Trip Report: Malta
Manoel Island, Gzira, Malta
Malta was a location like no other... We had expectations of it being similar to other European countries such as Spain or Greece, but it really had its own unique charm. Malta is a collection of islands in the Mediterranean ocean, located between Italy and Tunisia, making it a unique location compared to other European countries. The collection of islands is made up of the main Island of Malta, a smaller island named Gozo and an even smaller island called Comino- each island has its own individual characteristic.
We will be publishing blog posts on more specific facts and guides to different areas of the country, as well as Malta as a whole, for the moment we would like to share our trip with you.
WHY DID WE TRAVEL TO MALTA?
We chose Malta whilst we were browsing various travel deals, we knew we wanted to go away for my birthday (which happened to be on Easter Sunday) and Malta looked price friendly compared to other locations, it also looked beautiful! If you haven’t already, give our post ‘How to Plan a Trip’ a read to see how we choose our trips, and how we cost and plan them.
We chose to go for a week as it was over the Easter holidays (therefore not as much time booked off at work due to bank holidays) and it was what we could afford at the time. Typically if the flight is less than 4hrs away from the UK then a week is plenty of time to explore.
DAY 1: MOSTLY TRAVEL & ARRIVAL IN MALTA
Despite the flight only being 3 hrs long, it still took us over 12 hrs door to door for our trip- this included trains to Gatwick airport, security and waiting for our flight, plus travel to our accommodation in Malta.
For us, no matter the time of day, as soon as we have gone through security we head straight to the pub for a cold pint to start the trip! We are quite prompt people, and have never missed or been late for a flight (through fault of our own) but... our gate was announced, we promptly went to a shop to buy some last minute bits we had forgotten, then went for a last trip to the toilet and... suddenly our gate was closing in 10 minutes! We had to run for our gate- which was quite a distance away. We made it and had a laugh about it, but it wasn’t that funny at the time.
We flew with EasyJet and from past experience of budget airlines, we paid a bit extra to get exit seats with some extra legroom. It was about £40 each to get this and it automatically gives you an extra carry on bag (rather than just the small under the seat bag), as well as speedy boarding. This option normally works out cheaper than buying the extra luggage separately, particularly hold luggage; for us, having 1 small bag and a 10kg bag is more than enough for 1 week... the only downside is of course having to fit your 100ml liquids in one of those small bags- but we have read that this law is due to change next year (2024).
The flight was delayed by about 45 minutes but the duration of the flight felt really quick, there were some great views over Italy- a really smooth flight too.
Upon arrival in Malta, the customs area was quite smooth and the airport was easy to navigate. Before our trip we had done some research into local transport (neither of us drive so hiring a car wasn’t on the cards- which always makes our trips significantly cheaper!)... we found that the eCabs and Bolt apps worked really well, particularly Bolt. It works just like Uber, we were picked up within 2 minutes of coming out of the airport!
Malta is a relatively small island, so travel to our apartment took 20 minutes and cost €12. Our apartment was super cute, it had a large balcony that was unfortunately unusable due to the really busy road right next to it, but luckily there was another balcony off the bedroom as well as a further 2 balconies off the bathrooms. Our favourite balcony ironically became the one off the ensuite bathroom... we could see right across the city of Gzira, all the way to the bay as well as a clear view of the capital city of Valletta- which we weren’t expecting.
Once we were settled (I like to unpack everything to feel at home) it was around 9pm... we took a stroll down to the waterfront- a 10 minute walk from our apartment. We needed food... luckily I’d pre-saved quite a few restaurants offering vegan food (if you’re vegan or interested in eating vegan food, have a read of our Vegan Food & Travel blog post to find out how we find the best places to eat)... one that I was particularly excited about was right in front of us as we reached the waterfront... Balance Bowl!
Little did we know at this point, but we had found one of the best vegan restaurants we had ever eaten in. The restaurant was quirky and not very busy late at night... We were greeted by a very friendly guy who made us feel really welcome. Once we glanced at the menu, we knew this wouldn’t be the only time we would dine here (in fact we came back a further 3 times!). Carl is a big eater and can normally eat 3 times the amount of anyone else, so he ordered a Buddha Bowl but wanted to try the loaded fries too, we also had Bao Buns for a starter... For my main, I had the kebab which came with loaded fries. Let’s just say we were both defeated... The portions were huge! It was all so tasty, well-made with quality ingredients. We got talking to the guy and he informed us that they were starting to serve breakfasts from the next morning onwards- it’s like they knew we were coming!!
