Stepping back in time in Malta
Summary
Malta represents a cracking country for a 3-4 day trip. The Old Town of Valetta is about as pretty an Mediterranean old town as you can get and is a delight to wander around. The various beaches scattered across the islands have some wonderfully picturesque spots for swimming and lazing the days away. And its history – Malta has been ruled over the centuries by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Knights of St John, French and British – gives a variety of spots that will satisfy even the most demanding culture vulture for a short trip. Add into the mix its warm climate (perfect for Europe’s winter months) and just how compact it is (you can drive from one side to the other in under an hour), and you’ve got a cracking spot for that 3-4 day trip
Whilst I only visited for a short time for lash / partying (and, quite unusually, took practically no photos), here are the top highlights I took from the visit:
- Highlight #1 – Valetta. Gorgeous Old Town that will naturally be one of the key places you spend your time. We visited in summer, which meant that it was scorching in the daytime, but was actually quite nice because you can wander around some of the practically deserted streets and churches without hoards of tourists, and get to watch the place come alive as the late afternoon sun starts to set and cool the place down. As with all Old Towns, the best tip is to put away the map and just get yourself lost in the various back alleys and giving yourself that wonderful few moments of feeling like you truly are transported back before the changes of the modern world and the thousands of fellow tourists
- Highlight #2 – Mdina and Rabat. Just how picturesque the setting is is reflected in its choice for various exotic filming locations for the TV show Game of Thrones. Even more so that Valetta, Mdina felt like one of those places that transports you back in time as you wander through the honey-coloured buildings and look out across the views from the walls of this hilltop ancient capital of Malta
- Highlight #3 – The Blue Lagoon. Based on the island of Comino, the Blue Lagoon is a delightfully picturesque spot for a swim and to chill on the waterfront. Just try to bring either heaps of sunscreen of some umbrellas as there is very little shade there. To get there you can easily take a standard sightseeing boat from either Silema, Bugibba or Golden Bay on main Malta Island
highlights
#1 - Valetta. Gorgeous Old Town that will naturally be one of the key places you spend your time
#2 - Mdina and Rabat. Picturesque hilltop towns with honey-coloured buildings and pretty narrow streets
#3 - The Blue Lagoon. Based on the island of Comino, the Blue Lagoon is a delightfully picturesque spot for a swim and to chill on the waterfront
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Similar Small Country Trips
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone