Village festas (village feasts) happen somewhere on the islands most weekends from May to September. Malta also has a few fixed annual events worth building a trip around. These are the ones with a national scale.
This page explains the events that come round every year. The calendar has the confirmed dates, the village feasts and the public holidays, month by month.
- CarnivalFive days of costume and confetti in Valletta and Nadur, and how different the two are.
- Holy WeekHoly Week processions, what happens on each day and where to stand.
- Notte BiancaValletta open all night, once a year, with the state rooms unlocked.
- Malta International Fireworks FestivalMalta takes fireworks seriously. This is the week it proves it.
- Malta Jazz FestivalThree nights under the bastions in Valletta, with the harbour behind the stage.
- EurovisionThree contests, three different times of year. The national selection in January, Eurovision in May, and the junior contest that Malta is hosting in October.
The rest of the year
L-Imnarja
An agricultural festival at Buskett with folk singing, produce judging and a great deal of rabbit eaten outdoors overnight. It is older than most of what surrounds it.
It is a public holiday, and one of the few events built around the food.
About fenek
The Grand Harbour regatta
The harbour towns race each other on Victory Day in September and again on Freedom Day in March. The races are fiercely contested and free to watch from the bastions.
The rivalry between the Three Cities and the rest is genuine and very old.
Public holidaysBook a harbour cruise
Village festas
This is the calendar Maltese villages live by. Every parish keeps its patron saint’s feast with bands, banners, food stalls and fireworks on a scale that would bankrupt a small town anywhere else.
Isle of MTV is the other summer fixture: a large free open-air concert and the biggest single music event on the islands.
Free things to do
Smaller fixtures worth knowing
- L-Imnarja, 29 June
- An agricultural festival at Buskett with folk singing, produce judging and a great deal of rabbit eaten outdoors overnight.
- The Grand Harbour regatta
- Rowing races between the harbour towns on Victory Day in September, and again on Freedom Day in March. Free to watch from the bastions.
- Isle of MTV
- A large free open-air concert, usually in summer. Enormous crowds, and the biggest single music event on the islands.
- Village festas, May to September
- This is the calendar Maltese villages live by. Every parish keeps its patron saint’s feast, and somewhere is celebrating most summer weekends.