Malta advice/ recommendations

[Darkclothes]

I'm looking at a very last minute, relaxing trip to Malta this March- 7 nights, but flexible. Just DH and myself. We like history, food, walking around, happy for a day trip elsewhere or to split the trip.

Is Valletta a good base? Any hotel recommendations central to most sites? A heated pool is a bonus.

Are we better staying part time in Valletta then a few nights in Gozo? Any help appreciated.

LOL - I'd be interested in answers to this - same interests - we are off on Sunday, staying in Sliema. I think it's probably a good base, but would love recs for good restaurants serving local food, nice hiking routes etc.

Depends what you want. Apart from Valetta southern Malta isn't very nice and the places of interest (Mdina, Mosta, ancient ruins, access to Gozo and Comino) are further north. Its about 2-3 hours to get to anywhere in Gozo from Valetta so I wouldn't attempt it as a day trip.

Other consideration is how you plan to travel around. Buses often go to and from Valetta so you need 2 to get anywhere and while cheap they are incredibly slow, you could almost walk a lot of journeys in the same amount of time.

So might be worth getting taxis or hiring a car although driving is also not for the faint hearted, even they use the same side of the road as the UK.

Ideally you'd split the trip but then that might be less relaxing but then you have the practicalities of getting around and what to do with your luggage if you don't have a car.

We had a lovely trip to Malta last Easter. We stayed in Valletta for 4 nights, spent 2 days doing the museums in Valletta, and used Uber/Bolt to travel out to Hagar Qim, Blue Grotto (only go if it's not windy, no boats the day we went), Tarxien temples, Hypogeum (pre-booking weeks in advance essential) and used the ferry to cross the harbour to get to the 3 cities. Our hotel didn't have a pool, the grand hotel has an indoor pool, but is priced accordingly. Then we took the fast ferry to Gozo and had 4 nights in Victoria, we stayed in the Duke boutique hotel and had a hot tub on the balcony. There are 3 hotels on Gozo with heated indoor pools; Grand hotel Gozo (near ferry), Ta Cenc and the Kempinski. I liked being in Victoria though as lots of restaurant choices and it's the central point for buses. In Gozo over 3'days we visited Ta pinu church and stations of the cross which wind up the hill opposite, salt pans at Zebbug, Ggantija temples and the windmill, the inland sea, citadel in Victoria and had 2 afternoons on Ramla beach as it was surprisingly warm. Gozo can be done in 2 days if short on time, lots actually squeeze it into a single day. We used Uber/Bolt to get around. We had planned to hike but the warm weather sent us to the beach (we had children with us). We spent our last night in Mdina and did the catacombs in Rabat and the museums in the citadel. This can be done as a day trip from Valletta, but I was worried about still being on Gozo the morning of our flight home as weather can sometimes cause issues with ferries in March. You can get a museum pass from heritage Malta, which is good value if you want to do lots of state owned sites.