Travel report: Malta
Date of visit: June 2016
Three days in Malta
It was June 2016 when Pat and I spent a long weekend in Malta. Visiting this country was his idea, and as I just started to count countries at that time, any new country was a welcome opportunity for me to increase my count.
Malta is a small micro-state and I bet many non-European people don’t even know about its existence. Only nine countries in the world are smaller than this island state that is located 50km south of Sicily.
The population is 425’000, which makes Malta the eight most densely populated country in the world (and 4th in Europe). In recent years, Malta became famous for rather unflattering issues such as a”selling” its passport to rich foreigners, a practice that the European Union strongly criticizes, or the murder of an anti-corruption journalist, which was possibly arranged by the government.
Apart from that, Malta is a cheap holiday destination, although a rather overlooked one. Competition in the Mediterranean is fierce, as tourists have the choice between Spain, France, Italy and many other countries. Therefore, Malta might not be the first choice for many, maybe because the country is rather unknown or because you have to take a flight instead of going by car.
San Giljan’s debauchery
Our hotel was in San Giljan (or St. Julian’s). There are still many luxury hotels located in San Giljan, and as Malta is one of the cheapest countries in Europe, we opted for a five star hotel.
San Giljan is most certainly the place that attracts the youngest people from abroad. Malta is famous for language stays, and many young Europeans spend a summer in this country to improve their English, which is also an official language of the country.
You need nightlife to satisfy the needs of this young people. Paceville is the solution to that. This district is an overcrowded place with many bars and nightclubs, and I would have loved it when I was at a younger age. Yes, I now was definitely too old for that. When we visited a bar, I witnessed that the bouncer didn’t let the lady in front of me into the bar. She was only 16 years old.
This scene summarized the nightlife in San Giljan probably the best. The bars and nightclubs in Paceville focus on the young people: cheap booze, shots and the typical music you hear in other party destinations like Lloret del Mar. The nights we had in San Giljan were not very memorable.
Unfortunately, not only do the bars and nightclubs focus on young people in San Giljan but also the restaurants. Most of the restaurants serve pizza, burgers, fries and other budget-friendly dishes for young students. I don’t remember that I had any good meal in San Giljan, not even in our nice hotel. Moreover, I couldn’t even say how Malta’s cuisine is, as we didn’t eat local food once. In all fairness, it wasn’t the most cultural trip anyway.
Generally speaking, San Giljan is not the best place Malta has to offer. It’s rather the cheap corner where the young people meet, but at least we had a great hotel with a decent pool. Still, not a place I would recommend to others.
Traveling in Malta
Despite of the country’s size, getting around in Malta can take an eternity if you don’t have a rental car. Buses run from one place to another, but they stop every two minutes so that we had almost an hour to go from San Giljan to Valletta, the capital city of Malta. As you mostly drive along the coast, the view from the bus was quite nice at least.
Anyway, the trip to the capital was worth it. Valletta is a lovely, little city. Only a bit more than 5,000 people live there. Some of the alleys and also the colors of the buildings remind you of other Mediterranean cities.
Valletta also suffers from cruise ship tourists, although not as bad as cities like Venice or Dubrovnik. It was crowded though when we were there, as just a few hundred tourists more can make a huge difference this tiny city. Valletta didn’t blew me away, but it’s definitely not a bad city and a must see when in Malta.
It takes maybe 15 or 20 minutes to go from one end of Valletta’s city center to the other, maybe even less, I don’t remember anymore. But the city offers a lot of shops and restaurants, where you can buy something or kill time.
The good thing about traveling in Malta is that you can vary between bus and boat. We took the bus from San Giljan to Valletta and returned to Sliema via boat. It’s indeed a highlight to watch Vallatta’s “skyline” with the dome of the Basilica of Our Lady of Mount Carmel disappear. This basilica is without a doubt Malta’s most important landmark.
Chilling and football
I wasn’t as active in Malta as in other countries. I explored the country only in one day. The reasons for that were that the Euro 2016 took place during our visit and Patty isn’t the most interested tourist anyway.
I didn’t manage to see the neighboring island Gozo, Comino, the Blue Lagune and the Azure Window (which was knocked down by a heavy storm a few months after my visit). You can visit these places on a full day tour, but we didn’t want to miss the football games in the afternoon and skipped these places. It’s a pity, because you can find the best beaches of Malta there. The beaches that we saw in St. Giljan and Sliema were only mediocre.
We spent the last (late) afternoon in Qarwa, which was about a 20-25 minute ride from our hotel in St. Giljan. After watching another Euro 2016 game, we headed to a place called Café del Mar where an afternoon party took place. This club was not only the best I’ve seen in Malta but one of the best worldwide.
It was actually a great place to finish this short trip to Malta. The people were not as young as those in Paceville, the music was fantastic, the drinks excellent and the location world-class, as I’ve mentioned above.
My travel experience in Malta
Malta has some pros and cons. It’s certainly a great holiday destination, as temperatures are always good, it’s cheap and there are some very beautiful corners on the island.
However, what Malta is missing is uniqueness in my opinion. The country didn’t look different than other Mediterranean countries like Italy or Spain, or even the North African ones. Therefore, a traveler, who doesn’t count countries, doesn’t necessarily have to go to Malta, as similar destinations might be closer to his/her home.
Nevertheless, I wouldn’t call Malta a bad country. Malta has 10 UNESCO World Heritage sites and it doesn’t take long to explore the whole country due to its tiny size. Plus it’s also a good country for spending your holidays in an affordable five star hotel, and it’s also a fantastic place for young people who want to go wild every night. But also for families, who want to enjoy relaxed holidays in the calmer areas of the island.
In all fairness, I have to admit that I didn’t see the most beautiful parts of the country. Valletta was definitely nice, but the real highlights are probably Gozo and Comino.
I will remember the long weekend in Malta as one of the least spectacular in recent years. But that’s okay, not every trip can make legendary stories. You are wrong if you think that my country no. 39 after Malta was more action-packed. It was Monaco.
However, it got better with countries no. 40 to 42: Norway, Portugal and Palestine. In times of writing, I’ve only eight more European countries to visit, and that’s good to be honest. It’s always great to spend a (long) weekend somewhere in Europe, but the most interesting countries are definitely on other continents.
Find the travel reports of the other countries I’ve visited here!
