A Relaxing Weekend Itinerary for Malta

I am a summer baby through and through, but sometimes I don’t jell well with the non-British summer heat (which is basically anything over 25 degrees Celsius). Picture it; really bad sunburnt cheeks and false lashes hanging halfway down my face, aka not a good look. But Malta in May? Perfect. We (my friend Amy and I) got the sun, but we also weren’t melting under the heat and were able to explore beautiful historic towns and swim in azure-coloured waters. I have written about the outfits I wore on our trip in a previous post but here’s our weekend itinerary for a relaxing weekend in Malta.

Friday: Arriving in Malta

I didn’t really know what to expect when we landed in Malta, but I was eager to escape miserable Britain and walk under clear blue skies. We didn’t have to stick around in airports for long as we only packed hand-luggage, which saved us a lot of time! We got to our hotel – Qawra Palace Hotel – around 4pm, which allowed us to get changed and then walk around the coast. It was so peaceful as it wasn’t quite tourist season yet, so we headed off to the nearest restaurant and nibbled on bruschetta beneath palm trees and blue skies.

Saturday: Comino Island, Blue Lagoon + St. Paul’s Bay

Our first full day was spent at Comino Island, and to be honest I was a bit worried about the weather as dull, grey clouds decorated the skies that morning. The ferry there was not as smooth as I hoped due to the choppy waves, but they took us around to some key locations (some of which I can’t remember now) which made me ignore my shaky legs for a while. Needless to say, I was relieved by the time our feet touched solid ground (and thanked the Universe that I didn’t puke over the side of the boat).

I had already looked up photos of the Blue Lagoon before we arrived and bought a cute pineapple that was filled with pina colada on our way to the desired coast. To our relief, the sun broke out of the clouds just as we were settling into our sun beds and the rest of the day was pure bliss. The Blue Lagoon was absolutely beautiful with it’s azure-coloured water, and I have never seen the sea so clear – you could see the tiny fish swimming around our ankles. We somehow managed to spend the whole day there, doing a mixture of sunbathing and swimming whilst singing the opening theme tune of Moana to each other across the sea. And I, surprisingly, didn’t get burnt!

It was around 5pm by the time we got back to our hotel, so we took a casual walk around St. Paul’s Bay and the sky was a beautiful pink-ish hue as the sun began to set. What I couldn’t help but notice was the sheer contrast between some of the houses; some were immaculate and painted in pastel tones, yet another would be in ruins, half-built, or going through some construction work. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful end of the day.

Tips for Comino Island/Blue Lagoon:

• The ferry trip is a bit choppy, so bring waterproofs. We got absolutely soaked on our way back so I regretted not bringing a coat.
• Bring some cash as you’ll have to pay to reserve a sun bed (and for food and drinks etc).
• Don’t forget your towel! 

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Sunday: Mdina + Valletta

We woke up for an early start for our second full day, as we wanted to get to Mdina before the crowds (crowds + heat = not a good combination). I’m so glad we did as we were able to have a walk around the historic city without getting lost in waves of people – in fact, most of the time, we were completely alone. We tracked down the places where they filmed the first season of Game of Thrones such as King Landing’s gate (Mdina Gate), Littlefinger’s brothel (Pjazza Mesquita), and the fountain where Ned confronts Cersei regarding her children (which was actually about a 20-minute walk in Saint Dominic’s Monastery in Rabat, near to Mdina). 

It was just after midday by the time we finished walking around Mdina, so we took a bus to Valletta which is Malta’s capital. We didn’t really stay for long because of the sweltering heat but we managed to walk through the city to go to the Upper Barrakka Gardens which overlooked the coast of Valletta.

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Monday: Travel back home

On Monday we caught up on the last episode of Game of Thrones, and walked around the coast near our hotel to try and process what actually happened before hopping on the bus back to the airport. I was glad that we didn’t really do anything on our last day in Malta because boy the travel back home was a nightmare. My stress levels increased inch by inch as we saw that our first plane home was continuously getting delayed, to the point where we actually missed our next plane home and had to scramble for a place to stay in Frankfurt. We weren’t the only ones – in fact, Frankfurt Airport was packed with people panicking as they couldn’t make their flight home.

But Malta gave us exactly what we needed – a relaxing weekend in the sun! It would be nice to go back and explore more of Valletta in future, as well as other coastal towns like Gozo (which was another place where they filmed a bit of Game of Thrones).

Have you been to Malta before? What did you do there?

Love,
Lizzie xx

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