An independent guide to
Malta, Gozo and Comino
Where to go, what to do, how to plan it. Independent, ad-free, and written first-hand by travellers who know the archipelago.
Start here
What brings you to Malta?
Pick the closest match and we'll take you straight to the part of the guide you need.
First trip to Malta
Ready-made day-by-day plans, from a long weekend to ten unhurried days.
Take me thereHere for the history
The temples, the cathedrals, the Caravaggios, and the things worth booking ahead.
Take me thereDeciding where to stay
Which region suits you, and honest picks by budget and travel style.
Take me thereSorting the logistics
Getting there, the Gozo ferry, driving on the left, and what a trip costs.
Take me thereGeography
The seven regions, side by side
Three islands, seven practical regions. Pick a base, then plan day trips outward; nowhere on Malta is more than 90 minutes from anywhere else.
Valletta & the Three Cities
Smallest EU capital, baroque harbour
Sliema & St Julian's
The modern coast, package base
Mdina, Rabat & the centre
The silent walled city
North Malta
Beaches and the Gozo ferry
South Malta
Megalithic temples, Dingli cliffs
Gozo
The green sister island
Comino
Tiny middle island, Blue Lagoon
Things to do
Experiences worth planning your days around
Culture & heritage
Valletta walking tour: a self-guided route in 3 hours
3–4 hr
From €15 Culture & heritage
St John's Co-Cathedral: the Caravaggios and the marble floor
2–3 hr
From €40 Culture & heritage
The Hypogeum of Hal Saflieni: how to actually get a ticket
1 hr
From €10 Culture & heritage
Hagar Qim and Mnajdra: the cliff-top temples of south Malta
2–3 hr
From €10 Culture & heritage
Ggantija temples on Gozo: older than the Egyptian pyramids
2–3 hr
From €10 Water & sea
The Blue Lagoon at Comino: how to visit without hating the day
4–5 hr
Plan it in one go
7 days in Malta, mapped out day by day
4 nights Malta + 3 nights Gozo: Valletta, Mdina, the southern temples, the Cittadella, Ggantija, Dwejra, Ramla, and a Comino early-morning excursion. Independent itinerary.
Read the 7-day itineraryShorter on time? There are 3 and 5-day versions too.
Why Malta
A small archipelago that punches above its size
Three islands, five thousand years of inhabited history, the longest continuous baroque urban fabric in the Mediterranean, and a climate that barely changes.
Older than the Pyramids
Six UNESCO-listed megalithic temple sites, built between 3800 and 2500 BC: a thousand years before the Egyptian pyramids.
The Knights and the Caravaggios
Valletta was built by the Knights of St John after the 1565 Great Siege, with two original Caravaggios in St John's Co-Cathedral.
The only Semitic language in the EU
Maltese is an Arabic-rooted language with Italian and English layered on top, written in Latin script: nothing else in Europe sounds like it.
Gozo, the green sister
Slower, more agricultural, lined with converted farmhouses. The half of the trip most visitors underspend.
Three islands, short crossings
Malta, Gozo and Comino in one trip: a 25-minute ferry to Gozo, a 10-minute boat to Comino's Blue Lagoon.
A mild year-round climate
300 days of sun, mild winters, swimmable seas from May to October. Off-season Malta is one of the most underrated breaks in Europe.
Read deeper
The archipelago beyond the postcards
Discover
Megalithic Malta: older than the Pyramids, and what we still do not know
Six UNESCO temple sites built between 3800 and 2500 BC. The Hypogeum carved into the limestone. What the archaeology actually says about a civilisation we still cannot fully read.
Discover
The Knights of St John: how an order of crusaders built modern Malta
From a Jerusalem hospital to a Mediterranean military order. Two centuries on Malta, the 1565 Great Siege, the construction of Valletta, and what they left behind.
Discover
Maltese cuisine: beyond pastizzi
Ftira, fenek bil-birra, lampuki pie, bigilla. The Sicilian-North African-British layers, and what to eat where on a serious food trip.
Reader voices
What travellers tell us after using the guide
We were in Malta for five days and used the 5-day itinerary almost as written. The Gozo half was the part we nearly cut and ended up loving the most. Honest about what to skip.
The Gozo farmhouses page made me cancel a Sliema booking and rebook a farmhouse in San Lawrenz. Best decision of the trip.
Diving brief was a level above any other Malta page I read. Specific sites, honest about which schools, and the right warning about August.
Booked the Xara Palace after reading the luxury Malta piece. The De Mondion dinner alone justified the trip. Worth every euro.
I read the Comino piece, decided to go at 07:30 instead of 11:00. Had the Blue Lagoon to myself for an hour. That single tip paid for the whole trip.
Final trip planning resource for our family. The honest line on Bugibba saved us booking the wrong base. We ended up in Mellieha instead.
Feedback shared with us by readers via email after their trip. Names abbreviated for privacy.
Why trust this guide
We make money from bookings, not from your attention
There are no display ads here and no paid placements. When a tour or stay is genuinely worth it we link to a booking partner, and we may earn a commission if you book. It costs you nothing extra, and it does not change what we recommend. If something is a tourist trap, we say so.
- Independent
- Ad-free
- No sponsored tours
- Written by travellers