One day in Malta: Valletta and the Grand Harbour at an easy pace

One day in Malta isn’t long, and it’s worth admitting that up front, because the usual mistake is trying to cram the capital, Mdina and even Gozo into a single outing. My plan goes the other way. I stay in Valletta and around its harbour, go inside the places that deserve it and leave the rest for a trip back, which with any luck will happen.

Why I wouldn’t leave Valletta

UNESCO counts 320 monuments in 55 hectares and rates Valletta among the most concentrated historic areas anywhere. On a day trip that means you don’t need a single bus. You can walk from Valletta City Gate to the tip at Fort St Elmo, and everything below sits within a quarter of an hour on foot. Any trip to another part of the island eats a good chunk of the day on the bus, and with one day you can’t spare it.

My morning, from St John’s to the noon gun

I’d start at 09:00 at St John’s Co-Cathedral, when it opens and when it’s quietest. The €15 ticket is the one I mind paying least in the whole country, because the plain façade gives nothing away and the interior is another world. Keep the last half-hour for the Oratory and Caravaggio’s Beheading, a canvas of 520 by 360 cm.

From there it’s the Grandmaster’s Palace, open from 10:00, with the State Rooms and the Knights’ Armoury for €12. I’d keep it to an hour, because at 12:00 the Saluting Battery fires in the Upper Barrakka Gardens. Get there a quarter of an hour early, as the battery itself suggests, and have a card ready, as they don’t take cash.

What if your day in Malta is a Sunday?

Sundays catch a lot of visitors out. The Co-Cathedral is closed on Sundays and public holidays, and the Saluting Battery opens Monday to Saturday. If Sunday is all you have, I’d swap the morning for MUŻA, in the former inn of the Italian knights, which opens every day. If you’d rather have the sea than museums, the direct TD10 heads to Marsaxlokk only on Sundays, which happens to be the day the village holds its fish market.

An afternoon between Fort St Elmo and the Grand Harbour

After a quick bite, I’d head down to Fort St Elmo at the tip of the peninsula. It held out for a month against the Ottoman assault of 1565 and now houses the National War Museum, including the George Cross that King George VI awarded to the Maltese people in 1942. Until 31 October it closes at 19:00, so there’s no need to rush.

I’d finish on the water. The Valletta to Cospicua ferry costs €3 one way and crosses the Grand Harbour in a few minutes, bastions on one side and the Three Cities on the other. Crossing times and ticket prices are all in my guide to the Sliema to Valletta ferry and the Three Cities crossing. Wander through Birgu to Fort St Angelo and come back in the last of the light. When you leave Cospicua you’re handed a ticket for the Upper Barrakka Lift, and riding it up over the harbour at dusk is how I’d end the day.

If you’re stopping off on a cruise

This plan also works for cruise passengers. The terminal is on the Valletta Waterfront, about 15 minutes’ walk from the city according to the port operator, and the Barrakka Lift spares you the climb. If your ship sails mid-afternoon, I’d drop the Three Cities and keep the whole morning. There’s more on timings in my page on the Malta cruise port.

What I’d save for next time

Mdina, the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum and Gozo don’t fit into this day without spoiling it. The Hypogeum needs booking well ahead and lets in 10 people at a time. A standard ticket is €35, while last-minute tickets, sold only the day before at a few Heritage Malta sites, cost €50 and go on a first-come basis. Gozo, for its part, deserves a day to itself. If you can stretch to two days, I’d give the second to Mdina, Rabat and the Dingli Cliffs, and that’s all laid out in my weekend in Malta.