Malta. Twenty minutes from the apron to Valletta, if you pick the hour.

Malta is small enough that the airport is close to almost everywhere, which changes the character of the trip. Landing at Luqa you are minutes from Valletta, the Three Cities and the marinas, twenty to thirty from St Julian's and Sliema, and under an hour from the far northern tip of the island even in traffic. There is no long transfer to absorb at the end of the flight, and no need to build a buffer day around it.

On the private side there is a dedicated VIP terminal within the main building and separate fixed base operations on the general aviation apron, so an arrival can be handled away from the main halls. Malta is a busy leisure airport from May to October and a busy business aviation field all year, so slots and parking at peak times are worth settling early.

See private jet charter, midsize jets, super midsize jets and how chartering works.

This is the single planning decision that catches people out. The Gozo Channel ferry runs from Ċirkewwa at the northern tip of Malta to Mġarr on Gozo, takes about twenty five minutes, and carries vehicles. The fast ferry runs from Valletta directly to Mġarr in around forty five minutes and carries foot passengers only. Both are good services. They suit completely different itineraries.

If you are staying on Gozo for a week with luggage and want the same car and driver throughout, Ċirkewwa is the answer and you should allow around an hour and a half to two hours from the apron to the farmhouse. If you are going across for a day, or joining a boat at Mġarr, the fast ferry from Valletta is faster and pleasanter and a second vehicle meets you on the other side. We arrange it either way, but the choice needs making before the day rather than at the terminal.

Gozo itself is slower, greener and emptier than Malta. Victoria sits in the middle with the citadel above it, Ramla and the northern bays are the beaches, and the roads are small. Comino, between the two islands, has the Blue Lagoon, which in July and August is one of the most crowded pieces of water in the Mediterranean and is far better visited early or from your own boat.

Malta sits in the middle of the Mediterranean, which is why it has always mattered. For a yacht it is a natural staging point between Sicily and Tunisia, the Ionian and the western basin, with deep sheltered water in the Grand Harbour and marina berths under the Three Cities, at Manoel Island and along the Marsamxett side. Malta is also a significant yachting jurisdiction, and a great many charter yachts touch it at some point in a season.

For guests the useful part is that joining or leaving a yacht here is unusually easy. The airport is twenty minutes from the berth, the harbour is sheltered in most conditions, and provisioning and technical support are all on the island. See yacht charter, motor yachts, how chartering works and the APA explained.

Our own cars and our own chauffeurs are in London and Manchester, so the departure is the leg we control directly: a car from the house to Luton, Farnborough, Biggin Hill, Stansted or London City, with a chauffeur who knows the private terminal gate rather than the passenger drop off. See private jet transfers and airport transfers.

In Malta, cars and drivers are arranged through operators we know, and the ferry legs are built into the plan rather than left to you. One person at Odyssey holds it, so a delayed inbound reaches the driver, the ferry plan and the house before it reaches you.