So I've just arrived in Malta. Aby particular recommendations? We will spend 9 nights here and we are located at St Pauls Bay.
Also - do they cheat on you in mini markets around hotels? I feel ripped off buying basic groceries.
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Malta
So I've just arrived in Malta. Aby particular recommendations? We will spend 9 nights here and we are located at St Pauls Bay.
Also - do they cheat on you in mini markets around hotels? I feel ripped off buying basic groceries.
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>we are located at St Pauls Bay.
hahahaha frick off
might as well be in benidorm
Nine nights is enough to see everything, I spent seven days there and I ran out of things to do. Go to the salt pans in Gozo. Marsaxlokk has a nice fish market and boat tours. If you rent a car, you can find private beaches easily.
take a trip around malta in only one day with some boats like Captain Morgan in Sliema. They go around malta and stop for like an hour at blue lagoon, very nice spot with crystal clear water. If you like party, go to saint Julian, Its the nightlife. also go a trip to Gozo and popeye village.
>St Pauls Bay
Well, there's your first mistake but you have plenty of time to explore the island so that's ok. I would rely on Bolt if I were you as connecting in Valletta to get everywhere will get boring and a rental car isn't worth it. I've driven in the usual 'bad' places like Sicily and Turkey and Maltese drivers are the worst, there's no order in the chaos like usual. Parking is a pain in the arse too whereas Bolt is cheap as frick and reliable.
For sights, I thought Hagar Qim was way better than I expected. The hypogeum is a rip off and then the usual recommended sights are all worth a visit - mosta dome, popeye village, salt pans, marsaxlokk, 3 cities etc. Noni is the best restaurant on the island and, although expensive, is worth it. It's a one michelin star restaurant operating at a 2 star level easily.
Well it was only affordable option available for us at the time. It's a compromise.
Anyway we are on our way to Popeye rights now.
Pic related - photo I took at Qawra Point Beach.
>Well it was only affordable option available for us
Are you fricking poor? Just use your tap app to transfer some of your savings and then take a real vacation.
I've been to Malta with my gf in 2021, we stayed there one week and rented a car to drive around. It was a good holiday, but the hot and humidity was almost unbearable. Still we managed to visit almost all the places we wanted to see, driving around all the tree major Islands. We are both Italians, and since the geographic proximity to Sicily we expected Malta to be more Mediterranean/Italian, instead it's more a mix of Arabic and Anglo influence. It's a bit like Gibraltar.
> La Valletta
I loved it, walking through all the neighborhoods is hard though, be sure to visit Birgu, and if you can take a boat trip in the inner sea so that you can see the old Bastion. I heard the war museum is very interesting, lots of things from the Ottoman wars and WW2, but it was closed when I was there.
> st Peter's pool
Careful with the sketchy guys owning the parking lot and the bar in front of it
> marsaxlokk
> Dingli cliffs window
Good photo spot. Hard to reach if you haven't a car
> Mdina
quieter and smaller than Malta, there's not much to see or do, but the city centre is nice.
> Blue Lagoon
Beautiful but crowded and filled with teenagers and IG influencers looking for nice pictures. Paid 60€ for a boat trip around the island of Comino, visited a couple of beaches, it was definitely the highlight of the holiday but the amount of people and the loud music made it less enjoyable. Don't buy the pineapple drink, it's a scam.
> Blue hole
My favorite place in Malta, probably because it wasn't crowded. It's a small inland sea, then you swim through this crevice for about 30-40mt, and then you're in open sea. It was nice.
It was a nice holiday. I didn't expect the place to be so expensive for me though, it's a tiny island in the Mediterranean and the prices are the same of Italy. Also the food is hideous, you can really see the British influence in that. Feel free to ask me more, and have fun
Today we were on the Cruise around Comino. It was nice but our expectations were higher - maybe the trip we had in Spain last year set the bar too high, but there is waaay too much people at Blue Lagoon. We need another plague...
We enjoyed a walk through the island though, noone around and we had blissful 30 minutes of silence and maybe 5 people on the water at Santa Maria Bay, before a ship landed nearby.
>Also the food is hideous, you can really see the British influence in that
The trick is to avoid anything that's Maltese. Malta and Gozo had some of the best food I've ever eaten at affordable prices, but you have to look for places run by Italians, Chinks, Arabs etc. Maltese can't cook for shit, they're thoroughly bongified.
Pastizzis are pretty good and affordable.
The ftiras are pretty nice as well and the gozo meat/cheese pies are top tier if you get them from non tourist trap joints.
The rabbit is good too. But every other stew/saucy recipe they have is absolute bong goyslop status lol.
Avoid their stews/sauce based recipes, especially in the summer, they'll disgust you more than anything else.
But another good thing about Malta is the arabic/italian influence so you find a lot of top tier arab/italian joints. Around Valletta i had amazing home made pasta and sicilian foods for very cheap.
Walk around Sliema in the afternoon, it's quite nice
If you're a fan of the Robin Williams version of Popeye the Sailor Man, go check out the filming location in Malta. The buildings have been upgraded to permanent structures since the early 80s and it's turned into a major tourist spot. Be warned, however, this is a big time tourist trap. I'd only go if you're a super fan of the movie or you're into 50 year old Hollywood shit. Otherwise, I'd stay far away.
Thanks for all the answers do far!
We visited this place but didnt go inside, it's a typical alcohol + loud music spot, not for us but the view was generally nice.
As for food, so far we've eaten stuff from Pastizzis (cheap), but today we visit Gozo and will look for something better.
I live here and sometimes take a kayak from St Paul's bay over to ghadira bay; even just a paddle to Mistra or St Pauls Island is nice. Also you might like to take a trek on foot around the rocky areas from St Paul's up to Mellieha and you can come across some cool WW2 stuff.
Sounds good, thanks! Could you please describe more in details this walking trip to Mellieha? What we can find there?
Specifically it's the area known as Selmun. You won't be wowed, but it's good for a ramble and there are some old gun batteries dotted around the place, some even from before WW2 which were built to defend the island from pirates. If you're a bit of a dreamer you might just find yourself transported! Also, paddling might be out this week..gales are expected.
Also - where can I eat a good tuna steak in At Paul Bay?
We booked 12 days in Malta. Ended up going to Gozo after 2 days. Was the wisest choice made in years