Malta is small enough that no base is truly inconvenient, and crowded enough that the wrong one will annoy you every day. The island is thirty kilometres end to end, so the real question isn’t distance. It’s what’s outside your door at eleven at night, and how long the bus takes in August.
Where to base yourself
Sliema
It is a sensible default. Seafront promenade, every shop and restaurant you could want, ferries into Valletta in five minutes and buses everywhere else.
It’s a dense modern town rather than a pretty one. There is building work going on somewhere near you at all times.
Ferries into VallettaCompare places to stay
St Julian’s and Paceville
Around Spinola Bay it is prettier than Sliema, and Paceville is right next door. Check exactly where a property sits before you book, because a few hundred metres decides whether you sleep.
Spinola Bay itself is the compromise: the convenience without the noise.
Nights out in Malta
Valletta and the Three Cities
Valletta is the loveliest place to stay and getting better every year: small hotels and townhouses in a city that empties in the evening. The catch is stairs, almost no parking, and a quiet some people find too quiet.
The Three Cities give you the same architecture with a fraction of the visitors, and a better view, because you’re looking back at Valletta. There are fewer restaurants. You’ll use the ferry constantly.
What to see there
The north
Buġibba, Qawra and St Paul’s Bay have the biggest concentration of hotels and the most package-holiday feel. Well connected, handy for the Gozo and Comino boats, and not somewhere you stay for charm.
Mellieħa is quieter and sits on a hill near the best sandy beaches and the Gozo ferry. It works much better with a car.
Find a sandy bay
An honest word on each area
Where people stay
- Sliema
- The default, and a sensible one. Seafront promenade, every shop and restaurant, ferries to Valletta in five minutes and buses everywhere. Dense and modern rather than pretty, with construction somewhere near you at all times.
- St Julian’s
- Next door to Sliema and prettier around Spinola Bay, but it contains Paceville. Check exactly where a property sits: a few hundred metres decides whether you sleep.
- Valletta
- The most beautiful place to stay and increasingly the best. Small hotels and townhouses in a city that empties in the evening. The catch is stairs, almost no parking, and a quiet that some people find too quiet.
- The Three Cities
- Vittoriosa, Senglea and Cospicua, across the harbour. The same architecture as Valletta with a fraction of the visitors and a better view. Fewer restaurants. You will use the ferry constantly.
- Buġibba, Qawra and St Paul’s Bay
- The cheapest concentration of hotels and the most package-holiday in feel. Well connected north, handy for Gozo and Comino boats, and not somewhere you stay for charm.
- Mellieħa
- Quieter, on a hill, near the best sandy beaches and the Gozo ferry. Good with a car, more effort without one.
- The south and southeast
- Marsaxlokk, Birżebbuġa, Marsaskala. More Maltese in character, much cheaper, fewer visitors, and a longer trip to everything else.
- Gozo
- A different holiday, not a base for seeing Malta. Slower, greener and lovelier, with a ferry between you and everything on the main island.
Choosing quickly
First trip and you want no friction, stay in Sliema. Want it beautiful, stay in Valletta or the Three Cities. Here to swim, stay north around Mellieħa. Want it cheap and real, go south. Want a holiday rather than a tour of Malta, go to Gozo and accept you won’t see much of the main island.
First, construction. Malta builds constantly and a photo taken last spring may now face scaffolding. Second, how far the property is from Paceville if it’s anywhere in St Julian’s, because the noise carries much further than the map suggests. Recent reviews will tell you about both; the description won’t.
In Sliema, St Julian’s, Valletta and the Three Cities the buses and ferries cover the area well. Parking is scarce, so a car sits unused, and Valletta charges for access. In the north, the south or Gozo it is the other way round. A few days of car hire opens up the coast and the villages the buses reach slowly.
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