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1. Wander Valletta
The Upper Barrakka Gardens
GETTY IMAGES
Malta’s charming Unesco world heritage capital city is both a 16th-century citadel and a vibrant 21st-century town. Built by the Knights of St John after they nearly lost Malta to the Ottoman Turks in 1565, this grid of glowing stone alleys is less than one square kilometre, making it the perfect size to wander. Start at the Upper Barrakka Gardens for panoramic views of the Grand Harbour before taking in the Grandmaster’s Palace, fountain-cooled central square, streets of steps, Knights auberges, striking modern parliament, and much more. If you prefer to have information provided as you go, there are plenty of guided tours.
2. Marvel at St John’s Co-Cathedral
St John’s Co-Cathedral
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The outside of St John’s is almost dour in its military-style plainness, but inside is one of Europe’s most dazzling displays of baroque excess — a symphony of gold, paint and coloured marble. This is the church of the Knights of St John; a number of the Order’s Grand Masters are buried in its crypt, and the oratory is home to two spectacular paintings by Caravaggio (including his largest and only signed work). There’s an excellent audio guide, or book a Valletta tour including a guided visit.
3. Dive deep
Often named Europe’s top diving destination, this Mediterranean nation has exceptionally clear water and 50 licensed dive schools across the Maltese archipelago. Spectacular underwater landscapes — from Cathedral Cave to deep holes and drop-offs — and a range of scuttled wrecks provide plenty of challenge for the most experienced explorer, while beginners are also well served. Many dives are reachable from the shore and taster sessions are offered for enthusiasts as young as eight (the tour featured below is from ten years and up).
4. Discover the life aquatic
The Malta National Aquarium
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From the marine life of Malta’s Mediterranean coastline to tropical exotics, an imagined Roman shipwreck to amphibians and reptiles, the Malta National Aquarium is a great family-friendly attraction. Grim-faced groupers and newly hatched sharks, piranhas and tiny tree frogs should keep kids amused and amazed. Set on a blue flag coastline in the tourist area of Bugibba, it’s easily combined with a real swim, but makes a great way to dive deep into the sea without even getting your feet wet.
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5. Cruise the famous Grand Harbour
Traditional Maltese water taxi in the Grand Harbour in Valletta
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With sparkling blue waters flanked by honey-cream limestone, the expansive Grand Harbour is at the heart of Malta’s history. Site of the Great Siege of 1565 as well as the Second World War encirclement of 1942, the harbour lies between Valletta and the Three Cities, with iconic castles on both sides. Cruising these protected waters provides a different perspective from land-based exploration, taking you in and out of hidden creeks and watery corners. Hop into a tiny striped dghajsa (traditional water taxi) by Custom House, beneath Valletta’s Upper Barrakka Gardens, or book on a larger organised boat tour with full commentary.
6. Wallow in the Blue Lagoon
The Blue Lagoon on Comino
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Malta’s favourite day trips are to the Blue Lagoon. A protected stretch of luminous blue water flanked by caves on the tiny island of Comino, this is the nation’s top spot to swim and snorkel on a hot summer’s day. It gets crowded and there is little space and no shade on land, so a boat that stays with you all day, offering a deck to laze on and liquid refreshment, is definitely a plus.
7. Walk into the world’s oldest stone architecture 
Malta’s extraordinary megalithic temples — all Unesco world heritage sites — are the oldest free-standing stone architecture in the world. Predating both Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid, the temples are proper buildings with monumental doorways, curved rooms (once decorated with plaster and ochre paint), stone furniture and statues (originals now in the National Museum of Archaeology). Best preserved are Mnajdra and Hagar Qim, followed by Tarxien, and Ggantija on Gozo. And there’s more to wonder at underground at the unique Hal Saflieni Hypogeum — a triple-layered tomb complex of rock-cut chambers, some immaculately carved to look like the above-ground temples.
