Comino Island

A paradise for bathers, but also for explorers.

Älgbert Elgson

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The island of Comino is located between Malta and Gozo and is the smallest inhabited island in the Maltese archipelago. Comino can be reached with the Comino ferry, which runs from Ċirkewwa (Malta) or from Mġarr (Gozo).

The island is considered car-free, but is relatively easy to explore on foot, as Comino is only around 3.5 square kilometers in size. But especially in the main season, Comino is by no means car-free, since both tourists and locals can travel between the different seaside resorts on the island for a small fee. Comino is actually known for these diving and bathing resorts and most visitors come to the island because of the Blue Lagoon, a bay with blue-turquoise sea.

However, Comino is not only an island worth visiting for bathing lovers. The name Comino comes from the word „Kemmuna“, which means caraway in Maltese. It was grown by the 200 islanders in the Middle Ages. For a long time, the island was a base for pirates, since they found good shelters in the numerous caves on the coast. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Order of St.John drove out the pirates and built the St. Mary’s Tower (Santa Marija Tower or Comino Tower) as a watchtower. Today this can only be viewed if a flag is raised on the tower. But even outside of its opening hours, the hike to the tower is rewarded with a magnificent view.

In addition to the watchtower, Comino also has a defensive system with historical cannons (Il-Batterija ta ‚Santa Marija), a church, a police station, a hotel and a rather sparse vegetation. Since Comino is basically a large, dry rock, only very heat-loving plants such as oleanders, prickly pears, thyme or agaves grow on it.

The best way to explore the island on your own is to find lost places, as there is, for example, a former quarantine station, a former cemetery and an abandoned pig farm. However, not every building can be viewed from the inside.

Conclusion:
Comino is a beautiful and relatively natural island. The Lost Places in particular are worth discovering. We were in Comino in midsummer and it was extremely hot and the Blue Lagoon was completely overcrowded. Due to the heat, we did not explore the entire island, because shade is scarce or actually not available due to the sparse vegetation.

We were here: 2019