A week in Malta

Darrenon91

Hi all,

Looking to spend a week in Malta the end of May. Going to base in St Julians or Valletta (cant decide yet)

We are planning on hiring a car. Is this a good idea? Is it expensive?

Any must do's?

A day trip to Gozo is our only definite at the moment.

Welcome all recommendations.

Thanks.

Darrenon91

So we booked this for the end of May.

Anyone have any replies on the above? We chose to AirBnb in Sliema.

cdeb

How many are going?

What are ye looking for?

I wouldn't bother with a car tbh; it's a small place and the buses are good. If you feel like it, you could actually walk almost anywhere; it'll take time, but you'd see things you wouldn't ordinarily. I walked from the Blue Lagoon (boat trips available) back to Valletta - across the whole island - in three hours I think. Any random village will have a church that's worth popping into. The Cathedral in Valletta is particularly good. Valletta old town is nice for a wander too. Mdina is a lovely, if small, pedestrian/mediaeval village.

St Julian's is more lively in terms of nightlife though, and diving, etc, is probably good all around the island.

Darrenon91

cdeb wrote: »

How many are going?

What are ye looking for?

I wouldn't bother with a car tbh; it's a small place and the buses are good. If you feel like it, you could actually walk almost anywhere; it'll take time, but you'd see things you wouldn't ordinarily. I walked from the Blue Lagoon (boat trips available) back to Valletta - across the whole island - in three hours I think. Any random village will have a church that's worth popping into. The Cathedral in Valletta is particularly good. Valletta old town is nice for a wander too. Mdina is a lovely, if small, pedestrian/mediaeval village.

St Julian's is more lively in terms of nightlife though, and diving, etc, is probably good all around the island.

Thank you.

Just my girlfriend and I. That's great we do like to walk but we wanna see as much of the Island as possible so thought the car might be an idea for 1 or 2 days.

Mainly looking at doing the main touristy type stuff plus getting some nice food (we are not big drinkers)

We would also be into outdoor activities but I am not sure if there is much of that available in Malta?

cdeb

Outdoor activities in Malta I think would be the sea.

There's no parks, mountains, lakes, etc. It's all fairly crowded actually; there's no countryside as such.

I'd go with Valletta over St Julian's based on your post; you can still have a pint in the evening, but Valletta is I think a UNESCO old town, and nicer than St Julian's.

Somewhere like Mdina in particular has a couple of nice small restaurants and a nice atmosphere (because cars are banned). There's a couple of other similar towns I think. Mdina is 45 minutes or so by bus from Valletta.

Never been to Gozo, so can't comment on that.

otnomart

Many years ago, rented a car for a day just to go to Gozo and have more freedom there.
Apart from that, you can go anywhere by bus.
In Gozo you have the ancient city of Ggantija and the salt pans.
Highly recommend Mdina and the "Three Cities".
Enjoy !

irish snowblower

If you have any interest in scuba diving you could not find a better place to learn

Darrenon91

otnomart wrote: »

Many years ago, rented a car for a day just to go to Gozo and have more freedom there.
Apart from that, you can go anywhere by bus.
In Gozo you have the ancient city of Ggantija and the salt pans.
Highly recommend Mdina and the "Three Cities".
Enjoy !

Ya I think that sounds like a good idea. Maybe use the car option on days where we would like a bit more freedom than having to worry about catching buses.

Mdina sounds like the type of place we would enjoy so looking forward to that.

irish snowblower wrote: »

If you have any interest in scuba diving you could not find a better place to learn

Ive never done it but its defo on the bucketlist.

alchemist33

It was also many years since we were there, but hiring a car for a day or two is a good idea. Mdina is lovely, and if you want something to set the scene for Valetta, try reading "The Religion" by Tim Willocks beforehand, which is about the siege of Valetta.