A few questions about Malta

[muminthecity]

I am planning to go away with a friend, just the two of us (no DCs) in June. We both quite fancy Malta, it is cheap and the weather is lovely. The hotels we've looked at all seem nice and the beaches look great.

Has anyone ever been there? Where is the best place to stay? Is there much of a nightlife? Would love to hear your opinions, good or bad.

Also, have any of you ever booked a holiday through lowcostholidays.com? Are they any good? Reliable? Any hidden costs to look out for etc?

Thanks in advance for your replies.

Bump

It's very built up these days. Be aware that there are almost no sandy beaches. It's wonderful snorkelling, and fascinating if you like history.

Thank you spendthrift. Are there any parts you would recommend in particular?

It's nice. Stay in St.Julians/Sliema, then you have access to Valetta and all the lovely shops. Spinola bay is a really nice area for eating and drinking, watching the world go by.
We stay on Malta for a couple of days then head to Gozo, much smaller and quieter. Don't go looking for beaches, think more rocky shelves to sunbathe on. The food is good, the sea is warm and the sun shines.

Hmm some very different opinions there! Not really into religion/buses! We are really just looking for somewhere where we can lie in the sun by day (either on beach or by pool), eat out and drink cocktails by night. If not Malta then where else could we go that is relatively cheap but not tacky?

It's very small and if you can afford it hire a car. The old capital Medina is charming. The new capital, Valletta, has some fascinating old places, the residences of the Knights of St John, and it's quite fun taking a boat trip round Grand Harbour. There is a ruined Roman centurion's villa at one end of the island, and prehistoric cart tracks elsewhere.

Food is peasant Italian mixed with English stodge by derivation.

Marsaxlokk is a nice fishing village.

Gozo is much prettier, greener, and less developed.

It's a great place to do watersports.

We visited Malta back in 2007 and weren't impressed at all, very built up, no beeches or rocky mostly, unisex toilets food was mediocre to say at leas and over all people we got in contact with were not overly friendly, two weeks dragged on and on, I think it was the only time whilst on holiday we were glad to come back home.
On the other hand I second Croatia(best beeches by far) and Cyprus, both were stunning destinations, beautiful.

We've visited Malta yearly since childhood as my mum lived there as a child and I've always found it lovely. There are q couple of nice sandy beaches - meliha bay and Golden Bay and also paradise bat right at the too of the island. You can also take a bows out to the island of comino just off paradise bay which has the most gorgeous blue lagoon for swimming etc.
There are buses which get you round the island cheaply and I believe they are in the process of replacing the old ones with newer air conditioned ones.
The best night life is in paceville St Julian's. There are also some really wonderful restaurants to eat out if you wanted to.
There is no beach there but more bars. There are also some lovely hotels with pools to lie round.

It is more quiet than places such as Cyprus/ turkey etc but the weather is lovely and we found going out for drinks / dinner not too expensive. Having said that because everything is quite spread out over the island we won't be taking the kids until they are a little older!

Sorry hope this makes sense best I can do for 2am whilst feeding bubs ;)

Malta is lovely, as long as you stay away from certain touristic areas (e.g.Buggiba). The best place to stay is Sliema or St Julian's- nice restaurants, good nightlife and great shops. Generally, the sandy beaches are in the north of the island. In my opinion the best beach is ghajn tuffieha (also known as Riviera). You need to go down some stairs to get to the beach, but it is totally worth it (and also means that the beach doesn't get ridiculously packed at the peak of summer).
The island is full of history, so trips to Valletta & Mdina are worth it. There are plenty of boat trips you can take to Comino (blue lagoon) and you can also visit Gozo (a smaller, prettier & more laid back version of Malta).
With regards to the churches & buses comment, Malta has A LOT of churches. Some are very beautiful and ornate, so worth visiting St John's Co-Catherdral & Mosta Dome. The buses were a bit a of a farse, but they changed them last year and all buses now are new and air-conditioned.
Hope this helps