We then walked on down to the strip of bars located along the waterfront... It was a really cool layout: Each bar had an outdoor area (fully covered) but the path for the street went through all of them, which was great for deciding which one you wanted to go in. Each bar had a different vibe, some had loud house music, others had live musicians playing acoustic sets and others were playing good old 80s music. We settled for a bar close to the end of the strip called rumour which was Hungarian owned, it had 80s music blaring and a great selection of cocktails... we only had 1 and called it a night due to the travelling and big meal, back to the apartment to see what the next day may bring...
DAY 2: Exploring Gzira
We had nothing in particular planned for our first proper day, but it made sense to explore the local area as we had a big day planned for my birthday the next day. We also had a goal to find a bar playing the Everton vs Man United game at 1.30pm- something we wouldn’t normally do on holiday, but Carl’s an Everton fan and it was quite a big game.
After a coffee on our cute bathroom balcony, we headed for breakfast at Balance Bowl- of course ... and it was amazing! A wrap with sweet potato, veggie sausage and other veg... so tasty, it also came with a coffee- all for €7.95 each which we thought was awesome value.
We then took a walk along the waterfront. Gzira is a harbour area, full of small fishing boats and some of the bigger tour boats. We ended up walking for quite a way (without realising how far we’d gone) and went to the Fort Tigne point, where there is an 18th century Fort, unfortunately you cannot enter the Fort but it is an amazing viewpoint across the harbour to Valletta the capital city of Malta. We found some steps leading down to a rocky area where we got some cool snaps of us near the water!
We then headed back through some bustling streets to the strip of bars we’d come across the night before- knowing that they were all showing football games, so one of them had to have the Everton vs Man U game on. Sure enough, we ended up back in Rumour and had an awesome time. I ordered an entire bottle of wine to get me through the football... and Carl had plenty of beer. The waiter asked who we were supporting and it turned out he was a Man U fan, he said to Carl that if Everton won Carl had to buy them both a shot and that if he lost he would buy the shots... unfortunately Everton lost but the waiter kept his end of the deal and poured him and Carl as shot of a homemade, Hungarian liquor... It was very strong! I ended up buying a shot of it to try it too...
Now a bit tipsy, we wandered back to the apartment but our stomachs were rumbling, so we made a quick pit-stop at Balance Bowl once again for a dirty burger, topped with kebab! We then headed back for an early night, ready for a big day planned for my birthday.
DAY 3: MY BIRTHDAY
If you’ve read our How to plan a trip post, you’ll know that we don’t tend to plan too many activities on our trips, we like to do things spur of the moment- of course we will do a little research before partaking in whatever activity we choose. Well for my Birthday, we had to have a day planned, to make sure we were making the best of it!
All of the activities we had planned were located in the same area of the country-hence why I booked them for this day... it all worked out perfectly to be honest!
Activity 1: St. Paul’s Catacombs...
I’ve always wanted to explore some catacombs, I love dark history and upon learning that Malta is home to some of the oldest catacombs on the planet, we had to go and explore some! These particular Catacombs, located in the town of Rabat are at least 2000 years old (3rd Century BC), which is mind-blowing. I was expecting it to be one large area of tombs but in fact there were lots of small crypts to walk down into, the metal stairs constructed by Heritage Malta meant you could safely explore each burial area, there was also automatic lighting inside each tomb. It was really incredible to see, especially the ones with real bones and tombs still intact. There was an abundance of information about each catacomb, before entering, it was really fascinating! The tickets cost €6 which we bought online before the trip through Heritage Malta.
Activity 2: The Mdina (Silent City) & Lunch
The city of Mdina is located next to Rabat, it is a walled city founded in 8th Century BC. It is prominently used in Game of Thrones (neither of us have actually watched it- shocking, I know!) as the series' capital city of King's Landing. Walking around Mdina truly felt like a different world, such a mixture of architectural styles, built on throughout the years. We had lunch booked at a famous restaurant ‘Coogi’ known for its Italian inspired menu, and amazing views if you manage to get a terrace seat... I’d booked this well in advance. I was glad we pre-booked as there was a huge queue to get in! We were taken through the really quirky restaurant which consisted of a courtyard, indoor seating and of course the back terrace, where we were seated. We had panoramic views across Malta, it was sensational. It was a little windy up there, but worth it for the views. The food was a bit overpriced for what it was (we booked here specifically because they had a large vegan menu) but the atmosphere and service was impeccable.
