Malta Travel Guides

These are the guides to Malta, Gozo and Comino, newest first. If it is your first trip, two of them do most of the work: Malta for first-timers for the lay of the land, then a fixed plan – the 3-day itinerary for a short break, or the 5-day and 7-day versions with Gozo built in.

Malta, Gozo and Comino

Malta is the main island, with Valletta, the airport and most of the hotels. Gozo is greener and slower, a 25-minute ferry off the north coast; tiny Comino in between is uninhabited apart from one hotel and the Blue Lagoon. If you are still placing the islands on a map, where is Malta has the basics – it lies south of Sicily, roughly three hours by air from the UK.

Five things to plan

Everything on the site sits under one of five topics, each with its own overview:

• When to go – Malta’s climate month by month; May, June, September and October are the sweet spot for a warm sea without the peak-summer heat and crowds.
• Where to stay – choose the area first, Sliema or St Julian’s for a first visit, then the type of hotel; every guide carries live prices.
• Things to do – Valletta, the Blue Lagoon, the megalithic temples, the beaches and the boat trips, plus which tours are worth booking.
• Gozo & Comino – the quieter sister islands, the ferry, and whether to visit on a day trip or stay over.
• Plan the trip – what a day costs, the paperwork, and how to get around by bus, ferry, transfer or hire car.

The shape of a typical trip

Most visitors spend three to four days on Malta and one or two on or around Gozo. A base in Sliema or St Julian’s keeps you on the ferry and bus routes, so a hire car is only worth it for the beaches and Gozo. Book a pre-arranged airport transfer for the arrival, then reckon on roughly €90–140 per person a day at the mid-range level – the breakdown is in is Malta expensive.