Malta, Italy or Seville

[Birdy65]

We are looking to book a last minute break to Malta, Italy or Seville for 5-7 nights.

There will be 4 of us, DH plus two teenage girls. Rather than your typical beach holiday, we would like to do some sightseeing but also make it relaxed.

Please can anyone give any recommendations? We are also open to visiting other countries and are not restricted to these. I would prefer not to spend over £4000 for accommodation and flights.

Seville is lovely but scorchingly hot at this time of year, that might not be a dealbreaker for you but something to bear in mind. We recently stayed at Hotel Unuk and would highly recommend - great rooftop pool, perfect location, amazing service.

Malta is great for a mix of sightseeing and more relaxed in my experience. Valletta is a really great city, you could look at staying in Valletta itself but if you want a beach there isn’t one. The Phoenicia is a glorious place to stay and perfect for relaxing but probably not in the budget. Have also heard good things about 66 St Paul’s.

Sliema is a ferry ride across from Valletta and has a wider range of accommodation plus rocky beaches. The public transport connections are pretty good. There aren’t many ‘authentic’ hotels though, it’s more of a tourist resort. AX The Palace Hotel is fine, would recommend but it definitely doesn’t feel authentic.

There are so many options in Italy!

I always recommend the Lakes.

You can combine a stay on Garda with day trips to Verona, Venice, Bologna. Or vice versa have a city break and have a day trip to Garda.

Como and Maggiore can be combined with Milan.

We went to Seville when we were already staying in Spain. We cut short our visit to 3 nights because we'd seen & done everything we wanted to.
Similarly, there's not that much to do in Malta; 5 days would about right.

I was also going to recommend Lake Garda ! It's in the north, so shouldn't be too hot. We stayed there for Xmas a few years ago, & those day trips are easy

Definitely Italy. So much to do and see. Malta is very limited imo. I went there as a teenager and was bored rigid.

Wouldn't do Seville in high summer - plus there are currently extreme temperature warnings for Spain at the moment. I'd 2nd or 3rd the Italian Lakes. Flights to Milan are usually reasonable. Como, Maggiore, Garda are all beautiful but I think Garda has more for teenagers.

Seville is a beautiful city, lots of historic sights, great bars, amazing food. However as people have said it gets unbearably hot in the summer.

We went in late February and it was warm enough in the day for jeans, sandals and t shirts and just a light jacket in the evening.

I love Seville but it’s far too hot in July and August.
I went to Malta many years ago and didn’t enjoy it but it might be different now.
We are going to The Italian Lakes next week with teens so hopefully they will enjoy it but we usually got to Bavaria in July and do a mixture of lakes/ Mountains and City. The kids absolutely love it

Malta is lovely but we went in august and it was too hot for sightseeing

I love Malta and we've been many times in recent years. There is loads to see and some lovely hotels. Maltese food is really good and the weather has been glorious whatever time of year we've been.

I went to Malta as a child and didn't particularly enjoy the holiday and so didn't consider it as an option as an adult for many years. We went on a last minute cheapie about 12 years ago and I really regretted having not considered it for such a long time. We've been back several times since, and have also visited Gozo, which is delightful too. We've stayed at the Palace Hotel in Sliema most of the times we've been and it's a lovely hotel. We never usually eat in our hotel apart from breakfast but the food at the Palace is really exceptional.

We're planning Seville for end of November this year.

The AX Victoria Hotel in Sliema, Malta, is lovely with a great rooftop pool. It’s an easy walk down to the waterfront where you can pick up a boat trip out for the day, or catch the ferry across to Valletta. We caught the local bus out to Mdina which was quite an experience. We visited in August and it was baking hot. We got up late, spent the morning by the pool, had a late lunch and went sight-seeing late afternoon as everything stayed open late when it was cooler.

I didn’t like Malta, but that was years ago, it felt half built annd dull. Although Valletta is lovely, but not worth visiting Malta for, friend went recently and felt very unsafe, and another friend was mugged in a taxi.

seville is gorgeous but 3 days probably enough.

Rome would keep you very occupied!

Sorry to say I found Malta very boring 😬 and there were a zillion refugee ships being held offshore on the horizon which felt uncomfortable to say the least.

I’d suggest you fly into Venice, do the Caribe waterpark in Jesolo, then drive/taxi to the mountains around Cortina. Get cable car up Lagazuoi or Cristallo for some incredible views and go for a walk / lunch up there.

Haven’t been to Seville.

I'm in Valletta at moment- really gorgeous city - however I really don't like the resorts here- a bit grim and party central too!!! - but Valletta is really up there with my top lovely places in Europe, quite funky too and remarkably reasonable for food and drink -4 days would work well - lovely if you like strolling, swimming and some fantastic history stuff too - lots of lovely boutique hotels

@Harebrain we stayed at the AX Roselli - gorgeous

I agree with pp's that say they don't like Malta. It has a few nice bits but the rest is very uninspiring and dull. There's far nicer places to go.
I agree with the suggestion of Rome. It's a fantastic city. Loads to see and do.

Can you narrow down 'Italy' a bit to where you were thinking of?

It's a lot bigger than Seville although like Seville and Malta, most of it will be boiling hot.

If you like the med, how about one of tbe southern most Ftench cities?

Nimes has a great Roman history and a good base for travel around the area.

Montpelier is a beautiful, lively city and a short train ride from gorgeous seaside towns and villages.

As well as Valletta (still here) , we did 3 days in Gozo- lovely and the Kempinski is a lovely place!! It has suprised me here, Valletta is nothing like it was 20 yearsago- more like the best Italian cities but on the coast and a big foodie scene, rooftop bars etc- I'm not keen on the resorts but Valletta is as my 25 year old son says 'mint' !! I think lots of people would enjoy it