---
title: "Malta travel guide: Valletta, Gozo and the temples | Wimup"
description: "Malta on Wimup: where to base yourself across the three islands, how the bus network actually works, when the heat breaks, what to eat, and what to know before you book."
url: https://wimup.com/country/malta
type: Country guide
updated: 2026-10-05
publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com)
---

# Malta, three islands and an hour wide

Three inhabited islands inside **316 square kilometres**, temples that predate the pyramids, and a capital you can walk end to end in **twenty minutes**. Malta is small enough to work from one base, so here **the country page is the trip plan**.

## Quick answer

First trips base in **Valletta** or across the water in **Sliema**, which puts the harbour ferries, the museums and the bus network in reach without a car. Beach holidays go north to **Mellieħa and St Paul’s Bay**, closest to the sand and to the Gozo ferry. Give **Gozo** two or three nights for the quiet half of the country. The comfortable months are **April to June** and **September to October**, when the sea is warm and the limestone is not.

## Quick facts

- **Best months:** Apr–Jun · Sep–Oct
- **Ideal length:** 5–8 days
- **Budget per day:** $100–170
- **Language:** Maltese & English
- **Getting around:** Buses & the Gozo ferry

- **574,250** People
- **316** km²
- **3** UNESCO sites

Malta is one of the few countries where the geography can be held in your head after a day. The main island runs about 27 kilometres from the northern ferry terminal to the southern cliffs, Gozo sits across a 25-minute channel crossing, and Comino between them is a single hotel, a chapel and a lagoon. Nothing is far. What catches people out is not distance but the shape of the bus network, which radiates from Valletta rather than joining the coast, so two places 6 kilometres apart on the map can be an hour and a change apart on the timetable. Where you sleep therefore decides more here than in most countries. Valletta puts you inside the walls, with the Grand Harbour on one side and the Three Cities across the water on a ferry that takes minutes. Sliema and St Julian's face the capital from the other side of Marsamxett Harbour and hold most of the hotel stock, the seafront promenade and the nightlife strip at Paceville, which is loud in season and easy to avoid the rest of the year. The north, around St Paul's Bay, Bugibba, Qawra and Mellieħa, is the resort half of the island and also the closest base to the Gozo ferry at Ċirkewwa and to the handful of genuine sandy beaches, of which Golden Bay and Mellieħa Bay are the largest. Inland the island changes completely. Mdina is the walled former capital on a ridge in the centre, silent after the day trippers leave, with Rabat and the Roman and early Christian layers immediately outside its gate. The south is where the prehistory is: Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra on the cliffs above the sea, the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum underground at Paola, and Marsaxlokk with its painted luzzu boats and Sunday fish market. Gozo is the other half of the decision. It is greener, slower and about a third the size, and the trip that treats it as a day out gets the ferry both ways and sees Victoria, the Ġgantija temples and a beach. Two or three nights on Gozo changes the holiday: Xagħra and Marsalforn for a base, the Dwejra coast for diving, and evenings in Victoria that feel like a different country from Paceville. The practical points are few and they matter. Malta drives on the left, a legacy of British rule that ended in 1964, and the roads are narrow, busy and unforgiving of a first-time hire car in high summer. Public transport is a single bus operator, cheap and comprehensive, with a rechargeable card and an app. And the calendar is unusually decisive here, because the limestone reflects heat, shade is scarce and July and August are genuinely punishing for the kind of walking this country is made of.

## Know before you go

- **Population:** 574,250
- **Area:** 316 km²
- **Density:** 1817.2 / km²
- **Capital:** Valletta
- **Major cities:** St Paul's Bay, Birkirkara, Mosta, Sliema, Qormi
- **Tourism board:** Official site
- **Entry:** Schengen, and in the EU since 2004 EU member since 1 May 2004 and Schengen since 2007, so most visa-free nationalities get 90 days in any 180 across the area, with no check arriving from another Schengen state. Check your own case.
- **Currency:** Euro (€), adopted in 2008 The euro since 1 January 2008. Cards work almost everywhere, but carry a little cash for a village bakery, a pastizzi hatch or a Gozo kiosk. Paying in your home currency is always the worse rate.
- **Language:** Maltese and English, both official Maltese is a Semitic language in Latin script, unique in the EU, with Arabic grammar and Italian and Sicilian vocabulary. English is official too and close to universal. A bonġu is still noticed.
- **Calling code:** +356, with eight-digit numbers and no area codes
- **Power:** 230 V, 50 Hz, plug type G The British three-pin plug, an inheritance from before 1964. Travellers from mainland Europe need an adapter, and those from the United Kingdom do not.
- **Emergency:** 112 for police, ambulance and fire
- **Driving:** On the left, and the roads are narrow On the left, since British rule that ended in 1964. Roads are tight and busy, and parking in Valletta, Sliema and St Julian’s is hard in season. A car pays off on Gozo and along the southern cliffs.
- **Getting around:** One bus network on a rechargeable card, plus two ferries One operator runs the buses on both islands, radiating from Valletta, so nearby towns can be an hour apart. There is no railway. The Gozo ferry runs round the clock, about 25 minutes a crossing.
- **Museums and temples:** Heritage Malta runs the national sites Heritage Malta runs the temples, the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, the Cittadella on Gozo and the Valletta museums, and sells tickets directly. Book the Hypogeum well ahead: the daily cap is eighty.
- **Tipping:** Light. Round up, or about a tenth when the service earned it
- **Time zone:** Central European Time, UTC+1, with summer time
- **The three islands:** Malta, Gozo and Comino are the inhabited ones Malta holds the capital, the airport and most people. Gozo is a third the size, greener and slower, by ferry from Ċirkewwa. Comino has one hotel, one chapel and the Blue Lagoon: a day, not a base.
- **Festa season:** Late May to September, village by village Each parish celebrates its patron saint over several days, with bands, decorated streets and fireworks people cross the island for. Sts Peter and Paul, 29 June, is biggest at Marsaxlokk and Nadur.
- **Gozo:** Visit Gozo, the smaller island’s own tourism site

