Paola, the Knights' new town with the Hypogeum beneath it

Paola won’t feature on any list of Malta’s prettiest villages, and I doubt it minds. It’s a working town of dense streets and 10,064 residents, sitting on top of what the MTA calls Malta’s most valuable prehistoric site. Nearly everyone who comes is here for that, and fair enough.

A new town that took its time

The Malta Tourism Authority tells a curious story. Paola shares a past with Valletta, being another of the Knights’ new towns, laid out on a grid like the capital. Grand Master de Paule wanted it as a summer retreat, thanks to the breeze that reaches the hilltop. It didn’t work. The area lay close to mosquito-ridden marshes not far from the harbour, and the idea never took off.

Paola only began to grow towards the end of the 19th century, and its population shot up when the nearby dockyard expanded. That explains its character today, closer to a working town than a picture-postcard village. Its Maltese name, Raħal Ġdid, is the official name of the local council.

The NSO counted 10,064 residents in 2025, 2,942 of them foreign nationals, up on the year before. Neighbouring Santa Luċija is the opposite case, with just 5.5% of its residents from abroad. The MTA picks out its parish church, built in the mid-20th century, for its unusually bare, empty interior. I have no sourced opening times, so treat it as one to see from outside.

The Hypogeum, under a Paola street

The reason to come is on Triq iċ-Ċimiterju. In 1902 a stonemason digging foundations for some houses broke into the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, a rock-cut underground cemetery on three levels, its deepest chamber 10.6 metres below the street. It has been on the World Heritage list since 1980, and UNESCO reckons it once contained the remains of about 7,000 people. And it holds the only prehistoric paintings ever found on Maltese walls.

If you’re coming, book. Groups are capped at 10, cameras stay away, and there’s no entry for children aged 1 to 5. Adults pay €35, and Heritage Malta strongly recommends booking early. I cover it all on its own page, last-minute tickets included.

Kordin III, one Sunday a month

Far less known is Kordin III, a megalithic site by the Corradino industrial estate, next to a church and facing a mosque, as Heritage Malta itself puts it. It was excavated in 1909 by Thomas Ashby of the British School at Rome. It’s called Kordin III because the other remains in the area were lost to war, military works or development.

A paved forecourt fronts the trefoil-shaped structure, which Heritage Malta considers unique, and a large, oddly shaped stone may have served as a quern. You can only get in one Sunday a month, the second, between 10:00 and 16:00, for €5, and there’s a joint ticket with Tarxien. For me it’s a bonus for anyone who has seen the big temples and wants more, not something to cross the island for. The temples as a group are covered in the megalithic temples of Malta.

Is it worth lingering in Paola?

Honestly, not much longer. Paola is a place you come to with one time in your head, the slot you booked at the Hypogeum, and the sensible thing is to build a half-day round it. What I would do is look at the town differently once you know its story. The straight streets underfoot follow the same kind of grid plan as Valletta, drawn up by the Order for a town that never became what it was meant to be.

Nor do I have any official source for restaurants or hotels here that I could recommend, so I won’t. For food and a bed, I’d head back to Valletta or over to the Three Cities of Malta, which are close by and have far more to see. If you’re coming from the UK on a short break, one morning here is plenty, and I’d use the rest of the day to cross the harbour rather than hunt for more in Paola itself.

Getting there and pairing it with Tarxien

The MTA advises taking the bus to Paola town centre and following the signs to the Hypogeum, and Heritage Malta puts the nearest stop 2 minutes away on foot. I have no official source for which routes serve it, so check the Malta Public Transport journey planner or the Malta buses guide.

My plan would be simple. The Hypogeum at your booked time, then straight on to the Tarxien Temples, which Heritage Malta places just minutes away. Show your Hypogeum ticket when you buy the Tarxien one at the door and you pay half. The rest is on Tarxien, the temple town.