Ramla Bay Resort, staying on Malta's northern tip with Gozo in view

Ramla Bay Resort is one of those hotels you choose for the setting before the building. It stands on the Marfa peninsula, at the northern tip of Malta, with sea on three sides and open countryside on the fourth, and nothing in front of it but the channel, Comino and Gozo. For anyone coming to swim, dive and hop across to Gozo, I think it’s the most sensible bed on the island. For anyone who wants nightlife, it’s the least.

First things first, it isn’t Gozo’s Ramla Bay

Worth clearing up, because people mix them up all the time. Ramla Bay is also the name of the red-sand beach below Xagħra on Gozo, which I cover on my Ramla Bay page. This hotel isn’t there. It’s at Marfa, in the Mellieħa council area, on the other side of the channel. If you want to sleep by that beach, this isn’t your hotel, even though you can see Gozo from its terrace.

A 1966 four-star on 28,000 square metres of coast

The Malta Tourism Authority rates it four-star, with 100 rooms and 200 beds. It welcomed its first guests on 1 August 1966, was designed by the architect Richard England and celebrates its 60th year in 2026. The grounds are large by Maltese standards, 28,000 m² along the sea, and that shows in what I value most in a beach hotel, which is room to breathe.

Rooms face the countryside, the sea or the sea at an angle. The Deluxe rooms in the Atrium Wing have a kettle and an empty minibar, the suites add a living room with a sofa bed, a second bathroom and a bigger terrace, and the Panoramic Suites on the corners look towards Ċirkewwa, Armier or the open sea. If I’m paying for this hotel, I’m paying for the view, so I’d ask for at least a partial sea view.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Ramla Bay Resort, Mellieha on Booking.com and filter by area before price.

What is there for swimming, inside and out?

Outside there are four unheated seawater pools, two for families, one for adults only and one for children, open from May to October between 9am and 7pm. There’s also a small sandy beach, open over the same months, and platforms with ladders into the sea from the rocks. The hotel itself calls the beach modest, which I find refreshingly honest. For a proper stretch of sand, Għadira on Mellieħa Bay is about 15 minutes away by car.

Indoors there are two covered pools, a family one and an adults-only one inside the spa, kept at 27 to 30°C, plus indoor and outdoor hot tubs, a sauna and a steam room. The spa is adults only and the gym takes guests from 16. For a family holiday, that split between adult and children’s areas is a real plus that plenty of hotels nearby don’t have.

Eating in without an all-inclusive deal

This is worth knowing before you book. The hotel doesn’t offer all-inclusive and says so plainly. Breakfast and dinner are buffets in the Terramar or the Solaris, Piatto Nero is the Italian à la carte, Kofi & Kale does coffee and salads, and the Brigantine is the lounge bar with a terrace and live music most nights. Terraces open from May to October.

I’d go half board. Marfa is out on its own and Mellieħa village is 5 km away, so eating out every night means a car or a taxi. The kitchen caters for vegetarian, vegan, lactose-free, gluten-free and halal diets; vegan, vegetarian and halal need no notice, while the other two are best requested before you arrive.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Ramla Bay Resort, Mellieha on Expedia and filter by area before price.

Diving, boats and Gozo on the doorstep

The big reason to stay here is the water. OrangeShark H2O, a PADI five-star centre, operates inside the resort, and the Ċirkewwa dives, the arch, the P29 and the Imperial Eagle, are a short hop away. I go through what’s down there on diving in Malta. In summer, the hotel’s water-sports operator runs speedboats to the Blue Lagoon, and remember that arriving by boat means booking a free time slot for Comino’s Blue Lagoon.

The Gozo ferry leaves from Ċirkewwa, 1.5 km away according to the hotel. That makes a day on Gozo a matter of getting up, catching the boat and coming back for dinner without battling traffic. Times and fares are on the Gozo ferry.

What I’m less keen on, and who it isn’t for

Marfa is peaceful precisely because it’s remote. The airport is about 25 km away, Valletta about 20, and the hotel reckons on around 45 minutes to Valletta by bus. For a sightseeing trip, or for nights out in Paceville, I wouldn’t choose it. Nor in deep winter if what you’re after is the beach, because the sand, the outdoor pools and the terraces shut from November to April.

To weigh it against the other hotels in the area, from the Seabank to the Riviera, see my hotels in Mellieħa. If this one suits you, the two things I’d check when booking are the room’s view and the meal plan, because those are what change the stay.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Mellieha and pick one that fits your day.

Where the bus does not go, a car does: compare car hire in Mellieħa before you arrive rather than at the desk.

If you still need a way in, check the best ticket deals to Malta from where you are.