## When to visit

- **Jan**: Mild, wet and very quiet, with the Valletta Baroque Festival indoors
- **Feb**: Carnival week fills Valletta and the villages with floats and costume
- **Mar** (good): The countryside is green and flowering, which lasts about a month a year here
- **Apr** (best): Warm days, cool stone and Easter figolli in every bakery window
- **May** (best): The sea turns swimmable and the festa season starts at the end of the month
- **Jun** (best): Long light and warm water before the real heat, with Sts Peter and Paul on the 29th
- **Jul** (peak): Hot, busy and expensive, with festas and fireworks most weekends
- **Aug** (peak): The hottest month and the hardest for walking, with the limestone throwing heat back all day
- **Sep** (best): The heat eases, the sea is at its warmest and the crowds thin through the month
- **Oct** (best): The best all-round month: warm sea, comfortable sightseeing, and Notte Bianca in Valletta
- **Nov** (good): Still mild and much cheaper, with the first real rain and shorter days
- **Dec**: Cool, wet and low season, though Christmas fills the churches and the streets

## Fun fact

UNESCO counts 320 monuments inside Valletta's 55 hectares, one of the most concentrated historic areas in the world. The Order of St John planned it in one go on a grid after the Great Siege of 1565, on a peninsula barely a kilometre long, and you can still cross it on foot in about twenty minutes.

## Stereotypes, sorted out

- **Myth:** Malta is a beach destination **Reality:** The coast is mostly rock and cliff, and real sandy beaches are a short list in the north. Most swimming here happens off a ladder into a rocky inlet, which is a large part of why the water is so clear.
- **Myth:** The Azure Window is the thing to see on Gozo **Reality:** It fell into the sea in a storm on 8 March 2017. Dwejra is still worth the drive for the Inland Sea and Fungus Rock, and divers now visit the collapsed arch on the seabed, but the postcard has been out of date for years.
- **Myth:** It is too small to fill a week **Reality:** Three inhabited islands, three UNESCO listings and temples built before the pyramids take longer than the map suggests. What is small here is the driving, not the list.
- **Myth:** Nobody speaks English **Reality:** English is an official language alongside Maltese, used in signage, schooling and business. The more interesting fact runs the other way: Maltese is a Semitic language written in Latin script, and it is the only one of its kind in the European Union.
- **Myth:** You need a hire car **Reality:** One bus operator covers both main islands on a rechargeable card. A car earns its keep on Gozo and along the southern cliffs, and it is a liability in Sliema and Valletta in August. Traffic drives on the left.

- Village festas run from late May into September, and the fireworks are the point. Ask which village is celebrating the weekend you are there.
- Sunday lunch is the fixed meal of the week and the good places fill early. Book it.
- Churches expect covered shoulders and knees, and there are a great many churches.
- English is official, but a greeting in Maltese lands well. Bonġu in the morning, saħħa on the way out.
- Tipping is light. Round up, or leave about a tenth when the service earned it.
- Traffic drives on the left and the streets are narrow. Check the direction twice before stepping off a kerb.
- August is when the country slows for the heat. Put the walking in the morning and the evening.

