Malta is small and heavily visited, so nothing here is truly hidden. The places below sit a few hundred metres off the coach route and are usually empty. A few are simply not on anybody’s list.
Worth the detour
The Three Cities
Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua have the same architecture as Valletta, a better view of it, and a fraction of the visitors. The ferry across takes five minutes.
If you have done Valletta before, go here instead. Most people never cross the water.
Harbour ferriesBook a Three Cities tour
The Red Tower
A bright red seventeenth-century watchtower stands on the ridge above Mellieħa, looking across at Comino and Gozo. You can see three islands from the doorstep.
Nearby, Clapham Junction near Dingli has prehistoric cart ruts cut into the limestone, crossing each other like a rail yard. Nobody is certain what made them.
Walks nearby
The Xwejni salt pans
These are salt pans cut into the coastal rock near Marsalforn in Gozo. People still work them by hand. The Salina pans in Malta do the same job beside a bird reserve.
Both sit on stretches of coast most people drive straight past.
More of Gozo
Għar Dalam and Il-Maqluba
Għar Dalam at Birżebbuġa is a cave with layered deposits of Pleistocene animal bones, including dwarf elephants and hippos, and evidence of Malta’s earliest settlement.
Il-Maqluba at Qrendi is a large wooded sinkhole beside the village church, with a legend attached about a village swallowed for its wickedness.
Temples and prehistory
The full list
In Malta
- The Three Cities
- They have the same architecture as Valletta, a better view of it and a fraction of the visitors. The ferry across takes five minutes.
- The Victoria Lines
- A Victorian wall runs the whole width of the island along a natural fault. Long stretches of it are walkable, through country almost nobody visits.
- Ta’ Hagrat and Skorba, Mġarr
- These are two of the seven UNESCO-listed temple sites. They are small and quiet, and often empty while the coaches are at Ħaġar Qim. Check the opening times before you travel.
- Il-Maqluba, Qrendi
- A large sinkhole sits beside the village church, wooded at the bottom. The legend says a village was swallowed here for its wickedness.
- Clapham Junction, near Dingli
- Prehistoric cart ruts are cut into the limestone plateau, crossing each other like a rail yard. Nobody is certain what made them.
- Wied il-Ghasel, Mosta
- A deep valley runs below the town, with a chapel built into the rock face. It is one of the few green walks you can reach by bus.
- Għar Dalam, Birżebbuġa
- This cave holds layered deposits of Ice Age animal bones, including dwarf elephants and hippos. It also holds the earliest evidence of people living in Malta.
- Buskett and Verdala
- This is the closest thing Malta has to woodland, below the Grand Master’s summer palace. L-Imnarja (the summer harvest festival) is held here every June.
- The Red Tower, Marfa Ridge
- A bright red seventeenth-century watchtower stands on the ridge above Mellieħa, looking across at Comino and Gozo.
- Salina salt pans
- Old salt pans sit near Salina Bay beside a bird reserve. Most people drive straight past this stretch of coast.
In Gozo and Comino
- The Xwejni salt pans
- Pans are cut into the coastal rock near Marsalforn in a chequerboard. Families still work them by hand.
- Ta’ Ċenċ cliffs, Sannat
- The clifftop here is high and empty, with almost nothing built on it. This is the best walking on either island.
- San Blas Bay
- A small red-sand bay sits at the bottom of a steep track, so it stays quiet.
- Comino after four o’clock
- Once the day boats leave, an island that held thousands that afternoon holds almost nobody. See Comino.
Go to Valletta at eight in the morning, to Mdina after the last coach leaves, or to any famous beach in October. The same places everyone visits are almost empty a few hours either side of when everyone visits them.
Several of these have no barriers, no signage and no phone signal. Cliff edges here are undercut in places, tracks are loose limestone, and nobody is coming to look for you. Tell someone where you are going, and do not go alone in summer heat.