The Three Cities, where the Knights lived before Valletta existed

Stand in the Upper Barrakka Gardens and there’s a line of bastions across the water. That’s the Three Cities, and I suspect plenty of visitors admire them from Valletta without ever crossing. I think that’s a mistake. This is where the Knights’ Malta began, and you get it with a fraction of the crowds that pack the capital.

Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua, one by one

They are three fortified towns on the headlands that push into the Grand Harbour, facing Valletta. Each has two names, one from the Order and an older Maltese one. Birgu is Vittoriosa, the title Grand Master La Valette gave it after the siege. Senglea is L-Isla to the Maltese, and takes its name from Grand Master Claude de la Sengle, who fortified it in 1551. Cospicua is Bormla, renamed for the part its people played in 1565. Taken together with their walls, you’ll also hear them called the Cottonera.

The Malta Tourism Authority calls them the cradle of Maltese history, and it’s a fair claim. Their creeks have been used as a harbour since Phoenician times, and because they were the first home of the Order of St John, which landed in 1530, their palaces, churches and bastions are a good deal older than Valletta’s. For the wider background, see my page on the Knights of Malta.

NSO figures for the close of 2025 give the three a combined 9,454 residents. Cospicua is the biggest at 4,785, while Birgu and Senglea each sit around 2,300. Senglea also has the highest population density in the country, 15,060 people per km², a figure that explains a lot about its character.

Getting across from Valletta

My pick is the ferry. It leaves from the quay below Upper Barrakka, which you reach by lift, and crosses to Cospicua. On weekdays there’s a boat every 15 minutes; on Sundays and public holidays it runs 09:00 to 18:15 in winter and until midnight in summer. A daytime single is €3 and a return €5, and anyone arriving from Cospicua gets a free ride up the Barrakka lift. The full picture is on the Valletta ferries page.

If you’d rather take the bus, catch route 2 from Valletta terminus for Birgu, or route 3 or 4 for Senglea, Cospicua and Kalkara. A single costs €2 on the winter fare and €2.50 on the summer one, and it covers two hours of travel, changes included.

What’s open, and what isn’t

Birgu is the heart of the visit. At its tip stands Fort St Angelo, the Knights’ command post from 1530 and pivotal in the Great Siege; it’s open daily for €10. A few minutes away is the Inquisitor’s Palace, first a civil court and then the seat of the Roman Inquisition for more than two centuries. At the Couvre Porte gate, the Malta at War Museum tells the Second World War story from one of the worst-bombed spots on the island, with a shelter cut into the rock beneath the building.

In Senglea, the point is the thing. The Gardjola Gardens sit there, with the stone look-out that watched the harbour entrance with an eye and an ear sculpted over the windows. Cospicua is the least monumental and the most lived-in of the three, with the Collegiate Church of the Immaculate Conception and the Margherita Lines, which the MTA says are the only part of old Cospicua to survive the war.

Now for what you won’t get into. The Maritime Museum, in the old naval bakery on the Birgu waterfront, is temporarily closed for a complete transformation, and Heritage Malta hasn’t said when it will reopen. I mention it because plenty of guides still list it as a must.

Passes, prices and planning the day

Two organisations run the sites here. Heritage Malta runs both the fort and the Inquisitor’s Palace, both covered by its €60 Multisite Pass, valid for 30 days. The Malta at War Museum belongs to the Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, which sells its own €50 one-week Heritage Pass, taking in Fort Rinella next door in Kalkara, the Saluting Battery and the Lascaris War Rooms. To see which pays off for you, check Malta’s sightseeing passes.

My order would be the fort first thing, the palace before lunch and the war museum after, with Senglea to finish. Watch the days, though, because the Inquisitor’s Palace shuts on Mondays and the Malta at War Museum on Sundays. If you only have one of those days, adjust accordingly.

If you’re over for Easter, the MTA singles out the Three Cities’ Easter processions, where statues of the Risen Christ are carried at a run through packed streets. I don’t have sourced dates for each town, so for what is known, see Easter in Malta.