Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz

Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz

The ferry from Cirkewwa to Mgarr harbor takes twenty-five minutes, and Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz sits a short drive beyond it, spread across 30,000 square meters of semi-tropical garden on the outskirts of its namesake village, close enough to Dwejra Bay and Victoria to serve as a base for the whole island. Built in 1999, the 122-room property reads more like a resort than a hotel, with an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, a separate heated pool for children, a spa tub, a sauna and a steam room, plus an Ayurveda Centre that ranks among the largest in the Mediterranean, staffed by therapists trained in the discipline rather than offering a generic spa menu borrowed from elsewhere. Six restaurants cover a wide range, from Arja's European pastries and Afternoon Tea to L-Istorja's Gozitan tasting menus, and Gazebo, the only al fresco teppanyaki and sushi restaurant on Gozo, runs a live poolside show that nothing else on the island matches. A woman travelling by herself will find the gardens and the wellness centre give her somewhere private to spend an afternoon; a family will find the kids' club and the children's pool keep the younger ones occupied without much negotiation; anyone chasing a nightlife scene should look toward Malta's main island instead, since San Lawrenz is a quiet village and the hotel is built around gardens, pools and treatment rooms rather than bars. Wi-Fi, parking and the transfer to the beach cost nothing extra; the airport shuttle and the breakfast buffet are charged separately. What sets it apart from other stays on Gozo is the Ayurveda Centre, a genuine rarity on an island this small. Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz spreads across 30,000 square meters of garden on Gozo, a 25-minute ferry from Malta, built around an Ayurveda Centre among the largest in the Mediterranean and a poolside teppanyaki restaurant unlike anything else on the island. It suits privacy-seekers over nightlife chasers.