Hello to all. We are focusing on February of 2022 (as February of 2021 was stolen from us) to take a short, five or 6 night trip to Malta. Coming from Michigan this is a terrific mid-winter break for us to have temperatures in the low 60s.

Two couples in our mid-60s who enjoy food, wine, beautiful sights, learning about history, and being exposed to other cultures. We are all very active and love walking tours, but also like to take a couple of day-trips by van with no more than a small group of 6 or so people.

Any suggestions about where to stay, what to do, and what to see are appreciated.

Thank you!

Malta makes for a nice 5 to 6 day getaway. Your best choices are either to stay directly in Valletta, just south, across the harbor in the Three Cities, or across the harbor to the north, in Sliema. I've only stayed in Sliema, and loved the location We had a 3br apartment for 5 of us it was perfect. Others may prefer to stay in the other 2 areas which are more historic.

As for day trips, Malta is quite small, about the size of a small Michigan county. I would recommend 1 day walking tour Valletta (either guided, or self guided), 1 day island van tour (Marsaxlokk, 3 Cities, Mosta, Blue Grotto, Mdina/Rabat, etc), and another 1 day side trip to Gozo. That would give you other days to spend more time in Valletta, see some of this historical sites, museums, or go back and explore some of the places you saw on your van tour.

Thank you J62. I appreciate the lodging location information as well as the day trip suggestions.

My wife and I have been to Malts 4 times now and intend to return once this Covid crisis is over.

We have always stayed at the Grand Excelsior Hotel below Valletta. It is a short walk to Republic Street the central area of town. St. John’s Co-Cathedral was an interesting venture (had never seen so much gold) as was the Grand Master Palace (Knights of St. John, the Hospitallers).

There are many interesting sites beyond Valletta. A must see is the Hypogeum. It is an underground temple deemed to be older than the pyramids. Book your tickets well in advance as entrance is limited to 8 people per hour. The Hagar Qim and Mnajdra temple sites are a little farther away but well worth exploring. A day trip to Medina (the silent city) and Rabat (there are 3 catacombs) are well worth it too.

We were fortunate one year to have also spent 3 days/nights exploring Gozo. The transfer from the airport to the ferry cost $30Euro. It takes about 20 minutes to cross over. We used the hop-on/hop-off bus to tour Gozo. There were 14 stops you could explore. We went to the Ggantica Temple site and Victoria.

We loved our trip to Malta, it seemed like a hidden gem. There are lots of Maltese living in Australia (where we are) but Malta is not really on the radar for European holidays. We're so glad we went, the history is fascinating. Our trip also included Sicily for about ten days, we had a week staying in Valletta, then flew to Sicily, then back to Malta and stayed on Gozo for about 4 nights, then back to Malta for a night before the long trip home.

We would stay in Valletta again but there is not a huge amount of accommodation there. The place I found, Valletta Studios, was pretty basic but a good location with a fantastic view. Valletta is the best place to stay if you intend using the public buses, as we did, as all routes seemed to start and end in Valletta, like the spokes of a wheel. Valletta is very walkable, in fact most of it is only for pedestrians.

We hired a jeep on Gozo, which my husband loved for some reason, as buses were not so reliable. The car hire people were really helpful and went out of their way for us. We ended up booking an airport transfer back with them. We had used the bus before but with luggage it was a struggle if the bus was full. You could check them out, looks like they do tours - https://www.mayjocarhire.com/ All the Maltese were very friendly towards us, often saying "I have a brother in Australia!".

I did a trip report you should be able to find if you click on my name.

Hello KayF and DaveJJ. Thank you both so very much for your great comments and suggestions!