The Blue Lagoon on Comino, booked and unhurried

The Blue Lagoon is the most photographed spot on Comino and, until 2025, one of the most overrun places in Malta. It now works on bookings, and the booking is free. What worries me is people paying for something that costs nothing, or arriving without a QR code and watching from the deck.

How the Blue Lagoon booking works

Since 1 May 2025, anyone arriving by private or commercial boat who wants to set foot at the Blue Lagoon has to book first. The Malta Tourism Authority and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Tourism launched it under the slogan “Book, Protect, Enjoy”, and the portal is run by the MTA itself. I checked it on 28 September 2026 and it was still running with the same three slots.

You choose a slot, enter your details and an email address, and a QR code lands in your inbox. Show it on your phone or print it. At the sea and land access points it’s scanned and you get a wristband, which lets you leave and come back in for the rest of your slot. You hand the wristband back on the way out, because keeping litter off the island is part of the point.

The practical rules are few. You can book up to two months ahead, each booking covers up to four people, and it can’t be amended. The QR code can be passed to someone else as long as nobody has scanned it, and if you lose it the only copy is in your email. Under-fives don’t need a pass when they’re with a parent or guardian.

Which slot should you choose?

There are three, 08:00 to 13:00, 13:30 to 17:30 and 18:00 to 22:00. The portal says the half hour in between gives boats room to manoeuvre safely. Arrive late and you get whatever is left of your slot; arrive early and you may be asked to wait.

I’d take the morning slot without a second thought. The MTA admits the problem was peak hours, when up to 12,000 people crowded in at once in summer 2024, and the cap is now 4,000. Even with a cap, 4,000 people in a small cove is noticeable, and first thing in the morning that turquoise water is a different experience. Sleep on Gozo and that 08:00 slot is about 15 minutes by boat from Mġarr, which is how I fit it into my Malta 5 day itinerary. The sunset slot only makes sense if your boat home leaves late, which is worth checking before you book.

The boat isn’t included

This is the mistake I see coming. The QR code and the boat are two separate things. The portal says the ferry ticket isn’t included, that you choose and pay for your own transport, and that the boat must be registered with Transport Malta to operate to the Blue Lagoon. Boat timetables aren’t linked to the system, although most operators try to match the slots, according to the portal. I cover it properly in my guide to the Comino ferry.

If you arrive on a boat trip and stay on board, you don’t need a pass. On one of the Malta boat parties, ask before paying whether it stops here, since landing still needs the free booking. If you only hop off to buy a drink and go straight back, the portal says you normally don’t either. Anyone staying ashore without one can be removed by the patrols.

What has changed, and what I can’t confirm

The MTA says the booking system has cut visitor density by 68%. Its strategic plan, drawn up with Mizzi Studio, aims to replace the current installations with more sensitive ones, upgrade toilets, food outlets and paths, and add an information centre. The full transformation was due by summer 2026, and no official source I’ve found confirms it’s finished, so I won’t claim it is.

What I do know is that the lagoon is part of a Natura 2000 site and that the wristbands, slots and patrols are taken seriously. That’s why the behaviour the MTA asks for (stick to your slot, follow the officials, leave nothing behind) strikes me as the easy part.

Fitting it into the day

With the morning slot you’ll have time afterwards to climb to St Mary’s Tower and swim again at quieter Santa Marija Bay. For the rest of what the island offers, see my page on Comino island. If you’d rather see the lagoon from the water without landing, one of the Malta boat trips spares you the booking, though for me an early swim from the shore beats it.