Malta has played ancient Rome, Jerusalem, Greece, Somalia and Westeros, often within twenty minutes of each other. There is a film commission and there are deep-water tanks built for the job at Rinella. There are also more old fortifications than any crew could need.
What was filmed where
Popeye Village
A whole wooden village was built here for the Robin Williams film. When the shoot finished, nobody pulled it down. It is a small theme park today. It looks exactly like a cartoon come to life.
You can see the whole thing from the cliff above without paying to go in. Plenty of people do just that and take the photo from there.
Good with children
Mdina
The Mdina Gate scenes are the ones people recognise. The gate is right where you would expect it, at the main entrance to the old walled city.
The crew barely had to change a thing. Mdina is a medieval city with almost no cars in it, which is why productions keep coming back.
Fitting Mdina into a dayBook an Mdina tour
Fort Ricasoli
Ricasoli is still the main film site on the islands. Fort St Angelo and the Three Cities were used in that first series of Game of Thrones, and for plenty since.
You cannot always get into Ricasoli. It is a working set, so what you can see depends on what is being filmed that month.
Forts you can walk into
Comino and the Grand Harbour
Comino and the northern cliffs have doubled for Greek and Middle Eastern coastlines in a long list of films. Valletta and the Grand Harbour get used for period scenes over and over.
The good news is that most of these are ordinary places you can visit, because they were never sets to begin with.
Getting to CominoFind a boat to Comino
Mġarr ix-Xini, Gozo
Angelina Jolie wrote and directed this one and starred in it with Brad Pitt. The crew built a French seaside village on the high ground above the inlet. It came down when filming ended.
The inlet itself is still there and it is tiny. A few boats, a strip of rock to swim off, and cliffs on both sides. There is one small restaurant in summer and nothing else.
What else is on Gozo
Fort Manoel
The star fort on Manoel Island stood in for the Great Sept of Baelor in the first series of Game of Thrones. It has been used again since, in Assassin’s Creed and in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon.
You cannot usually walk in. The clearest view is from the Gżira waterfront or from the Sliema to Valletta ferry, which passes it on the way across.
The harbour ferries
The Valletta streets
The long chase through a black market was shot in Valletta, with more of the film made at Mellieħa, Vittoriosa and Pembroke. The city was closed off for weeks while they worked.
These are ordinary streets. Nothing was built and nothing was taken away, so you can walk the same route on any morning for nothing.
What to see in Valletta
The rest of the list
The same few places do most of the work. Fort Ricasoli, Fort St Elmo, Valletta and the water tanks at Rinella turn up again and again. They are big, empty and easy to close off.
More films and where they were made
- Gladiator II, 2024
- Fort Ricasoli again, and the Grand Harbour.
- Troy, 2004
- Fort Ricasoli, Mellieħa and the Blue Lagoon.
- Assassin’s Creed, 2016
- Fort Manoel, Fort Ricasoli, Fort Delimara and Valletta.
- Murder on the Orient Express, 2017
- Valletta.
- 13 Hours, 2016
- Valletta, Fort St Elmo and the Grandmaster’s Palace.
- American Assassin, 2017
- Valletta, Fort St Elmo and the Grand Harbour.
- World War Z, 2013
- Fort St Elmo, Valletta and Mqabba.
- Captain Phillips, 2013
- The Freeport and the film studios.
- U-571, 2000
- The water tanks at Rinella.
- The Count of Monte Cristo, 2002
- Gozo and Comino.
- Cutthroat Island, 1995
- Mdina, Fort Ricasoli and the Blue Grotto.
- Clash of the Titans, 1981
- Fort St Elmo, and the Azure Window, which fell into the sea in 2017.
Popeye Village aside, none of these were made for visitors. Fort Ricasoli often closes completely while a production is in. Sets get taken apart when filming ends. Check before you travel across the island for one.