We then took some photos at the city’s main viewpoint and took a slow stroll back through the winding Mdina streets, photographing all of the different coloured doors along the way. We then found our first urban gym of the holiday! If you follow us on Instagram, you’ll know we started a tradition last year of trying to find urban gyms when we’re on holiday- it started in Ibiza!
Activity 3: Dub Afternoon at Marrakech (Gianpula Village)
I knew I wanted to do something with a party vibe on my birthday, and as I was researching before booking everything, I found a club venue just outside of Rabat that had multiple club rooms set within its own village! They just so happened to have an ‘Easter Sunday Dub Afternoon’ planned for my birthday... it was fate, this is very much mine and Carl’s vibe so I immediately booked tickets. It was beyond our expectations… We were in an outdoor venue called Marrakech, it had a bar, and a large DJ stage. We walked into someone playing light-dub music mixed in house, then the main DJs started to roll in with Dubstep and we even ended the evening on drum and bass! It had an incredible vibe, as you can see in the video below. The event went on for an hour longer than planned, just because the crowd was so eager for more! We obviously had quite a few beers and were now up for more of a boogie elsewhere, we hopped in a cab and asked the driver where we could go out near Gzira (where we were staying)... now we had heard about the area of St. Julian’s being a party/clubbing scene but never actually planned to go out there unless we ended up there...
We wound up in a packed club that felt like it belonged in Magaluf or Benidorm, safe to say we only stayed for a couple of drinks- after I requested one of our songs from the DJ (Stereo Love- Edward Maya, if anyone is interested!)... we would describe this club as being “Perfect if we were single, and just turned 18!” safe to say we felt a bit old and left... We walked along the waterfront and took some “hilarious” pictures, before my back started to give way from dancing for nearly 10 hours... so we hopped in yet another Bolt cab and made our way to bed.
A successful birthday nonetheless...
Amazing day at Gianpula village, dub event hosted by Bass Culture
DAY 4: EXPLORING VALLETTA- THE CAPITAL CITY
After a crazy birthday, we needed a slower day of recovery before the next big day we had planned. It should be noted at this point that Carl had started to feel ill- not from the night before but from a cold!
It made sense to us to explore the capital city of Valletta, as we could see it from our balcony! We made our way there by walking but my back was still not good so we ended up in yet another taxi (it was genuinely further than it looked) ... we got the driver to drop us off outside the city so we could walk into it ourselves. We found some really tranquil gardens with amazing views- also home to loads of cats. Throughout Malta, stray cats are treated with so much respect (I’m a huge cat lover so I was glad to see this), they have small homes built for them within parks and they are regularly fed by cat-lovers and charities.
The city has a large fountain-perfect for some photo opportunities. The city itself has mostly baroque-style architecture, it was established in the 16th Century and is uniquely located on a peninsular. It was great to walk through the streets, there were some really quirky alleyways leading in different directions, we really loved the Siege Memorial Bell Tower, erected to commemorate the siege of Malta during WWII. It is a striking structure, with incredible views towards the grand harbour.
We stopped for some tasty food before heading to a supermarket to get some food and wine to have a night in...
DAY 5: ISLAND HOPPING
This was another day we had pre-planned, and apart from my birthday- this was the best day- it goes in my top 10 experiences of all time!
I was sceptical, we’d only paid around £20 each for a boat trip tour through Get Your Guide (I would highly recommend this for booking tours/events) to the island of Gozo (Malta’s 2nd biggest Island), and at that price we weren’t expecting too much, especially when we’d seen tours for £50-70 that appeared to offer a lot.
We travelled to St.Paul’s Bay- a popular, tourist town in the North of the island to catch our boat. It turns out the original boat we were due to embark on was under repair and we had been provided a luxury catamaran style boat instead... It was really modern & clean! The boat wasn’t as busy as I’d imagined, there were plenty of places to sit- whether that be around the edge, at the front back or even upstairs on the top deck- all of which had padded seating, even sun-lounge style seats. It was a bit windy so we sat at the back of the boat for the trip there, which is just as well as we went through some rough waters and everyone on the front got drenched!!! We actually found it really fun battling through the waters, it felt a little bit like a ride! Although Carl found it less fun because I insisted on standing up to film and photograph and he had to hold me to make sure I didn’t fall!
The boat captain was really friendly and gave some announcements over the PA system, but it was mostly narrated by a pre-recorded track, providing information about where we were sailing past- that being said, it was really informative and provided in different languages. Once we had battled through the worst of the weather, Comino island (the smallest out of the islands) came into view... There were members of the army doing (what we imagined) were training exercises in a helicopter, I managed to get some cool shots of the chopper and one of the members of the army dropping down from the vehicle into the shrubland. The people in the helicopter were waving at the children on the boat which was really cool!
