The island of Malta, area by area

When people say they’re off to Malta, they nearly always mean this island. It’s the biggest in the archipelago at 245 km², and 93% of the country lives on it. The capital, the airport, the major museums and most of the hotels are all here. Even so, it isn’t uniform, and understanding its areas is what stops you spending half your holiday on a bus.

What are the main areas of the island?

I split it into six, loosely following the NSO’s districts but thinking like a visitor. The Grand Harbour, with Valletta and the Three Cities opposite. Sliema and St Julian’s, the urban coast north of the capital. The interior, with Mdina, Rabat and Mosta. The south, from the megalithic temples to Marsaxlokk. The west, with the Dingli Cliffs and the farmland around Mġarr. And the north, from St Paul’s Bay to Mellieħa and Ċirkewwa, which is beach country.

Density shapes the whole experience. The island averages 2,218 people per square kilometre, but the Northern Harbour district reaches 7,836 while the Western district sits at 975. That’s why the coast from Valletta to St Julian’s feels like one continuous town, while the west still has fields and quiet.

The Grand Harbour first

If you only have one day, spend it here. Valletta has been a World Heritage Site since 1980, with 320 monuments in 55 hectares, and across the water lie Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua, reached on the Cospicua ferry. From Upper Barrakka you take it all in at once, and to me that’s the best way to see why the Order of St John chose this harbour. I cover the far side properly in the Three Cities.

The interior and the south, the ancient Malta

Buses 50, 51, 52, 53 and 56 from Valletta take you to Mdina, the walled former capital with 201 residents, and right next to it Rabat, with St Paul’s Catacombs and the Domvs Romana. It’s the area that best tells the story of Roman and medieval Malta. Mosta, with its Rotunda, rounds it off.

The south belongs to another age entirely. Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, above the sea at Qrendi, are more than 5,000 years old, and the Hypogeum in Paola older still. Nearby is the Blue Grotto at Wied iż-Żurrieq and, on the south-east coast, Marsaxlokk and its Sunday market. I’d pair the temples and Marsaxlokk in a single unhurried day.

The west and north, the open side

The west is high coast. The Dingli Cliffs plunge up to 230 m into the sea and give the island its best sunset. Close by is Buskett woodland, which BirdLife Malta says is government-owned and open at all hours. Further north, at Mġarr, are the Skorba and Ta’ Ħaġrat temples and the Roman baths of Għajn Tuffieħa.

The north is where the sand is. Sand is scarce in Malta, and what there is lies mostly up here and on Gozo. Mellieħa, Għadira, Golden Bay and the Majjistral park, which VisitMalta places on the north-west’s Natura 2000 coast, make up the greenest corner of the island. At the tip is Ċirkewwa, where the Gozo ferry leaves.

Splitting your days

My plan for three days on the island would be the Grand Harbour first, Mdina, Rabat and Dingli second, and the south with the temples and Marsaxlokk third. With a fourth I’d add the north or, better still, a day on Gozo, which I explain in the Maltese islands. As a base, Valletta or Sliema, because buses leave from there for every area and you won’t need to change hotels. Driving on the left will feel natural to a British visitor, but with this much traffic I’d still leave the car hire for Gozo.

What I’d avoid

This is where people go wrong. On the map the island looks so small that it’s tempting to do the south, the interior and the north in one day, and you end up spending it on the bus. With this much density, I wouldn’t attempt more than one big area a day. On top of that, the Foreign Office rates local driving as poor, and Spain’s foreign ministry says road signs are lacking. For northern beaches in summer, set off early, before the coastal buses fill up.