Your Malta guide to the islands.
Travel your kind of day.

Using this Malta guide

Malta is small, and that is the first thing worth planning around. The main island is crossed in an hour or so by road, which means a base in one town can serve a whole week of day trips. The harder part is choosing among the kinds of day on offer: a walk through a fortified capital, an hour in a temple more than 5,000 years old, a swim from rock slabs, a dive on a wreck, or a long lunch in a fishing harbour. This Malta guide sorts those days into twelve groups, each with a hub page that explains the choice and links to the places themselves.

The groups are beaches and bays, historic buildings, churches, museums, gardens, archaeological sites, natural attractions, family places, diving sites, climbing sites, towns and cities and other landmarks. Anyone with a particular interest can start there. Anyone without one can follow the rest of this page, a short Malta travel guide to how the islands fit together.

The Malta islands guide in three parts

Any Malta islands guide has to start with the difference between the three inhabited islands, because they behave like three separate trips.

Malta itself holds almost everything people come for: Valletta, Mdina, the Three Cities, the south-coast temples, the western sand beaches and most of the hotels. It is built up along the east coast and quieter in the north-west and south-west, where cliffs and valleys keep the villages apart.

Gozo is greener and slower. Its capital Victoria is crowned by the walled Cittadella, and the coast offers Ramla Bay with its reddish sand and the rock formations of Dwejra. Plan for a day at least, and a night or two if the aim is to unwind. A fair Malta islands guide treats Gozo as a trip of its own rather than an add-on. The ferry leaves from Cirkewwa, at the northern tip of Malta.

Comino is the smallest. Most visitors arrive by boat for the Blue Lagoon, a shallow channel between Comino and the islet of Cominotto, and leave again within hours. Boats run from Cirkewwa and Mgarr. Early in the day, or late in the season, it is a different place from the crowded midday version.

Malta travel guide: where to base yourself

Any Malta travel guide ends up asking the same question: where to sleep. For a first visit, the choice is mostly between four bases.

Valletta puts the Baroque capital at the door: St John’s Co-Cathedral, the Upper Barrakka Gardens and the harbour walls are all on foot. It has no beach of its own, so swimming means a bus or ferry out.

Sliema and St Julian’s offer the seafront promenade, rocky bathing spots, restaurants around Spinola Bay and frequent buses. This is where most people with short stays end up, and it is the easiest base for travel without a car.

Mellieħa and the north sit beside the long sandy beach of Mellieħa Bay, close to Golden Bay and the Gozo ferry. It suits beach-led trips, with Valletta a longer ride away.

Gozo works as a base for people who want walking, diving and a village pace. The cost is the ferry crossing each time the main island calls.

Between these, the harbour area of Birgu and the Three Cities and the old capital Mdina with neighbouring Rabat make good quieter alternatives for people who prefer streets to promenades.

How many days to plan

Three days is a workable minimum. Give one to Valletta and the Three Cities across the harbour, one to Mdina, Rabat and the west, and one to a beach or a boat. Two more days make room for Gozo and a slower pace, and a full week allows the south-coast temples, a dive, and an evening or two with no plan at all. A Malta guide can suggest the order of those days; the pace is a personal choice.

The usual mistake is to cram. The islands reward a half-day at one place more than a quick tick at four, and a bus journey that looks short on the map can take a long time in summer traffic. Leave a margin on days with a fixed booking, such as a timed temple or hypogeum visit.

Seasons in one paragraph each

Spring, from March to May, is green and mild. The Luqa climate record puts the average May high at about 24 degrees, with little rain, and the sea is still cool at around 18 to 19 degrees. Walking, temples and sightseeing are at their best, and the beaches are almost empty.

Summer runs hot and dry. July and August average highs of about 32 degrees, almost no rain, and a sea of roughly 25 to 27 degrees. Beaches, boats and diving are at their peak, so are the crowds and the parking problems. Go early, rest at midday, and save walks for the evening.

Autumn is the second best time. September still has sea temperatures near 26 degrees, and the first rain arrives in October and November. Crowds thin, the light softens, and the cliffs and valleys turn out to be easier to walk.

Winter is mild rather than cold, with average highs around 16 degrees in January and February, and December and January the wettest months. It is a good season for museums, churches and the temples, less so for swimming. Many beach kiosks and boat services reduce or stop. Check what runs before building a day around it.

Where to start

The best Malta guide advice is to pick one thing the day is for, then add a second place nearby. A morning in St John’s Co-Cathedral pairs well with a walk through the Upper Barrakka Gardens. A day of prehistory begins at Ħaġar Qim and its neighbour Mnajdra. And a first swim on the main island is easiest at Golden Bay, where the cliff path to the next bay makes a short evening walk.