8. Explore curious catacombs 
St Paul’s Catacombs, Rabat
DEAGOSTINI/GETTY IMAGES
Beneath the ground at the centre of the island of Malta lies a labyrinth of Roman-Byzantine catacombs — a complex of stone-cut tombs ranging from oblong holes in the wall to carefully carved window graves and once-opulent four-poster sarcophagi. Different from any in Rome, these catacombs include round stone tables where the funerary meal was taken. The easiest way to visit is at St Paul’s Catacombs in Rabat, which has an informative visitors’ centre, audio guide and plenty to explore including pagan and Jewish as well as Christian tombs. To make the most of the experience, take a torch.
9. Taste Maltese wine
Legligin wine bar in Valletta
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You won’t find Maltese wines sold abroad so this is your chance to try them. You can order by the glass in the wine bars of Valletta, but it’s fun to see the production close-up. Meridiana makes some of the best wines in Malta and offers tours of its estate near Mdina, followed by a tasting with cheeses and cold meats. Or stop by the tiny artisan winery at Tal-Massar, Gozo — visit the vines before an alfresco wine tasting accompanied by a platter of Gozitan produce.
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10. Book a boat tour of Gozo and Comino
The Grand Harbour in Valletta
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Circumnavigate Gozo and Comino exploring their picturesque coasts, stopping to swim, sunbathe and snorkel (equipment included) — a great trip for all the family. Starting in Malta (with five pick-up points available), highlights include the famous Blue Lagoon, with time to take a dip in its clear turquoise waters. You’ll also visit Comino’s much less crowded Crystal Lagoon, and some of Gozo’s most scenic spots, as well as steaming past towering cliffs and historic towers.
11. Pay a visit to Malta’s best historic house museum
The palace of Casa Rocca Piccola
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Still home to the Marquis De Piro (a modern Knight of St John) and his family, Casa Rocca Piccola is a treasure trove of Maltese antiques and curiosities. A solid chest, probably the oldest piece of Maltese furniture in existence, sits alongside intricate Maltese lace, fascinating family photos, rare paintings and the only surviving set of silver surgical instruments from the Knights’ sacred hospital. If you can afford the champagne tour (casaroccapiccola.com), take it, and hope to have the marquis as your guide — he is a consummate storyteller and the tour is a delight. Alternatively, combine a stop here with a visit to Palazzo Parisio, described as a “miniature Versailles”.
12. Hop around Malta
A medieval church in the traditional fishing village of Marsaxlokk
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Hop on to this hop-on-hop-off open-top bus that tours the sights of Malta. There are two routes — north and south — both with plenty to see and do. One- or two-day tickets let you choose how long you spend at each stop, including top out-of-town spots such as the pretty fishing village of Marsaxlokk, the luminous Blue Grotto (take the boat tour), and the earliest visible residence of humans on Malta, Ghar Dalam (Cave of Darkness).
13. Kick back at the beach
Sightseeing is great, but when you’re surrounded by glittering azure waters, warm enough for swimming from June to early November, and the sun shines 300 days of the year, it’s hard to resist. From the broad yellow sands of Golden Bay to the rocky shoreline of Sliema, Malta’s longest sandy beach at Mellieha to hidden coves — not to mention the great beaches of Gozo — there’s no shortage of choice. Need help deciding? Check Malta’s Which Beach site (whichbeach.com.mt) to find out where has the best conditions each day.
14. Have an arty afternoon at Muza 
Muza, Malta’s National Museum of Art
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Art lovers are in for a brush with some of the finest art from the 15th to the 20th century at Muza (muza.mt), Malta’s National Museum of Art. It opened during the republic’s year as European Capital of Culture in 2018, and the setting, the Auberge d’Italie, is elegant: a mansion in Valletta, built in the 16th century for the island’s Italian-speaking Knights of St John (who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798). Expect a Mediterranean odyssey — the first floor focuses on the sea, via paintings and ancient statues. Elsewhere, displays including domestic furnishings address the nation’s European links in the 16th to 18th centuries, during the Rule of the Knights, and as a crucial part of the British Empire. Look, too, for pieces by Turner, Tommaso and Rubens.
