Malta in June, summer before the crush

June is when Malta tips from spring into summer with no warm-up act. The sea jumps from 18 to 22°C, the sun averages over 11 hours a day and Gozo’s village feasts get going. It isn’t July yet, and you notice that in everything. Here’s what to expect, week by week.

June weather, sunshine and next to no rain

June’s norm is a 24.2°C (76°F) average, with a 28.8°C (84°F) average high, 334.1 hours of sunshine and 5.8 mm of rain. The sky clears almost completely, with mean cloud cover of 1.9 oktas. June 2025 clocked 374.3 hours of sunshine, 12.5 a day on average, and not a drop of rain. The wind drops to a 7.6-knot norm, the lightest of the first half of the year.

Not every June is the same. 2023 started grey and damp, with the 6th getting no sunshine at all, before climbing to 35.2°C on the 23rd. In the first week of June 2026 highs were already 30 to 32°C and the UV index reached 10, rated very high. Bring high-factor sun cream from home, since you’ll be using a lot of it.

Is Malta too hot in June?

The Met Office calls it a heatwave when the maximum is at least 5°C above June’s 28.8°C norm for three days or more, in other words above about 34°C (93°F). The last week of June has often brought one. In 2022 there was one from the 23rd to the 28th, hitting 38°C (100°F) on the 24th. In 2025, from the 24th to the 27th, with highs between 34.2 and 35.3°C. The month’s record is 41.5°C, from 30 June 2021, in the middle of that year’s heatwave.

With that in mind, I’d treat June like high summer. Outdoor sights before 11:00 or after 17:00, and midday in the water. The whole season, July and August included, is in Malta in summer.

The sea, summer-warm already

June’s sea norm is 22°C (72°F), and in June 2025 it reached 25.1°C. In June 2022 it was 24°C, two degrees above normal. The Blue Flag season is running, so MTA-managed beaches have lifeguards. It’s a good month for boat trips to Comino and Gozo and for snorkelling. The rest of the year is in Malta sea temperature.

Public holidays and feasts in June

7 June is Sette Giugno, a national holiday marking the 1919 revolt against the British rulers, sparked in part by bread shortages and prices, according to Heritage Malta. British visitors will find it a thought-provoking bit of shared history. 29 June, St Peter and St Paul, is Mnarja, and Nadur on Gozo celebrates it with an agricultural fair.

Gozo is where June’s feasts are. The Ministry’s 2026 calendar gave the 7th to Għasri (Corpus Christi), the 14th to Fontana, Gozo (Sacred Heart) and the 21st to Xewkija, with St John the Baptist and his giant umbrella. There’s no 2027 calendar yet. Heritage Malta, for its part, held «Museums by Candlelight» in Valletta on 6 June 2026 and the summer solstice at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra from the 19th to the 22nd.

How I’d use a week in June

I’d plan the week around a feast weekend on Gozo, because that’s what sets June apart from May. On weekdays, towns first thing, the beach at midday and temples late in the afternoon, when the sun eases off a little. If you’re heading for the west-coast beaches, note that Malta Public Transport only runs route 101 to Ġnejna in summer. For Comino, in this heat I’d take the morning slot, 08:00 to 13:00. And pack with the heat in mind, with light cotton clothes, a proper hat and a refillable bottle, because the UV index was already at 10 in early June 2026. Evenings are warm enough that you won’t need more than a thin layer for the ferry back from Gozo.

Timetables, buses and the mid-month switch

From 1 June the Sliema to Valletta ferry switches to summer hours, with Sunday and holiday sailings until midnight. The bus switched to the summer fare, €2.50 a ticket, on 14 June 2026. And the Grandmaster’s Palace has another morning without its State Rooms on 16 June 2027, until 13:30.

The airport handled 923,374 passengers in June 2025, almost the same as May and over a hundred thousand fewer than July. If you can choose, the first half of the month is quieter and cooler. To carry on into summer, see Malta in July, and for the month before, Malta in May.