Valletta Waterfront, Pinto's warehouses turned into a promenade

Valletta Waterfront is the part of Malta closest to hand if you arrive by cruise ship, since it sits right beside the port. It’s a row of Baroque warehouses with brightly painted doors along the Grand Harbour, with restaurants and shops inside. I like it, with one clear caveat. This isn’t Valletta. The city is up the hill behind the bastions, and so is the reason to come.

Grand Master Pinto’s warehouses

The Waterfront’s own website tells the story. In 1752 Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca had 19 spacious warehouses built, designed by Andrea Belli, to serve the busy harbour. The Knights and merchants used them for storage, and they’re still called the Pinto Stores. They sat alongside the older Forni Stores, among the earliest surviving harbour warehouses in Malta, with roots in the 17th and 18th centuries.

A large bronze bust of the Grand Master was placed above the central warehouse’s doorway. When it was unveiled on the evening of 10 August 1752, the whole quay was lit with torches for a water carnival, complete with a full orchestra on a barge. I love that detail; it says everything about Pinto’s taste for ceremony. For the wider background, see the Knights of Malta.

What’s worth a look

The Chapel of the Flight into Egypt went up in 1752 with the warehouses, to Belli’s same Baroque design, for the men who worked in the Pinto Stores. It’s small, with a narrow façade that still packs in every feature of a much grander church.

Below the bastions is the Magazino Hall, a store built in 1727 where oil for the street lamps was kept in vats. When gas lamps reached the harbour in the mid-19th century, the building became part of the island’s first power station.

And there’s one spot I find the most human on the whole promenade. The Child Migrants’ Memorial, unveiled in 2008, remembers the 310 Maltese children, mostly boys, who travelled to Australia between 1950 and 1965 in search of a better life.

On the water itself is Laguna Marina, a small boutique marina with floating pontoons for boats up to 15 metres, which claims to be the only one in Malta offering an all-inclusive berthing service. It’s not something most visitors will need, but if you see motor yachts tied up along the promenade, that’s where they belong.

Eating, strolling and parking

The Waterfront has Italian, Maltese, Asian and Japanese restaurants, one of them there since 2004. I won’t single one out, because I’ve no source to judge the cooking by, but I will vouch for the setting, which the site itself says has some of the islands’ most impressive views. My food picks for the capital are on the best restaurants in Valletta.

If you’re driving, the site lists parking on the quays, in the Atrium and Wedge car parks and at MCP, plus free on-street spaces nearby. Malta Public Transport also has a tallinja Bike station here, charging €3 for the opening half hour if you’ve no travel card.

Is it worth it on a cruise stop?

For a walk or a meal, yes, because it’s on your doorstep. But if you only have a few hours, I wouldn’t spend them here. I’d head up into the city for St John’s, the Grandmaster’s Palace and Upper Barrakka, and save the Waterfront for the way back, when there’s only time left for a bite. How to plan the stop is on Malta as a cruise stop, and the full day on Valletta, Malta’s capital.

If you’re staying on the island, my advice changes. Come late in the day and eat with the harbour spread out in front of you, which to my mind is when it’s at its very best.

It’s worth checking the listings before you go. The Waterfront’s website advertises free family activities on the promenade through the year, a jazz series, an Oktoberfest and Halloween and Christmas events. Not every date is published far in advance, so I’d look the same week. With children, one of those free afternoons can easily be the best part of the day, and the traffic-free promenade is easy going with a pushchair.