muza.mt
15. Catch a concert
The Teatru Manoel in Valletta
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No need to be an opera buff to fall for bijou Teatru Manoel, Malta’s 547-seat jewel-box performance space, in central Valletta. One of Europe’s oldest functioning theatres (unveiled in 1732 by a resident Knight of St John), behind its sidestreet facade it’s a photogenic vision of floral motifs, gold leaf and velvet, its balconies beaded with pearl-like lightbulbs. The highlight is the baby-blue ceiling in a trompe-l’oeil pattern that evokes a soaring dome. Visitors (Mon-Sat, €5) are drawn to the white Carrara marble staircase, Viennese chandeliers and niches that resemble seashells. Check the website for concerts and musicals.
teatrumanoel.mt
16. Take a local brewery tour on Gozo
The Lord Chambray brewery in Gozo
Craft breweries are a global phenomenon and Malta’s sibling Gozo is no exception, thanks to the success of Lord Chambray’s unfiltered, unpasteurised offerings. Take a 45-minute tour and learn all about this fascinating brand, with its seasonal varieties based on ingredients harvested around the Maltese archipelago. The decade-old company was the brainwave of Italians, the D’Imperio family, who holidayed here for years and were seduced by Gozo’s unmanicured looks and lifestyle. The fashionably labelled beers — naturally effervescent, following secondary fermentation in kegs and bottles — are widely found in local bars, cafés and restaurants, as well as the brewery’s lively taproom.
lord-chambrayshop.com/brewery-tour
17. Be a guest at a private Mdina palazzo
Walking the honeyed limestone streets of historic Mdina, Malta’s capital city until the construction of Valletta, you pass the tall limestone walls and fancy door-knockers of its aristocratic palazzi. Getting an invitation inside is quite another matter, but this experience takes you behind the façade as a guest of one of Malta’s top families. Meet the occupant(s) and be shown their home, complete with its antique, historical and artistic treasures. Privacy is key so you won’t find this listed, but contact Exclusively Malta for further information.
exclusivelymalta.com
18. Find Malta’s history in a fortified nutshell
Fort St Angelo in Birgu
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On the banks of the Grand Harbour, in Birgu (Vittoriosa), stands the solid limestone figure of Fort St Angelo. Malta’s oldest fortress encapsulates a millennium of the nation’s history. The heart of medieval rule, St Angelo then became the first base of the Knights in Malta and survived the Great Siege before giving way to Valletta. Briefly a prison — where Caravaggio was held — it was the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean HQ for more than 150 years. The battlements offer remarkable panoramas of the Grand Harbour, Valletta and the Three Cities.
heritagemalta.org
19. Make a Maltese meal of it
Over the past decade, Malta has reinvented itself as a seriously foodie destination. Awarded its first Michelin stars in 2020, it now has six one-starred restaurants and its first two-starred restaurant (ION Harbour by Simon Rogan). But you don’t have to spend a fortune to eat well here. For a meal like Maltese mama used to make, head to award-winning Gululu in St Julian’s, visit Valletta’s Is-Suq Tal-Belt food hall, or settle in for a delicious and filling Maltese mezze at Legligin.
gululu.com.mt; legliginmalta.com
20. Tunnel into the secrets of the Second World War
The Lascaris War Rooms in Valletta
SASCHA STEINBACH/GETTY IMAGES
Deep beneath Valletta hides the secret Second World War HQ of the Allies in the Mediterranean. From the Lascaris War Rooms, Eisenhower oversaw the invasion of Sicily; radar readings were analysed, signals intercepted and RAF fighters controlled. After the war the site remained secret as Soviet submarines were tracked; the tunnel control centre was only closed in 1977. Today, map rooms and original communications equipment are evocatively displayed alongside tunnels lined with bunks. Malta had a tough and strategically important war, and there are plenty of Second World War sites to explore, several of them preserved by the same foundation as the Lascaris War Rooms.
lascariswarrooms.com
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Additional reporting byNick Redman
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Publish date : 2024-05-14 07:00:00
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