## Famous Maltese faces

- **Roberta Metsola**: President of the European Parliament, and the first Maltese to hold the office
- **Edward de Bono**: Physician and writer who coined lateral thinking
- **Joseph Calleja**: Operatic tenor, and Malta’s cultural ambassador
- **Dun Karm Psaila**: The national poet, who wrote the words of the Maltese anthem
- **Temi Zammit**: Archaeologist of the Tarxien temples, and co-discoverer of how brucellosis reaches people
- **Dom Mintoff**: Prime minister across two eras, 1955 to 1958 and 1971 to 1984
- **Agatha Barbara**: The first woman to serve as President of Malta
- **Daphne Caruana Galizia**: Investigative journalist killed by a car bomb in 2017, whose reporting reshaped politics.
- **Eddie Fenech Adami**: Prime minister who signed Malta’s EU accession treaty in 2003
- **George Borg Olivier**: Prime minister when Malta became independent in 1964
- **Oliver Friggieri**: Poet and novelist, and the critic who built Maltese literary history
- **Francis Ebejer**: The leading Maltese dramatist of the postwar stage, in Maltese and in English
- **Ira Losco**: Singer who took Malta to second place at Eurovision in 2002
- **Destiny Chukunyere**: Singer, and winner of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2015
- **Antonio Sciortino**: Malta’s foremost sculptor of the twentieth century
- **Richard England**: Architect of the church at Manikata, and Malta’s best-known modernist
- **Giuseppe Calì**: The most prolific painter Malta has produced
- **Joseph Calleia**: Hollywood character actor of the 1930s and 40s, who retired home to Malta
- **Michael Mifsud**: Footballer who captained the national team

## Must-try Maltese food

- **Stuffat tal-fenek**: The national dish: rabbit slow-cooked in tomato and red wine, with pasta in its sauce.
- **Bragioli**: Beef olives, thin slices wrapped around breadcrumbs and egg, then braised in wine.
- **Soppa tal-armla**: Widow’s soup, a vegetable broth with a fresh cheeselet dropped in at the end.
- **Kapunata**: The Maltese answer to ratatouille, sweet and sour, eaten warm or cold.
- **Timpana**: Baked macaroni sealed in pastry and cut into slabs.
- **Ross il-forn**: Baked rice with mince and egg, the Sunday-lunch sibling of timpana.
- **Ġbejniet**: Small sheep’s or goat’s milk cheeselets, eaten fresh, dried, or rolled in cracked pepper.
- **Pastizzi**: The diamond-shaped pastry, ricotta or mushy peas, sold hot from a hatch.
- **Ftira**: The ring-shaped Maltese loaf, split and loaded with tuna, olives and capers.
- **Ħobż biż-żejt**: Crusty bread rubbed with tomato and olive oil, then piled high.
- **Qassatat**: The round cousin of the pastizz, with the same fillings and a softer pastry.
- **Lampuki pie**: The autumn fish pie: dorado baked under pastry with spinach, olives and capers.
- **Aljotta**: Fish soup with garlic, tomato and rice, built from whatever came in that morning.
- **Stuffat tal-qarnit**: Octopus braised slowly in red wine and tomato, usually with peas.
- **Grilled lampuki**: Dorado, in season from late summer into autumn, simply grilled and lemoned.
- **Imqaret**: Deep-fried date pastries, best eaten hot from the van that fried them.
- **Kannoli tal-irkotta**: Ricotta cannoli, the Sicilian original with a Maltese hand on the filling.
- **Kwareżimal**: An almond and citrus biscuit eaten through Lent, made without fat or eggs.
- **Figolli**: Almond-filled Easter biscuits, iced and cut into shapes.
- **Kinnie**: The bittersweet soft drink of bitter oranges and wormwood, made here since 1952.
- **Cisk**: The local lager, and the default order at any bar on the island.

## FAQs

### How many days do you need in Malta?

Five to eight. Three or four cover Valletta, the Three Cities, Mdina and the southern temples, and two or three more give Gozo the time it deserves.

### When is the best time to visit Malta?

April to June and September to October. The sea stays swimmable well into October, the limestone is not radiating heat, and the sites are bearable in the middle of the day. July and August are hot, busy and short on shade.

### Do you need a car in Malta?

Not on the main island. One bus operator covers the country on a rechargeable card, and the routes run through Valletta, so a cross-coast hop can mean a change. A car earns its keep on Gozo and along the southern cliffs, and it is a liability in Sliema and Valletta in summer. Traffic drives on the left.

### Is Gozo worth a night, or is a day trip enough?

A night at least. The ferry from Ċirkewwa takes about 25 minutes and runs around the clock, so a day trip works, but it buys Victoria, Ġgantija and one beach. Gozo’s case is the evenings, once the day visitors have gone.

### How far ahead do you have to book the Hypogeum?

Months, in summer. Heritage Malta caps the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum at eighty visitors a day to hold the temperature and humidity steady in the chambers, sells the tickets on its own site and nowhere else, and peak-season slots go about three months out. If it is sold out, Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra, Tarxien and Ġgantija are all above ground and all open.

## Related countries

- [Italy](https://wimup.com/country/italy.md)
- [France](https://wimup.com/country/france.md)
- [All of Europe](https://wimup.com/europe)

Part of [Europe](https://wimup.com/europe.md)

## Sources

- [Tourism board](https://www.visitmalta.com/en/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Getting around](https://www.publictransport.com.mt/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Museums and temples](https://heritagemalta.mt/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- [Gozo](https://visitgozo.com/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral)
- Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.