Rain in Malta rarely lasts a day. It comes in bursts of an hour or two.
You need somewhere to be for a short stretch rather than a whole wet-weather plan.
The same list works in July, when the problem is thirty-five degrees rather than water.
Underground
The Lascaris War Rooms are cut into the rock beneath Valletta and stay cool and dry whatever is happening above. About an hour and a half.
The Hypogeum is underground too, but tickets sell out weeks ahead. Not a rainy day option unless you booked already.
St Paul’s Catacombs at Rabat are large, rarely busy and cheap.
The Malta at War Museum in Birgu has a wartime shelter cut under it, and the shelter is the better half of the visit.
Under a roof but not a museum
- Is-Suq tal-Belt, the covered market in Valletta, which is food stalls and tables.
- The Marsaxlokk fish market is outdoors, but the restaurants behind it are not.
- Spazju Kreattiv at St James Cavalier has galleries and an art house cinema.
- Ta’ Qali crafts village, where the glass blowing and silver workshops are working sheds you can walk into.
- The Malta Maritime Museum in Birgu, reopened after a long refit.
Churches
Every village has one and they are free, open and enormous.
St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta and the Mosta dome are the two worth going to on purpose.
Most village churches close between about noon and four, so the middle of the day is the gap.
Cover your shoulders and knees. St John’s enforces it and hands out wraps at the door.
If you have children
The aquarium at Qawra, the Malta Classic Car Museum and the Playmobil factory at Ħal Far all take an hour or two and are indoors.
The Esplora science centre in Kalkara is the biggest of them and will absorb a whole afternoon.
Cinemas in Sliema and Birkirkara show films in English rather than dubbed.
The honest option
Sit in a village bar with a coffee and wait.
It costs a euro and a half and the rain will have stopped before you finish it.
If it has not, order a second one. Nobody will move you on.
