Malta

[Katyrosebug]

Good morning everyone,

Im off to Malta in a few weeks, ive got quite a few places on my list to visit whilst me and DH are there (going for 10 days), im just wondering if anyone has any recommendations at all? We tend to be out all day exploring and really want to see as much as possible, we do like to visit places that have been recommended or even places to eat / drink.

Has anyone been? Any tips at all? Never been before 😊

Visit Mdina by bus. We got there at about 5pm and had a good old wander. It was amazing! The bus journey was quite something too.

I've been loads, what's on your list already?

I assume you're planning trips to Gozo and Comino?

Will you be hiring a car or relying on (glacially slow, honestly you could walk faster half the time) buses and taxis?

What do you like to do? History, watersports, city, country?

My top tip would be to check that things are open when you plan to see them. We went in Jan and when we got to Gozo one of the major sites didn't open on Tuesdays. Even more annoying, we had bought a combined ticket on the day and the person selling it didn't tell us.
That small annoyance aside we really enjoyed ourselves. We got Tallinja card(spelling might be wrong) and got busses everywhere.
Take headphones, most of the sites you download an audio guide onto your phone.
One of our favourite places was St Paul's Catacombs in Rabat.

The pub where Oliver Reed died.

We've got Valletta, Gozo, we've been told to try pastizzi and there's a cocktail bar not far from where we're staying that's been recommended. There sq church with a WW2 bomb or a whole that we'd like to see.
Thanks for the info about the attractions being open, I'll bear that in mind. We thoight we might hire a car oart the way through our stay but we're just going to walk around most of it.
the catacombs, im sure ive seen something about them in a documentry, do you see much?
sorry i dont know how to reply individually. We love history and walking, were quite happy to plod along and look at things
Ive been working 2 jobs for the last 6 months and plan to enjoy this holiday, we're TTC once we're back for the last and final time so want to make the most of it while I can

Where in Malta are you staying?

If you are going to the Blue Lagoon I would recommend booking a private boat, there were 3 of us in August and it worked out at €60 each, compared to €40 each on a group one so wasn't too much more. I think the group boats start around 10am and we booked the boat for 9am which meant it wasn't busy.

St John's Co Cathedral in Valletta.
It's a fabulous place with gold leaf covering most of the inside ceilings and walls of the building. The floor is made up of the tombstone's of the Knights of the order of St John.
It also houses Caravaggio's painting of the Beheading of John the Baptist plus some of his other paintings.
Fascinating place I loved it ... as you can probably tell 😅
There's a wally trolly that stops outside the cathedral that does the rounds of Valletta up to the gardens and by the harbour.
The local lager Cisk is very drinkable and the soft drink Kinnie is very refreshing on a hot day.

We really enjoyed Gozo. In Mdina there’s a lovely tea garden called the Fontanella, it has amazing views and very nice cake.

This restaurant in Valetta is amazing
Legligin | Home - Legligin
Make sure you are very hungry though!

Agree St John's Co-cathedral well worth a visit.

The National war museum in Valetta was very good.

Took a boat across the harbour to Birgu. More historic places there.

The only place we has to book was the Hypogeum as the numbers visiting each session is strictly limited.
Lots we missed seeing as we weren't there long enough..

I went to Malta 40 years ago but my stand out trip was to the Hypogeum in Paola which is a huge, prehistoric burial chamber. It was really atmospheric and fascinating. I also adored Gozo. In fact I much preferred it to Malta. Swimming in the Blue Lagoon in Comino was also beautiful, but these days the crowds look insane.

If you’re hiring a car definitely fork out for the full insurance - Maltese drivers are interesting in their interpretation of what constitutes good driving. It was a regular occurrence on the school run to have to drive round cars stopped on the roundabout while the owners had nipped in for a cisk and pastizzi.

Just past Mellieha you can turn and drive out to the tip of the headland where there’s a little church. Lovely spot for a car picnic.

Not sure if they close in winter these days but a lunch overlooking the sea at Exiles just around from Balluta bay is always nice. Food is basic but the view is lovely (the seafront is a lovely walk round there).

Enjoy!

Have a look at Trip Advisor forum regarding car hire. It appears there are some dodgy operators.

Legligin is amazing but you need to book as it gets busy even out of main season. This is also nice if you can get a table on the terrace https://www.rampila.net/

This museum is very atmospheric and would make a good short visit site https://mysteriumfidei.mt/

If you want to go to the archaeological museum go early as the queues can be awful.

I liked the Roman villa just by the walls to Mdina again not a big museum so could easily include on a trip to Mdina and Rabat.

Mdina is amazing. Utterly beautiful. Get there at 8am and have the place to yourself. It’s seriously stunning.

Go to Marsaxlokk, the most beautiful fishing village with painted boats. Kinnie is great, especially if you make a cocktail with bajtra, a liqueur made from prickly pears. Read “the Kappilan of Malta” if you’re interested in the history, it’s about a priest who helped his flock through the war years, so you get a sense of how it was for Malta during WW2, a good feel for the people and culture, and also he tells stories about other periods in Malta's history. And yes pastizzi

Yes definitely the cathedral, it has two Caravaggios, the Beheading of John the Baptist and St Jerome Writing - they are opposite one another and stunning. Also the Hypogeum in Paola and St Paul's catacombs in Rabat. It's a brilliant country, you will have a blast.