When to go to Valletta?
→ The detailed month-by-month page, with real weather records
Best time: April to June and September to October
At a glance
Why go to Valletta?
Valletta was built in one go, from 1566, on a bare peninsula measuring 900 metres by 600. Having repelled the Ottoman siege, the Order of St John wanted a fortress city laid out with a ruler, a grid of streets that step down towards the two harbours. The result takes half an hour to walk from end to end, and can be seen entirely on foot. It is the smallest capital in the European Union, and one of the densest in monuments.
Globigerina limestone gives the whole its honey colour and its unity. Quarried on the spot, the stone is soft to carve and then hardens in the air, which made possible the sculpted façades, the enclosed wooden balconies painted green or burgundy, and bastions dozens of metres high. The entire city has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980, with 320 monuments recorded across 55 hectares, a rare density at this scale.
The Grand Harbour shapes everything. It is one of the deepest natural harbours in the Mediterranean, cut into creeks shared by shipyards, marinas and fortresses. The Three Cities face it, ten minutes away by ferry, with lived-in lanes and no shop windows. Cruise ships dock at the foot of the bastions, colourful boats with a painted eye ply between the quays, and the cannons of the Saluting Battery fire at noon as in the days of the knights.
Map of Valletta: what is where?
The map shows the 6 places covered in this guide, to picture the distances and plan your route.
- St John's Co-Cathedral
- Upper Barrakka
- Fort St Elmo
- Grandmaster's Palace
- Birgu and the Three Cities
- Grand Harbour
How much does a trip to Valletta cost?
Malta remains one of the cheapest destinations in Western Europe, but Valletta itself is above the island average for accommodation and food. Monument admissions add up quickly: the Co-Cathedral, the palace, the fort and Casa Rocca Piccola come to more than €45 per person combined.
| Style | Per day | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Backpacker | €50-80/day | Guesthouse or a room in Sliema, pastizzi and ftira, day bus pass, free bastions and Three Cities |
| Comfort | €110-170/day | Boutique hotel in the old town, three or four paying monuments, a fish dinner, ferries and buses |
| Premium | €300+/day | Restored palazzo with a roof terrace, private tours, chartered boat trip round the Grand Harbour, fine-dining restaurants |
Malta has used the euro since 2008 and cards are accepted everywhere, including on buses and ferries. Keep about twenty euros in cash for pastizzerias, dgħajsa boatmen and the Marsaxlokk market. Cash machines are plentiful on Republic Street and Merchants Street; avoid the currency exchange machines on the seafront, whose rates are poor.
Is Valletta safe?
Malta ranks among the safest countries in Europe and Valletta can be explored without worry at any hour, even alone. Pickpocketing is rare and limited to crowded ferries and the area around the bus terminus in high season. The real things to watch lie elsewhere. The heat first: from June to September, afternoons often top 33°C with no shade on the bastions, and heatstroke is the main reason visitors need emergency care. Then the traffic, which drives on the left, with edgy local driving, narrow streets and few pedestrian crossings in the villages. The city's steps, limestone polished by four centuries of feet, become slippery in the autumn rain. Finally, swimming off the rocks of the Grand Harbour is not advisable: shipping traffic, harbour water and no lifeguards.
What to see and do in Valletta
- St John's Co-Cathedral
- Upper Barrakka Gardens
- Saluting Battery
- Fort St Elmo
- Grandmaster's Palace
- Casa Rocca Piccola
- The Three Cities
- Crossing the Grand Harbour by dgħajsa
St John's Co-Cathedral
The Order's conventual church, built between 1573 and 1578 by Girolamo Cassar. Barrack-like outside, gilded in gold leaf throughout inside, with a vault painted by Mattia Preti and eight side chapels each assigned to one of the Order's langues. The floor is made up of some four hundred marble-inlaid tombstones, beneath which knights lie buried. The oratory holds Caravaggio's Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, the artist's largest canvas and the only one he signed.
