St Peter's Pool is the best swim on mainland Malta and it is not a beach. A natural hollow in the limestone on the eastern tip of the Delimara Peninsula, it is flat rock platforms, water roughly 4–5 metres deep in the centre, and clarity that no sandy bay on the island can match. Entry is free, the site is unfenced and open 24 hours – there is no gate and no ticket.
There is also nothing else: no toilets, no kiosk, no shade and no lifeguard, at any time of year. Two things ruin a visit here, and both are fixable – arriving at noon in August, and the parking-and-walk problem at the end of a narrow access road. Get those right and it is remarkable.
From Marsaxlokk: St Peter's Pool Boat Tour
The way to skip the narrow access road, the parking squeeze and the walk over hot rock. A traditional luzzu from Marsaxlokk harbour rounds the Delimara coast and drops you straight into the water at the pool.
- One-hour round trip from Marsaxlokk on a traditional luzzu, small group (max 9)
- Passes Fort San Lucjan, Fort Delimara, the lighthouse and the saltpans
- Swim stop at the pool, weather permitting · free cancellation up to 24 hours
What is St Peter's Pool, and what does it cost?
It is a natural indentation in the limestone shelf, shaped by wave action into a series of flat platforms and deep pools connected to the open sea. The rock does the work that sand and sunbeds do elsewhere: it is where you lay a towel, where you get in, and where you climb back out.
Entry costs nothing. There is no gate, no ticket and no closing time. The only money that changes hands is for parking, and only sometimes.
- Entry: free, unfenced, open 24 hours year-round
- Depth: roughly 4–5 m in the centre of the main swimming area, 1–2 m at the edges
- Facilities: none – no toilets, no kiosk, no shade, no lifeguard, in any season
- Surface: flat limestone platforms, no sand anywhere
- Bring: water, food, shade of your own, and shoes you can walk on rock in
The water is the reason people make the trip. It runs vivid blue-green depending on the hour, and because there is no sand to stir up, it stays clear on days when the sandy bays in the north have gone cloudy.
This is a confident-swimmer's spot, not a family beach. The platforms drop straight into deep water and there is no shallow end to stand in. For the sandy alternatives, our best beaches in Malta guide covers the island north to south.
How do you get to St Peter's Pool?
The pool sits about 5 km southeast of Marsaxlokk and roughly 35 minutes by car from Valletta. There are three ways in, and they are not equivalent.
| How | Time | Cost | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Car | ~35 min from Valletta | ~€3 parking, or free further back | Fastest, but the space is gone by 09:00 in summer |
| Boat from Marsaxlokk | 1 hour round trip | ~€15 pp | Sidesteps the road, the parking and the hot walk |
| Bus | Route 119 to Delimara, then ~15 min walk | Standard Tallinja fare | Workable, but not in the middle of an August day |
By car, the route runs from Marsaxlokk through Delimara village to the end of the peninsula. The last stretch is narrow, and the final approach to the water is on foot over rocky, uneven ground – closed shoes, not flip-flops.
By bus, no route serves the pool directly. The closest is the Delimara stop on route 119, leaving about a 15-minute walk. Alternatively route 81 runs from Valletta to Marsaxlokk, from where it is a 20–30 minute walk along the coast. Both walks are exposed, which matters more than the distance does in July.
By boat is the option most people underrate. It removes the access road entirely and you step off into the water rather than picking your way down over rock, and the Rima luzzu is a small one – nine passengers, not a packed deck. The same operator also runs a shorter drop-off service from the harbour if you want the swim without the scenic loop.
A hire car still makes the wider southeast work as a day: the pool early, Marsaxlokk for lunch and its Sunday market, then the drive west past the Blue Grotto.
Parking: the part that catches people out
There is a car park by the cliff access that sometimes charges around €3 a day, and a free lot a short walk further back toward the Delimara lighthouse. Whether anyone is collecting on the day varies.
Spaces go by 08:30–09:00 on summer weekends. Arrive after 09:00 in July or August and you may be parking 15–20 minutes' walk away, on an unshaded road, carrying everything you need for a day with no kiosk at the other end.
Cliff jumping at St Peter's Pool
The limestone edges around the pool form natural jumping platforms. The lower ledges are around 3 metres; the higher points reach 5–6 metres. People have been jumping here for decades, and it is a genuine draw rather than a stunt.
It is also completely unsupervised. There is no lifeguard, no depth marking and no emergency contact on site. Depth varies across the pool and shifts after winter storms, so what was safe last season is not automatically safe this one.
The rule locals follow is simple: watch where other people are entering before you jump anywhere, and never be the first person in at a spot you have not seen used. Children should not jump without an adult checking the water below first.
When to visit St Peter's Pool
Before 10:00 the pool is quiet, the light is good and the water has usually settled overnight. By noon on a July or August weekend the platforms are crowded and there is no shade to retreat into. The second window is after about 16:00, once the day groups have cleared out.
Season matters less than the hour. The pool is swimmable well into September and often October in a warm year – the southeast coast holds good afternoon sun and the crowds thin sharply once August ends. September mornings are close to ideal here.
The southeast also has a role in bad weather. When a northerly makes the north coast unpleasant, this side of the island is usually calm – and with Għar Lapsi closed for 2026 after storm damage to its access ramp, St Peter's Pool has become the default swap. In winter the site stays open and free, but the swell and the lack of any shelter make it a walk rather than a swim.
St Peter's Pool rewards an early alarm more than almost anywhere else on Malta. The water is the clearest on the mainland, the setting is genuinely wild, and both of those disappear under a crowd.
Come before 10:00 or after 16:00, take the boat if the parking sounds like a fight, and treat the jumps with the caution an unsupervised site deserves. If you would rather have your own boat for the day, our Malta boat hire guide covers the licence-free options that reach this coast.
Featured image: Marika Caruana / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0