We took a quick ride into the crystal lagoon- due to the time of year, we weren’t able to stop here for a swim (this was explained in the itinerary when booking), but it was awesome that they still showed it to us. Then we entered the blue lagoon which lived up to its name- it was something you would expect from waters in the Maldives, not the Mediterranean. We moored up here for an hour and had to climb over some rocks to get to the beach area, and walk up a hill to get to the toilets and food/drink stalls. It should be noted that Comino island is an uninhabited island (apart from 2 people), it is only accessed via boat and has about 5 food/drink stalls, but the rest of the island is intended for hiking... although there are plans to reinstate a boutique eco hotel on the island. We walked down to the small beach area with the full intention of going for a swim (I knew it would be cold but I haven’t let that bother me before)- if you’ve read our previous posts, you’ll know that Carl can’t swim so takes pleasure in chilling on the beach, whereas I belong in the water and it is my favourite thing to do on holiday. Unfortunately as soon as I approached the water, I could see hundreds of jellyfish (the water is completely clear) and I didn’t want to risk it, considering we were only there for an hour. I did have a little paddle and we got some cool pineapple cocktails (they were really strong) before heading back to the boat.
We then set sail for Gozo island (only 10-15 minutes away from Comino), this beautiful island has a population of around 31,000 and many tourists choose to stay here as well- it costs around €5 for a ferry service between Gozo and mainland Malta.
We paid a little extra each (€5) to the tour provider before the start of the trip to have a bus take us to Victoria- the capital of Gozo. We spent roughly 2hrs here, we explored the small streets and had lunch before exploring the Citadel which provided panoramic views of the island. We then headed back to the bus, back to the boat.
The journey on the way back to mainland Malta was the best part of the day... The weather had cleared up and it was smooth. People had avoided the front of the boat due to the outbound journey, but we decided to risk it and as a result we had the lounge seats all to ourselves and a completely clear view of where we were headed. We were surprised when the captain announced they would take us to the Santa Maria Caves (located on the other side of Comino island)- something they wouldn’t usually do but the weather was so clear... that was a lovely surprise for the day. We had a cocktail (there was a bar on the boat) and sat back whilst we enjoyed a chill journey back- it was bliss.
We arrived back in St. Paul’s Bay and went to a little bar (it was happy hour so it would be rude not to have 4 cocktails)... it was here where we realised we had caught the sun- despite it only being around 20 degrees... and where I had been wearing the wristband for the boat- I got a burn line! It still looks ridiculous now, over a week later.
We headed back to the apartment for another early night- I have to say, we were rather sensible on this trip.
DAY 6: PRETTY BAY
At this point, Carl’s cold had gotten worse- but he was powering through because we were on holiday! We looked at our travel map and thought about areas of the island we hadn’t really been to... the south of the island was a huge gap on the map. We had seen when researching, a beach called pretty bay- I was determined to have a swim where there were no jellyfish! We were saving money by this point, so we decided to get 2 buses, one to Valletta then onto Birzebbuga (the area where Pretty Bay is located)... it was a really lovely little beach, really clear water and I could only see fish- so I was able to have a little swim... and it was FREEZING! It was certainly pretty, but we weren’t expecting to see a shipping yard in the distance- it did ruin the view slightly, but it was still a pretty beach nonetheless. We found a really nice restaurant called Coffee Circus China, a quirky, hipster style café where the food was Asian themed- cooked lovingly by the owner. She made sure to tell us it was vegan after she overheard me question the chicken-like substance in the Chow Mein- it turned out to be really thinly sliced, really well done tofu- it was great! We then headed back for another night in, in the hopes that Carl’s cold would get better.
It was during the night that my fears were confirmed- I’d caught the illness too... I spent the night coughing and sneezing and hardly slept- not what I wanted on our second to last night... but once again, we soldier on because we’re on holiday!
DAY 7: MANOEL ISLAND + LAST DAY
This was our last day (Day 8 was just travelling back home). We had decided the night before, whilst looking out from the balcony that we had to explore the little island we had been able to see- we would be annoyed if we hadn’t done that! So both of us, fully fledged with a cold- decided to hike an island, on the hottest day since we had been there!