The bastions and Upper Barrakka
The city is ringed by a limestone wall that you can follow for much of its length. The Upper Barrakka Gardens, laid out in 1661 on the bastion of St Peter and St Paul, give the best view of the Grand Harbour and its three peninsulas. Below, the Saluting Battery lines up eight cannons that fire blanks at noon and at 4pm. A lift drops 58 metres to Lascaris wharf, where the ferries leave. The Lower Barrakka Gardens, further on, remain almost deserted.
Fort St Elmo
The star of stone planted at the tip of the peninsula, between the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett Harbour. In 1565, its defenders held out for thirty-one days against the Ottoman artillery before being killed to the last man, a delay that proved decisive for the rest of the siege. The fort served until the Second World War, when Malta endured thousands of air-raid alerts. It now houses the National War Museum, which runs from Punic weapons to the George Cross awarded to the island in 1942.
Grandmaster's Palace
Built from 1571 at the centre of the grid, on St George's Square. It housed the Grand Masters of the Order, then the British governors, and today holds the offices of the Maltese presidency. The corridors are lined with painted friezes recounting the Great Siege, and the Supreme Council Hall keeps Gobelins tapestries that arrived in 1710. The armoury, set up in the former stables, displays nearly six thousand weapons and suits of armour from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The Three Cities
Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua occupy the peninsulas opposite and are older than Valletta. The knights settled here as early as 1530 and endured the siege here before founding the capital. The lanes are narrow, the wooden balconies painted, the doors numbered by hand, and you meet residents rather than tour groups. Fort St Angelo holds the tip of Birgu, the carved Gardjola watchtower keeps an eye on the harbour mouth from Senglea, and the old galleys have given way to yachts.
The Grand Harbour
A natural harbour several kilometres long, cut into deep creeks and sheltered by bastions on every shore. It gave Malta its strategic value for four centuries, from the Order's galleys to the British Mediterranean Fleet. You cross it by ferry for about two euros, in ten minutes, or by dgħajsa, the colourful boat with a painted eye that once served as a water taxi. A boat tour passes beneath the ramparts and along the shipyards and dry docks still in use.
How many days, and which itinerary?
Two full days are enough for Valletta itself, monuments included. Three days add the Three Cities and Mdina without rushing. A full week lets you cover all of Malta from the capital, Gozo and Comino included, relying on the bus network and the ferries.
🗺️ Day-by-day itinerary · 📓 Free printable Valletta guide (PDF) · 🌍 All of Malta
The capital in two days
Day 1: St John's Co-Cathedral at opening time, the Grandmaster's Palace and armoury, lunch on Strait Street, Upper Barrakka and the cannon firing at 4pm, sunset from Lower Barrakka. Day 2: Fort St Elmo and the National War Museum in the morning, a guided tour of Casa Rocca Piccola, the lift down to Lascaris wharf and the ferry to the Three Cities for the end of the day in the lanes of Birgu.
Malta in four days from Valletta
The two days in the capital, then an excursion to Mdina and Rabat, the silent city and its early Christian catacombs, fifty minutes away by bus. The fourth day is spent on the coast: Marsaxlokk and its Sunday fish market, the Delimara salt pans, or the megalithic temples of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, older than the pyramids and covered by protective tents.
The archipelago in a week
Three nights in Valletta for the capital, the Three Cities and Mdina, then three nights on Gozo via the Ċirkewwa ferry, a twenty-five-minute crossing. On the island, Victoria and its citadel, Dwejra Bay, the Xwejni salt pans and the Ġgantija temples. Half a day at Comino's Blue Lagoon fits in on transfer day, ideally early in the morning before the tourist shuttles.
Getting there and getting around
Malta's airport is 8 km from Valletta. The X4 bus reaches the City Gate bus terminus in around thirty minutes for €2 to 3 depending on the season, while the official fixed-price taxi costs around €20.
The whole centre can be covered on foot, but the city slopes and the cross streets are flights of steps cut for the knights' horses. Wear good soles and accept the climbs: from one end of the peninsula to the other takes barely thirty minutes.
The bus network starts from the square in front of City Gate and serves the whole island. A ticket costs €2 in winter and €2.50 in summer, valid for two hours, and the twelve-journey Tallinja card works out cheaper. Services thin out in the evening and on Sundays.
