Żebbuġ, a big central Maltese town with city status

There are two Żebbuġs in Malta, and this page is about the bigger one, on the main island. With 15,352 residents according to the NSO, it’s one of the most populous towns inland, and hardly any visitors set foot in it. Visit Malta puts it in a way I like, a large residential area for centuries that still feels like a village.

Olives, cotton and a city title

The name tells part of the story. According to Visit Malta, Ħaż-Żebbuġ means village of olives, and olive oil was once made here. But its wealth came from another crop. For centuries it was Malta’s main agricultural village and the centre of cotton, grown for sale. That prosperity left behind, again per Visit Malta, patrician houses, palazzos and fine examples of 16th to 18th-century domestic architecture.

In 1777 Grand Master Emmanuel de Rohan made it a city, which is why Żebbuġ is also called Città Rohan. A monumental arch on the main approach road marks the occasion. It’s a similar story to Siġġiewi, which got its title from Hompesch twenty years later, and to Żabbar. The last Grand Masters handed out city titles among the country towns.

Visit Malta adds a claim I can’t verify but will quote as it stands. It says Żebbuġ has produced more distinguished Maltese, artists, poets, sculptors, composers and notable priests, than any other village in the islands.

What to see in Żebbuġ

St Philip’s parish church, from the early 17th century, which Visit Malta attributes to the son of Gerolamo Cassar, architect of St John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta. Inside it’s thoroughly baroque, and its side chapels hold, according to the same source, fine examples of Maltese scenography.

There are several old chapels around it. St Roque’s, built in 1539, is the oldest, and Visit Malta says it opens on the first Sunday of every month between 9:30 and 12:00. The most ornate is the little church of Tal-Abbandonati, from 1758, a short walk to the right of St Philip’s. If you can only come once, make it that first Sunday morning.

The official sources I’ve checked list no museums or ticketed sights in town. What you get is an old core, its churches and its façades, and I’d rather be honest about that.

A big and very Maltese town

The NSO figures help explain it. Żebbuġ had 15,352 residents at the end of 2025, 335 more than a year earlier, and 2,612 of them are foreign, around 17 per cent by my reckoning. At 1,773 people per square kilometre, it’s a big town with fields around it, a far cry from Sliema or Gżira. It belongs to the Western district, along with Mdina, Rabat, Dingli, Siġġiewi and Attard.

In practice that means no souvenir shops and no menus in five languages. There’s a square with its parish church, locals’ bars and streets that move at their own pace. I see that as a plus, as long as you come knowing what you’re after.

Getting to Żebbuġ

The 62, on its way from Valletta to Siġġiewi, stops here after Ħamrun and Qormi, so you can pair the two towns in one morning. There’s also the 61, which ends in Żebbuġ. The cost of tickets is in Malta’s buses.

To eat, the MTA register lists 5 restaurants, 13 snack bars and 10 bars. There are no hotels, just two guesthouses and 24 holiday lets, so I’d plan it as a day trip from Valletta.

How I’d plan it

A Sunday morning, the first of the month. I’d take the 62 from Valletta, get off in Żebbuġ to see St Philip’s and St Roque’s chapel while it’s open, and carry on along the same route to Siġġiewi for lunch. In the afternoon, since the Limestone Heritage Park website gives no Sunday hours, I’d head for Buskett, which can be visited at any hour.

Not to be confused with Żebbuġ on Gozo

If you’re after the hilltop village above Marsalforn and the salt pans, that’s a different place, Żebbuġ on Gozo, with its own local council. Searches mix them up constantly, and so can bus numbers, because Gozo has its own route named after its Żebbuġ. Always check which island you’re on.