We are going to be in Malta early December for 3 nights.
I am wondering wether it is best to stay in Valetta or in St Julian's. We plan to rent a car.
We could stay at the Westin Dragonara on Starwood points - or choose a hotel in town. Is St Julian's more of a beach resort place - too quiet in December perhaps?
We've not visited Malta before, any advice would be welcome.

TULIPS:

We were in Malta for 5 days just 2 weeks ago.
St. Juliens is not a beach resort. It is part of the Valletta - Sliema - St. Julians area which is known as the "harbour area". It's like one city. Keep in mind that everything is small. These three towns together only have about 35,000 inhabitants. It really doesn't matter where you stay, you should choose according to the hotel of your choice.
We stayed at Hotel Juliani, which is located in St. Julians, and which is about a 15 minute walk from your hotel of choice. Our hotel was located on Spinola Bay, which is a great location, with lots of activity, public transport, and restaurants. We enjoyed it very much.

Here's a link to the web page I just put together about our visit to Malta.
You are the first to see it! Hope it can help you in your planning.
A TRIP TO MALTA- 2018

Thanks Steve, good info!
Hotel Juliani looks nice, but no availability from November 1st. Too early to book maybe?

It may be too early on the web site, as it's 6 months away!.

You can try directly via email: [email protected]

On the other hand, November is not exactly high season, so there shouldn't be any problem.

We stayed in Valletta and loved it. There is a lot to do within an easy walk and we used the public buses so Valletta worked well as it's the hub for all the bus routes. This won't affect you much if you have a car. I think parking in Valletta could be difficult but you could check with the hotel. We visited Sliema by ferry from Valletta and were glad we were staying in Valletta. Sliema wasn't awful but Valletta was more historic and had a lot more character.

Kay

Exactly what KayF said.

Here's my trip report - Malta in July

Photos - Zenfolio | Isabel's_View | Malta

Thanks Isabel, that's a great trip report!