Two ferries leave from the foot of the bastions: the Three Cities ferry from Lascaris wharf, a ten-minute crossing, and the Sliema ferry from Marsamxett Harbour. Allow about €2 one way. The Barrakka lift links the upper town to the quay in under a minute.
Where to stay in Valletta?
Guesthouses and small historic pensions in the centre, at €50 to 80 a night out of season. Several occupy 18th-century houses with a patio and a stone staircase. Soundproofing is sometimes poor on the street side, and many have no lift over three or four floors.
Apartments and boutique hotels set in restored palazzi, €100 to 180 a night. It is the category that has grown most since 2018, the year Valletta was European Capital of Culture. Rooms with a painted wooden balcony cost more.
Sliema and St Julian's, ten minutes away by ferry or bus, offer more hotel capacity and prices 20 to 30% lower for comparable quality. The trade-off is a run-of-the-mill urban fabric and noisier nights around Paceville.
The top end is limited to a few addresses in the capital and in Floriana, at €250 to 600 a night, often in former palazzi with a roof terrace and pool. Book several months ahead for May and September.
Our places to stay, stop by stop, at three budgets →
What to eat in Valletta?
The most common Maltese dish is rabbit stewed in red wine and garlic, served in two courses at a fenkata in country taverns. In town, expect €18 to 25 a plate. Bragioli, stuffed beef olives, and stuffat tal-qarnit, octopus stew, complete the repertoire.
Pastizzi, flaky pastries filled with ricotta or mushy peas, sell for 50 cents to €1 in pastizzerias that open early. Ftira, a round flatbread topped with tuna, capers, olives and sun-dried tomato, makes a full lunch for €5 to 8 and is on UNESCO's intangible heritage list.
The Marsaxlokk fish market, on Sunday mornings, supplies the island's restaurants. Lampuka, dolphinfish caught from August to November, is served grilled or in a pie. The village's seafront restaurants charge €20 to 30 for a whole fish priced by weight.
On the sweet side, ricotta kannoli and imqaret, diamond-shaped fried pastries filled with dates, are found everywhere for a few euros. Malta has also made wine since antiquity, with two local grapes, the white girgentina and the red ġellewża, served by the glass for around €5.
Entry requirements
Schengen area: an ID card or passport for EU citizens, 90 days visa-free for UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports.
Rules change: check your own government's travel advice before you go.
Frequently asked questions about Valletta
How many days do you need in Valletta?
Two full days cover the capital and its great monuments, as the city can be crossed on foot in half an hour. A third day lets you add the Three Cities and Mdina without rushing. Beyond that, Valletta becomes a base for the whole island, well connected by bus, and for Gozo via the Ċirkewwa ferry.
What is the best time to visit Malta?
April to June and September to October bring 22 to 28°C, a sea that is still warm in autumn and monuments that are comfortable to visit. July and August regularly top 33°C with very little shade in the city. Winter stays mild, around 16°C, but windy, and the rain is concentrated from October to February.
Can you visit Malta without a car?
Yes, with no difficulty. The bus network serves the whole island from the Valletta bus terminus, for €2 to 2.50 a ticket valid for two hours. Ferries link the Three Cities and Sliema in ten minutes. Services thin out in the evening and on Sundays, and buses are packed in summer, but there is no need to hire a car.
Where can you see Caravaggio's paintings in Malta?
Two canvases hang in the oratory of St John's Co-Cathedral: the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, the painter's only signed work, and Saint Jerome Writing. Caravaggio stayed in Malta in 1607 and 1608, was made a knight there, then expelled from the Order after a brawl. Admission costs around €15.
Similar destinations
Region🇮🇹 The Amalfi Coast
Region🇮🇹 Puglia
City🇫🇷 Nice
City🇬🇷 Corfu
Region🇭🇷 Istria
Region🇫🇷 Charente-Maritime and the Île de Ré
Region🇫🇷 Saint-Malo and the Emerald Coast
Country🇫🇷 France
Region🇫🇷 Normandy
Region