The Malta hop-on hop-off bus is the quickest way to cover the island's main sights in a single day without planning a route. One ticket covers both the north and south loops with 35 stops, departs from Sliema Ferries, and includes an audio guide in over a dozen languages.
Whether it's worth €25 when the regular Tallinja bus costs €2 is the honest question, and the answer depends on how you're travelling. Here's the stop-by-stop breakdown and a straight verdict. For wider Malta planning, the things to do in Malta guide shows where each stop fits in.
- 01One 1-day pass covers both routes – north and south – with 35 stops across Malta. No separate ticket needed.
- 02The north loop alone strings together St Julian's, Valletta, Mosta, Mdina and Golden Bay in a single ~135-minute circuit.
- 03Audio guide included in English, French, German, Italian, Polish and several other languages at no extra cost.
- 04Best stops to hop off: Mdina Main Gate, Valletta Waterfront and Golden Bay on the north; Marsaxlokk and the Blue Grotto on the south.
- 05Worth it for a first-visit overview day. For longer stays, a Tallinja travel card is far cheaper for the same destinations.
What you get: two routes, one ticket
The pass covers both loops – north and south Malta – on a single ticket valid for the calendar day. You don't choose a route in advance; board at Sliema Ferries and pick a direction.
The north loop runs 26 stops across roughly 135 minutes, taking in St Julian's, Valletta, the inland towns and the northwest coast. The south loop covers the opposite half: the temple sites, the fishing village at Marsaxlokk and the Blue Grotto coast.
Both routes use Sliema Ferries as the main interchange point, so you can switch direction at any point in the day without a second ticket.
North route: Valletta, Mdina and the coast
The north loop is the more varied of the two – it combines the capital, a medieval walled city, the island's best-known beach and a stretch of the resort coast in a single circuit, which is genuinely awkward to piece together on regular buses.
From Sliema Ferries, the first stretch goes north through St Julian's: Spinola Bay and Balluta Bay are the photogenic spots here, and the Westin and Hilton stops serve the big hotel strip. Most first-timers stay on the bus and save St Julian's for an evening rather than the morning rush.
Valletta is the north loop's main cultural stop. The bus drops you close to the waterfront; from there it's a short walk up to St John's Co-Cathedral, the Upper Barrakka Gardens and the Grand Harbour views. Our things to do in Valletta guide covers a full day in the capital.
The bus also stops at the Valletta Waterfront – the lower harbour terrace of restaurants and bars, useful if you want to start from that end.
Inland, Mosta Church is impressive enough from the upper deck to skip the dismount unless you specifically want to go inside. Mdina Main Gate is the opposite – get off, spend at least an hour in the walled city and cross to Rabat next door for the catacombs, then rejoin the next bus. The full Mdina and Rabat guide has the routing.
Golden Bay at the loop's northwest end is the beach stop: the most popular sandy beach on Malta, and a natural afternoon swim break if the sightseeing pace needs a reset.
South route: temples, fishing villages and the coast
The south loop covers the other half of the island, running down from Sliema through Valletta and on to the southern coast. Key stops include the Blue Grotto viewpoint at Wied iż-Żurrieq (the clifftop view is free; short boat trips into the caves cost extra on the spot), the Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra temples on the headland, and Marsaxlokk harbour with its painted luzzu fishing boats and Sunday market.
The south route is the less-visited of the two loops, which means calmer buses and more room on the upper deck. It pairs naturally with the north if you split the day: north in the morning while the temperatures are cooler and the sights are open, south in the afternoon for the seafood lunch at Marsaxlokk. The Marsaxlokk guide covers the best spots once you're there.
HOHO or Tallinja? The honest comparison
The regular Tallinja bus costs €2 a ride, and a multi-day travel card is a fraction of the €25 HOHO day pass. For budget travellers on a longer stay, Tallinja beats the HOHO bus on price every time – it reaches the same stops and the app makes routing straightforward.
The HOHO earns its price in specific situations. It makes sense if you're on a first visit and want the whole island covered in one day without juggling timetables. It makes sense if combining Valletta, Mdina and Golden Bay in a single circuit without planning sounds appealing. And the audio commentary at each stop is a genuine differentiator – the Tallinja network doesn't explain why Mdina's gate looks the way it does.
Practical: boarding, timing and what to bring
The main boarding point is Sliema Ferries – walk up and show a printed or mobile voucher. The north route first bus departs around 08:00 from Sliema; departures run every 30–60 minutes through the day. The GYG listing shows the latest confirmed schedule.
The full route map for both loops is available on the GetYourGuide listing and in the free City Sightseeing app – worth downloading before you board so you can plan which stops to hop off at.
Book in advance through GetYourGuide to skip any morning queue, especially in July and August when the open upper deck fills quickly on the first few north-route buses.
Bring sun cream and a hat – the upper deck is exposed and the north loop alone is over two hours if you ride it without stopping. A light layer is useful before 09:00 before the day warms up.
Whatever you decide, download the City Sightseeing app before you travel – it has the live route map and real-time bus positions for both loops.
Featured image: C S G / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0
