Malta Travel Guide

Spend a week or two on this dramatic Mediterranean island and you will be in excellent company. Visitors have been putting ashore on Malta's sandy and rocky bays and beaches for thousands of years. Today, the archipelago offers a unique variety of absorbing heritage rich in history. Malta is holidaying as the mood takes you.

Malta, the small autonomous group of islands in the southern Mediterranean is an optimal location for an active holiday: water sports enthusiasts will be able to experience a fascinating world above and below the water's surface; and the island group also boasts a turbulent history that goes back several centuries. Malta is an island of many secrets: for example, who erected the clover leaf-shaped temple site on the cliffy south coast over 4,500 years ago? Who left behind the gigantic ruts close to the quarries in the west? There are still no real answers to either question, but these stone testaments continue to amaze visitors. Many civilisations and cultures came here and left parts of their legacy on the island, which is about twice the size the city of Manchester.

Medieval churches and British colonial buildings such as the Church of Our Lady of Victory are stone witnesses to the cultural heritage. Arabic influences are not only evident in the language, but also in the buildings and culinary specialities.

Malta is also particularly popular with divers as the rocky coastline offers exciting underwater sites including caves and grottoes.

Many young people come to Malta to learn English. The tourist areas are accordingly lively, although, if one travels just a few miles inland, time really seems to stand still. By taking a round tour of the island, a good option being by bus, visitors may travel back through the centuries and the diverse cultures: from the Baroque Palazzo Vilhena to the mysterious temples of Mnajdra and Hagar Qim, from a Roman villa in Rabat to St. Lucian Tower, a watchtower that dates back to the time of the Knights Hospitalers. Similarly historic is the neighbouring Gozo, but it is much quieter and more secluded here.

• Marsaxlokk
• Mdina
• Mosta
• Rabat
• Senglea

• Sliema
• Saint Julian's
• Valletta
• Vittoriosa