Xgħajra, the village that grew round a battery

Xgħajra has barely 2,600 residents, and I won’t make up monuments for it. It’s a seaside village of 2,604 people, according to the NSO, with a promenade by the water, a British battery halfway through restoration and a very specific history that explains why it exists at all.

A village born from a battery

The local council places it on the coast, about halfway between Valletta and Marsaskala, on the outskirts of Żabbar. The Knights built a tower here, Santa Maria delle Grazie, in 1620. The British later put up the Delle Grazie Battery, which enclosed the tower, and in 1888 they pulled the tower down. The people working at the battery settled around it, a hamlet formed, and that hamlet grew into today’s village.

I like a place with such a clear birth certificate. Xgħajra didn’t grow out of a parish or a farming hamlet but out of British military engineering.

The battery and the promenade

The council singles out two landmarks, the seafront promenade and the battery. The battery is now in the council’s care and is being restored as the focal point of a public space, Battery Park. No official source I’ve found says whether it’s open yet or when, so I won’t promise it. The promenade, on the other hand, is open to all by its nature, and it’s where I’d head late in the afternoon if I were staying here.

The name has its own story too. According to the council, Ix-Xgħajra means a small open plain, and locals are called Ix-Xgħajrin. For English speakers the council even offers a rough pronunciation, ‘SH’AYRA’, which goes a long way with that fearsome għ. If the Maltese alphabet intrigues you, my guide to what language they speak in Malta covers it.

Who lives here

It’s a lived-in village, and a fast-growing one. The NSO counted 2,508 residents in 2024 and 2,604 in 2025, up 3.8%, the sixth biggest rise of the 68 councils by my reckoning. A little over one resident in four is foreign, and at 2,697 people per km² it’s small but tightly packed. The council says the population swells noticeably in summer, which fits a seaside spot, and lists it in the Port Region.

It borders Żabbar and SmartCity, which falls within Kalkara.

Is Xgħajra worth staying in?

For a quiet stay by the sea, if you don’t mind the bus, it could suit you, though the choice is tiny. The MTA register lists just 17 holiday lets, with no hotels or guesthouses. For getting about, the network has a route terminating in Xgħajra, the 94, and the 91 from Valletta to Marsaskala passes through Żabbar. Check the exact stops in the Malta Public Transport journey planner.

If you’d rather have everything on your doorstep, I’d stay in Valletta and come out here for an afternoon stroll, pairing it with the Three Cities and with Żabbar, whose sanctuary has one of the most ornate baroque façades in Malta.