Malta Travel Forum

I am getting very excited to plan my Malta trip, but I want to make sure to plan the appropriate amount of time for each location. I am thinking of visiting the following cities (but please, feel free to critique):
Valletta, Mdina, Mosta, Sliema, Gozo (Victoria)

I have a few questions for the experts:

What are the best cities to STAY overnight(book hotel)? What are my daytrips from those cities? How long to stay in each city?

Even just a couple suggestions would help me a lot.

Thanks in advance!
Lindsey

Malta is really small, so you don't need to stay in more than one place on each island. I would stay in Valetta on Malta and in Victoria on Gozo. You can easily do day trips from Valetta to Mdina and Mosta. Sliema is just over the "creek" from Valetta and you might want to stay here if you like a lively nightlife. Can can also do a day trip to Gozo from Valetta but you probably want to stay for a few days to get the feel of the place. The buses on Valetta are cheap and go more or less everywhere.

You could book a room in Sliema area. There are lots of hotels there. I'd recommend Hotel Marina.

Malta has a good bus system; so buses go almost everywhere on the island. Plus tickets are quite cheap.

Gozo hasn't a good bus systes, so I'd recommend to rent a bike or a car thee, or book a private excursion on that island.

It really does not matter where you stay in Malta as far as it is near the sea. However, I would not go for Valetta. Nice to walk and dine there but too cramped for the whole time. The air was not fresh enough there, believe it or not. Victoria is nothing special save the church but the shores of Gozo are magnificent. And hop over to Comino by all means for half a day at least!

If you have 7/8 days:

Stay 3 nights at the Waterfront hotel on the strand in Sliema, possibly the best 4-star in the Valetta area (about €100 a double). Sliema, St Julian's & Paceville run into one another and are lively and pleasant.

Stay within the walls at Valetta 2 night at the fantastic Castille Hotel (housed in a 15th century palazzo, about €100/double), in the Old Town of Valetta.

http://www.waterfronthotelmalta.com/waterfront/home.aspx

http://www.hotelcastillemalta.com/default.asp

Then try to stay 3 nights on Gozo, in Victoria itself if you want a bit of life.

Unfortunately, the once-excellent Ta Cenc hotel is not as good as it once was, so I cannot recommend anything on Gozo.
However, try to blag a cheap 3-night stay there though, it is not as popular as it was and they have reduced their prices I believe, an original place. Worth a try.

http://www.tacenchotel.com/

I would add the neolithic temples of Tarxien, Hagar Qim and Mnajdra to your visit.

As well as Marsaxlokk, a picturesque fishing village south-east of the island.

The bus network is very comprehensive, excellent, and very cheap. I think a week bus PASS only costs about €12-€15 (for the whole of Malta!).

http://www.malta-info.co.uk/transport/malta_bus_services.htm

ok...here goes..i propose you stay in a Sliema seafront Hotel.Sliema as a base would offer you everything from good restaurants,shopping,nice strand walks,pubs,etc.
Book an sea cruise 1.5 hour excursion with captain morgan and visit the three cities from the sea,
Book a day to comino island on one of daily cruises vailable with buffet from the sliema strand.

ok...here goes..i propose you stay in a Sliema seafront Hotel.Sliema as a base would offer you everything from good restaurants,shopping,nice strand walks,pubs,etc.
Book an sea cruise 1.5 hour excursion with captain morgan and visit the three cities from the sea,
Book a day to comino island on one of daily cruises vailable with buffet from the sliema strand.

ok...here goes..i propose you stay in a Sliema seafront Hotel as some before me already proposed.Valletta is rather very quite in the evening compared to other cities and Sliema as a base would offer you everything from good restaurants,shopping,nice strand walks,pubs,transport etc.If you want night life than Paceville is only 45 mins walk or 10mins taxi from sliema.I suggest that you Book a sea cruise 1.5 hour excursion with captain morgan and visit the three cities from the sea,Ticket boots on the sliema strand.
Book a whole day to comino island on one of daily cruises available with buffet also from the sliema strand.
Take a bus ride to valletta especially on sunday morning and visit : the flee market,Upper barrakka grand views of the Harbour,walk the streets of Valletta,The palace,St Johns cathedral,Walk down to Fort St Elmo and take a Karrozin( horse carriage ride ) back to the terminus.
Spend 2 days in Gozo and take a day excursion to the sites on the island especially Victoria citadel,Ramla il-hamra beach,Ta Pinu church,Ggantija temples which are older than stonehenge etc,etc..Have a tea or coffee & taste the pastizzi( cheese cakes )in a Victoria cafe.
Mosta church dome is third largest in europe and is a nice town to visit with its houses of character ( i live there!)
Mdina is a magical fortified city and have incredible views of the island from the ramparts.
All towns & villages are reachable from the Valletta bus terminus and is only 15 mins bus ride from sliema...other places to visit are Marsaxlokk fishing village also they have good fish restaurants, Tarxien temples,Hagar Qim temples, Dingli cliffs,boat ride to blue grotto from Wied iz zurrieq etc.. enjoy

Hi Lindsey.

All has been said previous to me.
I like Rockaria's version.

Depending on how long your stay and how versatile your interests, will be what dictates time spent and places involved.

Tourist sites are easily done and need no itinerary.
However this is the Mediterranean and it is the lunching, dining and supping, between sight-seeing, that is the real pleasure of this island.

Timetables take away an irreplaceable feature of pleasures that are best sampled without prior warning and devoid of time-limits.

It all depends what you are looking for.


Malta appeals differently to different travellers. If we know what you're after we can provide more focused info.

Enjoy