Malta is small. The days out are not.
Which Comino boat actually stops at the Crystal Lagoon. What a Gozo day costs once the ferry is in it. Whether Valletta is better on foot or from the water. Reviews of every tour you can book on the islands.
The Blue Lagoon, Valletta on foot, Gozo for a day, Mdina before dark.
The four bookings a first week on the islands is built around. What each one costs, how long it takes, and where it leaves from.
01The boat dayGozo & Comino Islands, Blue Lagoon & Seacaves TourGozo, Comino and the Blue Lagoon in one crossing, with the sea caves on the way back. The cheapest way to see all three islands.
02The capital on footThe Original Valletta Walking TourRepublic Street, the auberges and the steps down to the harbour. Two hours that make the rest of Valletta legible.
03The Gozo crossingGozo Day Trip Including Ggantija TemplesThe Cirkewwa ferry, the Cittadella above Victoria and the temples at Ggantija. A full day, and it needs to be.
04The inland dayHighlights of Malta & Mdina Full Day Tour with LunchMdina, Rabat and the middle of the island, with lunch built in. The half of Malta that is not coastline.
Scheduled boat, private hull or the cave route. Pick how you reach Comino.
The lagoon is the same colour whichever way you arrive. What changes is how long you get there, how many people are aboard, and what it costs to step on.
Valletta, Sliema, Mellieha, Mdina, Comino or the ferry to Gozo.
The peninsula the Knights laid out, the seafront the boats load from, the northern bays within reach of the lagoon, a walled city with no cars in it, and the second island half an hour across the channel. Six bases, and the best day out from each.
In Malta the good day starts on a jetty at Sliema or Cirkewwa.
The Comino lagoon is the headline, but the same hulls run to the Santa Marija caves, along the Gozo cliffs and back into the Grand Harbour under the bastions. More of this country is reached by boat than by road.
Valletta: an entire capital inside one set of walls.
Everything in Valletta →
The Knights laid the grid in 1566 and it has barely shifted since. Caravaggio in the oratory of the co-cathedral, the Saluting Battery firing over the Grand Harbour, and enclosed timber balconies down every street that runs to the water.
- 1The Original Valletta Walking Tourfrom $26
- 23-Hour Walking Tourfrom $25
- 3Full-Day Gozo Quad Tour with Lunch and Boat Ridefrom $131
The grid the Knights laid out
Republic Street end to end, then down the stepped lanes towards the harbour. A guide is what gets you inside St John’s Co-Cathedral with the Caravaggio explained rather than glanced at.
The Grand Harbour and the creeks
The bastions only make sense from below. The loop crosses to the Three Cities, past the dry docks and the yacht moorings, and comes back under the Barrakka lift.
Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua
The Knights lived here before Valletta existed. Most days out cross by dghajsa, walk the Birgu waterfront and climb to the Senglea watchpoint for the view back at the capital.
The days out more travellers take than anything else in Malta.
Every Malta tour we have reviewed →What the islands actually book: the crossings, the walks and the tickets that fill up first, and what earns each one its slot.
1
Gozo & Comino Islands, Blue Lagoon & Seacaves Tour
From Bugibba, cruise Malta’s northern coast to Comino’s Blue Lagoon, sea caves, and Crystal Lagoon, then spend about three hours in Gozo. Swim, use the boat’s waterslide, and choose a shuttle to Victoria or Ramla Bay. Guides such as Rowan and Owen add clear safety advice and island history.
From · $28
Read our review →
2
Blue Lagoon, Crystal Lagoon, and Seacaves Tour
from $35
3
Blue Lagoon, Beaches & Bays Trip by Catamaran
from $62
4
Gozo, Comino, Blue & Crystal Lagoon, & Caves Cruise
from $34
5
Comino, Crystal Lagoon, and Blue Lagoon Cruise
from $40
6
Gozo, Comino and Blue Lagoon Cruise
from $41
7
Comino, Blue Lagoon, Crystal Lagoon & Caves Cruise
from $34
8
The Original Valletta Walking Tour
from $26
Valletta, Mdina and the Three Cities: sixty years of Knights building.
Four walled towns went up on one small island between 1530 and 1600, and all four are still lived in. Walk one properly, cross the harbour to the next, and save Mdina for the evening when the coaches have gone.
- 1The Original Valletta Walking Tourfrom $26
- 2Highlights of Malta & Mdina Full Day Tour with Lunchfrom $79
- 33-Hour Walking Tourfrom $25
Gozo keeps its own clock, twenty-five minutes across the channel.
The Cirkewwa ferry drops you somewhere slower: the Cittadella standing over Victoria, salt pans cut into the north coast, Xlendi at the bottom of a gorge, and Ggantija, up and standing long before Stonehenge.
Every Gozo day out →
Mellieha and St Paul’s Bay are where the Comino boats load.
