Marsaxlokk, Malta's harbour of painted luzzu boats

If I could keep only one picture of southern Malta, it would be this bay crowded with luzzu. Marsaxlokk has 4,327 residents according to the NSO and has always lived off the sea, which you notice the moment you step off the bus. It isn’t a village of grand monuments. It’s a village of boats, and that’s how to approach it.

Why the luzzu belong here

Visit Malta puts it plainly. Marsaxlokk Bay is the country’s second largest natural harbour and the best place to see the luzzu, the painted fishing boats with the mythical eye on the prow. The FAO’s fishery profile of Malta explains how they differ from the kajjik, which is smaller with a flat stern, while the wooden luzzu is pointed at both ends. Worth knowing, because you’ll see both moored side by side and the difference takes a minute to learn.

The name makes sense too. It comes from marsa, Arabic for harbour, and xlokk, the south-easterly wind the Italians call the sirocco. A harbour facing that wind, summed up in two words. The same Arabic root sits in the name of Marsa, deep inside the Grand Harbour.

The FAO calls Marsaxlokk Harbour the main fishing port in Malta and says about 40 per cent of the country’s registered vessels work out of here and neighbouring Birżebbuġa, on either side of the same bay. Those figures come from a 2004 profile, so treat them as a sense of scale rather than today’s count.

A harbour that has seen a lot of history

What surprises me about such a sleepy place is how much big history has come ashore here. Visit Malta notes that the Ottoman Turks landed here for the attack that became the Great Siege of 1565, that Napoleon’s army landed here in 1798, and that in 1989 the bay hosted the Bush and Gorbachev summit. A sheltered harbour was an easy door to open, for better and for worse. Until the 19th century the village belonged to Żejtun, whose 1692 parish church of St Catherine Visit Malta calls ‘the cathedral of the South’.

On the Delimara headland, which closes the bay to the east, Heritage Malta looks after Fort Delimara, built by the British between 1876 and 1878, with four of its six 38-ton guns still in place. Heritage Malta currently lists it as temporarily closed, so it’s off my list for now. What you can see, by appointment, is Tas-Silġ, a sacred site that began as a megalithic temple, became a Phoenician sanctuary of Astarte and ended with a Christian basilica around the 5th century.

How I’d spend half a day in Marsaxlokk

Start with a slow walk along the harbour to look at the boats. If it’s Sunday, head into the Marsaxlokk fish market, which began as a fish market and now also sells honey, jams, wine, vegetables, souvenirs and clothes. Then lunch, because Visit Malta singles out the village’s good fish restaurants, and the MTA register shows that 21 of its 27 licensed restaurants sit on the harbour promenade, Xatt is-Sajjieda.

If it’s hot and you fancy a swim, give the afternoon to St Peter’s Pool, a natural rock pool on the Delimara headland that Visit Malta describes as a secluded inlet good for swimming. Spain’s foreign ministry warns about rockfalls there, and I’d take that seriously.

Getting there, and when to go

The bus works well. The 81 and 85 leave Valletta terminal every day, and on Sundays there’s also the TD10, a limited-stop service with a supplement. For the airport, Malta Public Transport gives route 119 from the village itself, which is ideal if you fly home in the afternoon and want the morning by the sea. The rest of the network is in my guide to Malta’s buses.

As for timing, it depends what you’re after. Sunday brings the market, and Malta Public Transport even reroutes the 81 into the village via Qajjenza. On a weekday there are no stalls, but the boats are the same and I’d expect far fewer people. For seasonal fish, the FAO gives April to July for bluefin tuna and swordfish, and August to December for lampuki.

Staying the night, or not

The MTA register lists no hotels in Marsaxlokk, just nine guesthouses, a hostel and 110 holiday lets. A quiet night by the water could be lovely, but for a normal stay I’d base myself in Valletta and come down by bus. If you’d like another south-eastern harbour town with more of a seafront buzz, have a look at Marsaskala, a fishing village turned summer resort.