Malta

[3rdrockfromthesun]

Looking to go in mid September. Does anyone have any recommendations on where to stay? Ideally a hotel. Have no children so just DP and myself. Thanks

Hi 3rdrock. I'm no expert on the island, but we stayed at the Melliha Bay hotel for a week last October, and had a lovely time. Malta is a marmite place really, but we love it - the only thing we didn't like was the songbird shooting that goes on in the Spring ... Hopefully that will end with the next generation, as younger Maltese people are less supportive of it.

It's an interesting place. The capital Valetta is fantastic. Public transport excellent (if a bit bonkers - we went everywhere on the bus) and the people very nice.

Thanks red rose I will have a look. Can I just ask how expense did you find it? The last hot holiday I had was in Croatia and the exchange rate was 10C to the £

I can't remember the detail ... We got a last minute package (our first ever) from Thomson. Reasonable I think. Half board - although they did full board too. Check out the website.

www.thomson.co.uk/destinations/europe/malta/malta/mellieha-bay/hotels/hotel-mellieha-bay.html

Or obviously you could book direct.

Malta itself is in the Eurozone, and we didn't find it especially expensive (we would usually go to Italy or France - I wanted an easy last minute holiday, and it was). Eating out was reasonable, with plenty of options. Touristy, but that's what we wanted on this occasion.

Plenty of other nice hotels. We liked this one for the quiet location and Malta is tiny so you can get anywhere from anywhere.

We also had a day in Sicily while in Malta ... There's a super-fast boat between the islands and we took a trip to Mount Etna. An excellent day.

We went to Malta last September. If Croatia is cheap cheap it will be more expensive than there, but I'd say it was cheaper than the UK for eating out etc.

Public transport is very cheap if a little slow, but the driving is so manic that I wouldn't recommend hiring a car unless you have nerves of steel.

You can go on a boat to Gozo and Comino too.