Malta’s biggest sandy bay, a film set left standing at Anchor Bay since 1980, and the Cirkewwa quay twenty minutes up the road. Base yourself here and the second island is a morning out, not an expedition.
- 1Popeye Village Entry Ticketfrom $18
- 2Popeye Village Malta Filmset Entry Ticketfrom $18
- 3Comino & Gozo: Blue & Crystal Lagoons Cruise with Sea Cavesfrom $33
What a day out in Malta actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by what it costs. A good share of the best Maltese days come in under the price of dinner on the Sliema front.
Walking tours, entry tickets, kayak hire and the standard scheduled boat to Comino.
The full days: Gozo with lunch and the ferry, catamaran sailings, jeep and quad routes.
Private boats, chauffeured island days and the one splurge a week can carry.
Three things that only happen in Malta.
Blue water and old stone run right round the Mediterranean. A lagoon this colour with an empty island behind it, temples older than the pyramids, and a fishing fleet with eyes painted on the bows do not.
The Blue Lagoon
Comino has no cars, a permanent population you could count on two hands and almost nothing open in winter. The channel between it and Cominotto shelves over pale sand, which is the whole reason the water reads that colour. Boats run from Cirkewwa, Sliema, Bugibba and Mellieha; the ones that leave first get the lagoon before the day boats land.
- 1Blue Lagoon Catamaran Cruise with Lunch and Open Bar★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 934 reviews
- 2Gozo & Comino Quad Bike & Boat Tour with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 809 reviews
- 3Gozo Full-Day Tuk-Tuk Tour and Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 734 reviews
Ggantija and the temple builders
Ggantija went up on Gozo around 3600 BC, a thousand years before Giza and long before Stonehenge. Whoever built it moved limestone blocks the size of a small car without metal tools, kept it up for a millennium, and then vanished off the islands entirely. Entry runs on timed slots, which is why the Gozo day trips that include it start early.
- 1Gozo Day Trip Including Ggantija Temples★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 2,399 reviews
- 2Prehistoric Temples of Malta Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 517 reviews
- 3Prehistoric Temples, Limestone Heritage & Blue Grotto★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 412 reviews
The luzzu fleet at Marsaxlokk
The fishing boats in the south-eastern harbour carry the Eye of Osiris on both sides of the bow, a habit far older than the Knights. Sunday is the market: fish on the quay first thing, the stalls for everyone else afterwards. Most days out pair it with the Blue Grotto twenty minutes along the coast.
- 1Blue Grotto & Sunday Market at Marsaxlokk Fishing Village★★★★★★★★★★ 3.6 · 803 reviews
- 2Marsaxlokk, Blue Grotto, and Qrendi Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 547 reviews
- 3Private Jet Ski Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 245 reviews
Four Maltese bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast. These four run on timed entry, ferry timetables and a wind that decides on the morning whether anything sails at all.
- 01Gozo & Comino Islands, Blue Lagoon & Seacaves TourThe Comino boats keep a timetable, and they stop altogether when the northwesterly gets up. On a bad morning nothing crosses the channel.
- 02Gozo Day Trip Including Ggantija TemplesEntry to the temples runs on timed slots with a cap on each one, and the Gozo day trips are built around the slot they hold.
- 03Mdina and Rabat Walking Tour with CatacombsThe catacombs at Rabat allow a limited number of people underground at a time, so entry runs as small timed groups.
- 04Popeye Village Entry TicketThe film set at Anchor Bay keeps shorter hours out of season and sells dated tickets, so the day on the ticket is the day you go.
The mornings the Comino boats stay tied up at Cirkewwa.
A northwesterly in spring or autumn shuts the channel, and July at midday makes an open bastion unbearable. Both have the same answer: go inland and go under a roof. Walled streets, catacombs, temple sites, a cellar and a long lunch.
- 1The Original Valletta Walking Tourfrom $26
- 2Highlights of Malta & Mdina Full Day Tour with Lunchfrom $79
- 33-Hour Walking Tourfrom $25
Malta eats late: pastizzi at seven, rabbit at nine.
Ricotta and pea parcels out of a hole in the wall, ftira loaded with tuna and capers, fenek stewed in wine, and a bottle of Kinnie that tastes of bitter orange. The food walks start where the locals queue.
Every Maltese food day →
By place — two islands and the harbour towns
By kind of day — boat, bastion, temple or table
Valletta, the Three Cities, Mdina, Mellieha, Comino, Gozo: the run most first trips make.
Three CitiesThe newest Malta tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
5 hr Vintage Bus Tour – Mdina & Blue Grotto inc. food
Read our review →
Victoria, Gozo: Sunset Walking Food and Drink Tour
Read our review →
Valletta Street Food & History Tour With Private Transfers
Read our review →
Afternoon Harbours Cruise with Guide and Roundtrip Transfers
Read our review →