Dry-mouthed, we spent around 2 hrs exploring the island- which can be accessed via a footbridge path. The island was very strange... we had looked up that there was a huge star-shaped fortress, so we spent most of the time trying to find it. Along the way we came across so many cats- the island was a refuge for them, as previously mentioned, they are looked after (fed by a local charity- I did get some pictures of a lady feeding them but she asked me not to photograph her?- so out of respect, I won’t post the pictures). We also came across some incredible viewpoints across to Valletta and Tigne point, but had to keep backtracking down the unsafe paths to try and find the fortress (there are multiple signs around the island that state they have attempted to make the island safe, but there are still a lot of areas deemed unstable- we would definitely not recommend taking children here. We came across an amazing abandoned “hospital” building, I write that in quotation marks as that is what it is marked as on the map, but it had bars on the windows so I suspected it was a quarantine centre, mental institution or prison in its past. It had indeed been used during outbreaks of disease as a quarantine hospital and during wars as a containment centre- I got some really cool photos of this place. We eventually found the fort- which had an amazing entrance, but it was not open to the public- we could see works ongoing, so could only assume they were renovating it. There were some barriers up where the best viewpoint of Valletta and the door to the fort was, we just sneaked around it (as we’d seen another couple do) and we got a funny look from a security guard, but nothing was said...
We made our way back down to the only establishment on the island for a much needed beverage. We were still saving money, so we headed back to the apartment for lunch (leftover dinner from the night before), before forcing ourselves out to the strip for some drinks and a nice evening meal, before more drinks followed by bed!
DAY 8: JOURNEY HOME
I’ve never travelled whilst ill before (Carl had decompression sickness on our way to Sri Lanka the second time, so it was nothing new to him) and as previously mentioned, we usually love the airport- even on the way home- but we were both dreading it. I had a coughing fit in the taxi on the way to the airport which led to some funny looks from the driver- I felt so bad for him ... he even gave me his bottle of water! To top it off, there were no vegan options in the airport... We were told something was vegan, only to bite into it to find melting cheese!
Everything was going well for the flight, the airport was small so it was quick through customs and boarding... only to have the dreaded announcement once seated on the aircraft “Thank you for boarding so fast, there’s been some more protests in Paris, so there is restricted airspace... as a result we will be waiting another 50 minutes to leave” ... not ideal. We had a train to catch when we got back, we had padded it out so that it was 1hr and 30mins after our arrival, but things were getting tight with the flight delay. We ended up setting off 1hr 20 mins after our original departure time, and despite making some time up in the air, we flew into bad weather in London (of course) and the flight was really late getting in... we had about 20 minutes to catch our train. Even though we had no hold luggage to collect, we still had to go through customs, catch a shuttle train from the North Terminal to the South Terminal (where the train station is located) and get to the platform... safe to say we missed that train. Luckily Carl found another train we could catch into London which meant we wouldn’t miss our original final train home- grateful seems as we had seats booked, it was a 2hr journey and if we hadn’t caught it we would’ve got home an hour and a half later than expected- which we have had worse (Our return from Sri Lanka the first time, we were in Dubai 6 hours longer than expected) but we were ill, so this made it worse.
We got home on time and I am still really ill writing this, a week after returning.
TRIP CONCLUSION
Malta was different to any other European country we have visited. The mixture of cultures made it such an interesting and varied place... from the architecture, to the people and the food. Furthermore there were so many things to do for such a small country: city exploration, visiting thousand year old catacombs, seeing crystal clear waters and more...
We would definitely recommend visiting this wonderful little gem of a country. We will soon be posting our guides on Gzira, Valletta, Gozo and Comino, as well as Malta as a whole.
WHAT WE WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY + TOP TIPS
We wouldn’t book an apartment next to the main motorway!
Use the bus more- we used taxis because it was convenient, but when we did use the bus- it was cheap (€2 each for travel anywhere within 2hrs distance) and a great way to see different areas of the country.
We would make some extra time to go to Popeye village and see some of the hiking spots along the South-West coast.
We would go slightly later in the year… the weather was a bit chilly at the start of the week, and started to get perfect towards the end. Although the later in the year, the busier it gets- it was nice to be able to see everything without huge crowds.
Explore more of Gozo- perhaps if we had stayed for longer we could have rented an apartment on the island for a couple of days, to fully explore it.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this travel report- it’s a little different to our usual informative guides, and we hope to write some more for other places we’ve visited (I’ve got written diaries from previous trips- and hopefully my memory will serve me well too). Let us know if you have enjoyed this type of blog post, or if you prefer to read the more informative guides. Don’t forget to subscribe for more travel content…
