October - Malta or Portugal?

[Toooldforthis36]

Never been to either! Looking for opinions/recommendations - DH & I, no kids to entertain and outside of school hols 🥳

would quite like some nice weather, and a bit of sightseeing, activity - not just fly & flop!

not sure if we were unlucky but we had really bad weather in malta in october. wind, heavy rain, floods, tornadoes. they closed the swimming pool and a lot of the beachbars got flooded. didnt think much of malta anyway. valletta is OK. I like the algarve but not sure what the weather is like then. some people like malta ....its one of those marmite places.

I agree with the comment about Malta being a bit marmite. We had a lovely holiday there but wouldn’t return. I’d go to Portugal if I were you.

Definitely Portugal! Better food I would I say. And generally a bit cooler. I've been to both quite a lot.

Hmm thanks all! Food for thought! X

Been to both and Portugal is by far my favourite. Most of Malta is a bit “meh”. Portugal is beautiful! Not sure what the weather would be like in October though?

What about Madeira? We have been in half term and it was about 21-23 and it’s very beautiful.

We went to the Algarve in early October .. temps were perfect between 22-26 each day so we weren’t too hot to sightsee .. we stayed in Carvoeiro which is a lovely fishing village , hired a car and explored the Algarve for two weeks

I was about to suggest Madeira too @Lovemybunnies. Weather is usually pretty decent all year round - I’ve only ever been in December and it was still in the 20’s during the day.

Yep the Oct weather is starting to make me reconsider both options now I’ve looked a bit closer….

in the past had great weather in October in Cyprus and Sicily. Guess it’s just a bit more of a lottery at that time. Was trying to avoid a long haul..! And canaries have never really appealed - maybe I’ll take another look…

What about Mallorca ?
My DM always goes for two weeks end of September/beginning of October and has fantastic weather .. they usually hire a villa in Pollenca and it’s a gorgeous area surrounded by orange groves . Lots to sightsee as well

Madeira sounds interesting 👍👍

lisbon in October is likely to still be warm but Porto in the north not so much so depends where you go.

Lisbon is gorgeous, loads to see, great food, and good public transport but very hilly so take good shoes

I love Madeira, plenty to see & do. It can rain, but seems to be brief showers the 4 times we've been there. October should be pleasantly warm.

I was bored in Malta, there for 2 weeks & we'd seen & done everything before the end of the first week. The Algarve was worse - it was a mistake going there.

Lisbon & Porto are both very interesting places, not sure about the weather

Cyprus is also good weather in October and the sea is still warm.

I went to Portugal October half term and the weather was cold or rainy 50% of the time at least..
Can you book last minute or stretch to the canaries?

The weather should be fine if you go towards the beginning of October; the October half term is a bit of a stretch!

Portugal is much nicer than Malta.

Yes had lovely October half term weather there before (one mad storm which was fine!)

fancy trying somewhere new though - much as I liked Cyprus I didn’t love seeing Sainsbury's labels in the shops, felt a bit expat! But we did enjoy it there 😀

Madeira is not like Cyprus at all and we lived in Cyprus for a while so I know exactly what you mean. There are bits of Cyprus that don’t feel like that. In Madeira we have only ever stayed in Funchal but we love it.

Didnt c any uk labels when we went to cyprus, but there was an M&S just down the road in Malta. And quite a few UK clothes shops. Which all seemed to be more expensive than the uk.

There's always a stormy period in the Med some time between mid September and mid October, so if you're unlucky you'll get a few days of bad weather.

Malta is good for WW2 history, ancient monuments, watersports, boat trips to Gozo and Comino. Not as good in the way of picturesque countryside/beaches (although the Blue Lagoon on Comino is stunning, it's rammed with the Insta Crowd being annoying). Some of it (Valetta and Sliema) is busy busy.

I'd have thought Madeira was better for weather at that time of year, good if you like sea swimming, hiking, botanical gardens and I think Funchal is nice to walk around.

What about Seville and Cadiz? Few days in each, day trip to Cordoba from Seville, plenty to see and do, and could well be still hot in October - we were in Spain a bit east of Seville last October and it was very hot - one short storm one evening, but apart from that, glorious.

Or Lisbon is also great.

Malta and Portugal are my two favourite places. Malta is great for scuba diving and there is history that predates the pyramids by over 1000 years. Valetta harbour is one of, if not the, largest naturally occurring harbours in the world.

Portugal also has amazing history, fabulous architecture, and is probably a but more picturesque. And in October, you might catch some of the big waves at Nazare.

We were in Malta over Easter this year, as Easter was early it was still March. It was lovely and warm, never less than 19/20 degrees during the day. Stayed in Valletta initially for 4 nights, for visiting Valletta itself, the neighbouring 3 cities (Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua), the hypogeum (amazing place) and the tarxien and Hagar Qim temples. Then over to Gozo, which is more chill and very lovely, fab Easter parades (obviously very specific to the time of year we visited), we did the tourist sites over a couple of days and we were planning to do some walking but it was 25 degrees so instead we sat on the beach and the kids were in the sea at Ramla Bay, and then finished up with a night in Mdina before we flew home. Really lovely holiday. Heritage Malta pass was a bargain for the museums. There are only a few beaches, I'm a culture buff so really suited us, but I know some people slate it. Does have quite an English feel though. Also huge fan of Portugal, only been to Lisbon and Porto, not the Algarve, but loved both the cities. Easy to fill a week in both Lisbon or Porto if you are happy to take day trips out of the cities. I think Malta would be warmer in October though. Not been to Madeira.

We went to Turkey during Oct and it was lovely and warm, around 24 - 26 during the day. Got a bit chilly when the sun dipped in the evening but a cardigan was fine as a cover up.