The Maltese coast is ringed with small stone towers. The Order built them over about fifty years.
They were there to watch for ships and pass a warning down the line. Most are still standing, and almost all are free to walk up to.
Three sets of towers
The Wignacourt towers came first, from 1610. They are the big ones, closer to forts than lookouts.
Wignacourt Tower at St Paul’s Bay is the oldest still standing.
The Lascaris towers followed in the 1640s. St Agatha’s Tower above Mellieħa, the one everyone calls the Red Tower, is the one you will recognise.
Then came the De Redin towers, thirteen of them in 1658 and 1659.
These are the small square ones you keep seeing on headlands. Each was built within sight of the next.
Which ones you can get inside
Din l-Art Ħelwa looks after several and opens them on set days.
The Red Tower, Wignacourt Tower and Dwejra Tower in Gozo are the usual three.
Opening is a few hours on set mornings, so check before you drive out.
The rest are locked, and it matters less than you would think. A tower is about where it stands, and the view from outside is the view the watch had.
The easy ones to reach
Red Tower, Mellieħa — a signed road up Marfa Ridge, parking at the top, five minutes on foot.
Wignacourt Tower, St Paul’s Bay — on the seafront, on a bus route.
Għallis Tower, Salina — at the roadside on the coast road, right at the water.
Sciuta Tower, Wied iż-Żurrieq — above the Blue Grotto boats, a short walk from the car park.
Walking between them
The coast path north from Għajn Tuffieħa links several towers in one walk.
The stretch along the northeast coast from Salina does the same at sea level and is flatter.
There is no shade on either. Go early, take water, and start back before the light goes.
November to April is the season for it. In July the exposed headlands are unwalkable by mid-morning.
Why they are worth the trip
Every tower sits on the best piece of ground for miles, because that was the whole design brief.
Four hundred years later they are still the best free viewpoints on the coast.
Take the photograph from the tower rather than of it. The ground was chosen for the view.
