The most beautiful spots in Malta, monuments aside

This isn’t the sightseeing list again. Here I’m not scoring what a place tells you about history but what you see from it, and in Malta that’s nearly always water, limestone and coastal light. If you’re after which tickets to buy, that’s in things to do in Malta. If you want the photo you’ll be showing everyone when you get home, read on.

Gozo claims five of the fourteen

That’s no accident. Gozo is more rural, its coast is far less built up and its western edge faces open sea. Dwejra takes my top spot because it packs three landscapes into one place. There’s the Inland Sea, a round lagoon lined with fishermen’s huts and joined to the sea by a tunnel about 100 metres long. There’s Fungus Rock, whose sides the Knights shaved smooth so nobody could climb it. And there’s the stretch of coast where the Azure Window stood. The arch fell in 2017, but the place is still the best sunset in the country. I cover it fully in Dwejra.

Wied il-Għasri is the opposite, narrow and tucked away, a gorge dropping to a pebble cove between walls of rock. The Xwejni salt pans west of Marsalforn are about 3 km of square pans cut 350 years ago, and salt is still gathered there every summer. Ramla Bay is the red sand beach that the Gozo tourist board itself calls the island’s finest.

The main island’s own viewpoints

On Malta itself I’d pick two places that couldn’t be more different. The Dingli Cliffs in the south-west drop up to 230 m into the sea, with the chapel of St Mary Magdalene on the edge, and they’re the island’s sunset spot. Upper Barrakka in Valletta is the reverse, a city garden with arcades looking over the entire Grand Harbour, with Birgu and Senglea straight across. Arrive shortly before 12:00 or 16:00 and you’ll watch the Saluting Battery fire from above.

From the far side of the same harbour, the Gardjola in Senglea gives you the view in reverse, with Valletta facing you. It’s quieter and, to my mind, more charming. I line them all up, Gozo’s included, in best viewpoints in Malta.

Which pretty spots are right by the sea?

Almost all of them, but three work as postcards. Marsaxlokk harbour and its luzzu, the fishing boats painted blue, red and yellow, which I’d see midweek when there are no market stalls blocking the water. The Blue Grotto at Wied iż-Żurrieq, a vast rock arch over calm water that you can see from the roadside viewpoint. And Comino’s Blue Lagoon, which deserves its reputation for the colour of the water and loses a little of it to the crowds.

The Blue Lagoon changed completely in 2025. Since 1 May that year, entry has meant reserving one of the day’s three free slots, with a limit of 4,000 people, when in summer 2024 numbers reached 12,000. I’d go in the morning slot and wander over to St Mary’s Bay if I wanted water without a crowd.

Mind the edge

This is where people get it wrong. Several of these places are working coastline. Spain’s foreign ministry warns about falling rock at three spots, St Peter’s Pool, Għar Lapsi and Kalanka, and the Gozo tourist board suggests watching Wied il-Għasri in rough seas from a safe distance. At Dingli I wouldn’t go near the edge for a photo either. You don’t need to, and the view is just as good two metres back.

Fitting these into a trip

Upper Barrakka, the Gardjola and Mdina slot into your sightseeing days, because you’ll be there anyway. Dingli and the Blue Grotto pair up nicely for an afternoon in the south and west. Marsaxlokk fits with the temples. For Gozo, though, I’d stay the night, because its best spots are all about sunset and early morning and the ferry keeps you glancing at your watch. If you’d like to know which villages also have a pretty centre to wander, that’s in the prettiest villages in Malta.

And a final thought on light. Most of Malta’s coast is pale limestone, and it catches the low evening sun in a way that turns whole headlands gold. That, more than any single spot, is why I’d plan these places around the light.