Valletta is the capital, and the smallest capital city in the European Union. The Knights built it from 1566, straight after the Great Siege, on a grid across a peninsula between two harbours. The whole city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and you can walk across it in about twenty minutes.
What to see in Valletta
St John’s Co-Cathedral
The outside is plain almost to the point of being dull. The inside is one of the most decorated interiors in Europe, with the floor made of the tombstones of the Knights.
The oratory holds the largest painting Caravaggio ever made, and the only one he signed. Shoulders and knees covered, and no stiletto heels, which would go through the tombstones.
Museums and churchesBuy entry tickets
The Upper Barrakka Gardens
The terrace looks straight down the Grand Harbour to the Three Cities. It is free, it is open all day, and it is the best view in Malta that costs nothing.
The saluting battery below it fires at noon and again at four. Get there ten minutes early if you want the front rail.
Free things to doBook a Valletta tour
The city empties
Valletta is a working city, so when the offices close most of it goes home. The restaurants in the side streets and the wine bars on Strait Street stay open.
This is the best time to walk it. The same streets that were full at midday are empty and lit. It is one of the safest cities in Europe to wander around at night.
Valletta after dark
Getting there and around
Practical
- By ferry
- Five minutes from Sliema and five from the Three Cities. Both are more pleasant than the bus and drop you below the bastions.
- By bus
- Almost every route on the island passes through the terminus outside the gate, so getting here is easy from anywhere.
- By car
- Do not. Valletta charges for entry on weekdays and parking inside is close to impossible.
- The Barrakka Lift
- Takes you from the harbour up to the Upper Barrakka in a few seconds, which saves a steep climb.
- On foot
- The city is a grid on a slope. The streets running across the peninsula are flat and the ones running down to the water are steps.
Several of the streets down to the harbour are staircases rather than roads. The Knights built them shallow so a man in armour could climb them. Wear something sensible and take the flat streets if you are pushing a buggy.