Tiny, car-free and mostly wild, Comino is far more than its famous lagoon. Here's the whole island — bays, a watchtower, trails and how to make a day of it.
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Comino — Kemmuna in Maltese — is one of the smallest inhabited islands in the Mediterranean, at roughly 3.5 km² with a permanent population you can count on one hand. There are no cars, one seasonal hotel, and a landscape of low scrub, sea cliffs and hidden bays. Most people come for the Blue Lagoon and never see the rest — which is a shame.
The lagoon is the headline, but walk ten minutes and the crowds thin dramatically. Santa Marija Bay and the trails toward the tower offer a completely different, peaceful side of Comino that most day-trippers miss.
Comino is a designated bird sanctuary and part of Natura 2000. Rough paths cross the scrubby interior, linking the bays, the tower and an old chapel. There's almost no shade, so walk early or late with water. In spring the island is green and flowering; by August it's parched and sun-baked.
Everyone arrives by boat: a ferry from Ċirkewwa, a cruise from Sliema or Bugibba, a powerboat from St Julian's, or a short hop from Mġarr on Gozo. With no shops or accommodation to speak of, come self-sufficient: water, food, sun cover and cash.
Comino's name is often linked to the cumin that once grew wild here. For centuries it was a haven for pirates preying on boats in the channel, which is exactly why the Knights of St John built St Mary's Tower in 1618 — a squat, square watchtower that still dominates the south of the island and featured on screen as a stand-in fortress. A small chapel dedicated to the Return from Egypt and the ruins of an isolation hospital and old farmland are the only other real structures.
Today Comino is a nature reserve and bird sanctuary, part of the EU Natura 2000 network. Migrating birds shelter in its scrub, and the surrounding waters are prized for their clarity. The flip side of that protection is that facilities are deliberately minimal — this is not a resort island, and it isn't meant to become one.
Land early, swim the Blue Lagoon before the fleet arrives, then walk the 20–30 minutes to St Mary's Tower and down to Santa Marija Bay for a shaded, sandier finish away from the crowds.
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