Cruise ships berth in the Grand Harbour. It’s about the best arrival anywhere in the Mediterranean. You dock beneath Valletta’s bastions with the city right above you. It also makes Malta a very good one-day port, because the best of it is walking distance from the ship.
A guided walk uses the few hours in port far better than working out the buses from the quay.
What one day in port reaches
You dock right below Valletta
The terminal sits directly below the city on the old Valletta waterfront. A lift runs from the quay up to the Upper Barrakka Gardens and reaches the centre in about two minutes. An organised transfer adds very little here.
Everything is signposted, English is an official language, and walking out of the terminal is straightforward. Malta is one of the easier ports to just walk off into.
First time here
Valletta on foot
St John’s Co-Cathedral, the archaeology museum, the Grand Master’s Palace and the bastion walk are all within a few streets of each other. The walk finishes at the Upper Barrakka Gardens, which is where the view over the Grand Harbour in every photograph of Valletta is taken from. The saluting battery below it fires at noon and at four, and that is worth timing a coffee around.
None of it needs a vehicle and none of it needs booking, except the Co-Cathedral in high season.
Museums and historic sites
The Three Cities
Straight across the water from the ship, on a harbour ferry that runs constantly. Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua are older than Valletta, quieter, and largely free of the crowd you arrived with.
If you’ve done Valletta before, do this instead. The crossing itself is one of the best few minutes in Malta.
Harbour ferry routesBook a Three Cities tour
Mdina
It is half an hour out by bus or taxi and a complete change of pace. It is a walled medieval city with almost no traffic and a view across half the island. Pair it with Rabat and the catacombs next door.
It is worth doing on a long call and tight on a short one. Check your all-aboard time before you commit, not after.
Routes by time availableBook an Mdina tour
Gozo and Comino are the two that do not fit. Both mean a road transfer to the north plus a ferry each way. The timings leave you almost no time at the other end. Ship excursions do sell them, but they’re mostly travel. The Hypogeum is effectively impossible too, since entry is capped and booked out months ahead.
Malta is one of the ports where an organised excursion adds least. The lift from the quay does the hard part, the city is small, and everything is in English. Walking off and doing it yourself is easy here in a way it isn’t everywhere.
Booking ahead for a short call
The one good reason to book anything in advance is queue time. On a six hour call, an hour in a ticket line is a sixth of your day. The places worth pre-booking are the Co-Cathedral and any timed-entry museum in high season.