time, and I notice that the house we rented is no longer listed. Perhaps it has changed hands. Here's the url for the Gozo houses:

http://www.holiday-rentals.co.uk/ind...reg_refno/1278

Once you find a property you like, you can click on a link to e-mail the owner. From that point on, all of your dealings are with the owner. (Besides the house on Gozo, we've rented several houses in the south of France through Holiday Rentals. We haven't had a bad experience, although there was one case in Languedoc where we simply didn't like the house.) We typically carry out our negotiations by e-mail, although most of the owners provide a phone number. We have also called to ask specific questions about the house or the town it is in.

I think you'll find that many of these properties are rented out for a week at a time (usually Saturday to Saturday). Most owners ask for a deposit at time of leasing, and the balance is usually due several weeks before your arrival. Some owners also ask for refundable damage deposits.

Good luck in your search. You've chosen a very interesting place for your honeymoon.

Anselm

willmar Mar 22nd, 2005 09:18 AM

the car company Anselm mentioned has a website http://www.vjborg.com/ which apparently offer house/pool renting too.

i stayed at the Andar hotel at munxar,which i liked alot (this was under $100 a night).

June is a nice time to be there.since you will have a car i dont think its that important to be in any particular village. have a nice honeymoon

AnselmAdorne Mar 22nd, 2005 01:30 PM

Carrie, I've been struggling all day to remember how we located the house we rented on Malta itself. My wife just arrived home and looked through her old correspondance. We found the second house through www.holiday-malta.com. If you look at their site, you'll see that they also list properties on Gozo.

I have no idea what this firm is like today, but when we dealt with them in 2002, we corresponded with a very helpful woman named Erica Pace. She not only handled the booking, she arranged for a taxi to meet us at the airport in Malta and to pick us up when we came back from Gozo. All of the arrangements worked flawlessly.

willmar, thanks for finding that website for the Gozo Garage. That's the people we rented the car from.

Anselm

ckdexter Mar 23rd, 2005 04:07 AM

Anselm - Thank you for your reply and for the helpful information it contained. It's always so much better to hear positive reviews of a place or a company from a real person! And thank you Willmar for the link - it will be great to have a rental taken care of before we arrive.

I'll be sure to report back on our trip in a few months!


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