How to spend 5 days in Malta: An Itinerary

Malta is a beautiful island full of amazing architecture and beaches and I’ll be showing how to spend 5 days in Malta! From spending the day in Valletta to a day trip to Gozo, read on to get some tips for your Malta trip!

Day 1 – Exploring Valletta 

Valetta, the capital of Malta is a must see during your 5 days in Malta. The architecture is great, with all the unique balconies on all of the houses. The balconies are called ‘gallarija’ and are different colours, something I haven’t seen anywhere else. Then the long streets down to the bottom of the steep roads are incredible to see. It is full of old churches, viewpoints and has an impressive fort at the tip of it.

Don’t miss:

St John’s Co-Cathedral

Upper Barrakka Gardens

For more information on these places head to my blog on ‘Top 10 things to do in Malta!’

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Day 2 – The Three Cities near Valletta

The Three cities are three unique cities all surrounded by water – Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua. They are also known by different names just to confuse you! Cospicua is also Bormla. Seanglea is also L-Isla and Vittoriosa is another name for Birgu. All have lovely views over the port and have their own forts.

Day 3 –  Head to Gozo

Just a 20minute ferry ride away is the island of Gozo. They were every 45 minutes and about 5 Euro round trip! Then once there, if you don’t have a car, get the bus to Victoria. A must do while spending 5 days in Malta. You can also stop off at Comino to see the blue lagoon here!

Explore Victoria

Victoria is also known as Rabat, and is the capital of Gozo island. Must see there is the Medieval Citadel, especially for the view from the top!

Not to miss:

Wied Il Ghasri – a secluded inlet with a small pebble beach, luckily when we went it was pretty empty of people! There’s a small set of stairs to get you down. And to get there from the bus it’s about a 10minute walk down hill.

Saltpans

From there it’s a short walk to where the salt pans begin. There are lots along the coast to see. Many are quite high up, but it’s also not far to walk to the nearby beach.

Where to watch the sunset on Gozo

Where to watch the sunset – Dwerja Bay. The sunset was incredible right over the sea! Unfortunately the Azure Window is no longer there, but there is an ‘inland sea’ with a small arch to make up for it…!

Best lunch spot on Gozo

For lunch I would recommend Qbajjar Restaurant near the Qbajjar Bay Beach – the most amazing Calamari and clam pasta I’ve ever had. We just stumbled upon it as we got hungry after walking around the salt pans!

Day 4 -Visit Mdina and some rock formations

If you are travelling from Valetta, make your first stop Mdina. This is a city surrounded by high walls, above on a hill. It is perfect for amazing views and lots of lovely architecture. Also home to one of the most ‘instagrammable’ spots!

Dingli Cliffs

After Mdina, head to Dingli to see the famous Dingli Cliffs. These are lovely cliffs you can walk along. 

See the Blue Grotto

Then if you haven’t had enough of rocks, make your next stop the Blue Grotto. You can get a boat to go inside and see it, but we just headed to the view point to see it from above!

Head further south to Marsaxlokk

Marsaxlokk is a small traditional fishing village, to end your day. We then walked up from the harbour over the hill towards St Peters Pool. Then on the way back we realised we were high up enough to see the most amazing sunset.

Day 5 – Popeye Village and Golden Bay

Popeye Village – where Popeye was filmed, but mainly a beautiful bay. It looks lovely if you walk to a good viewpoint!

Golden Bay – you must see a sunset here. Absolutely stunning. I would recommend walking up from the beach, you will see a path at the end of the beach, although it’s a bit steep! Then find yourself a spot, the rocks go so orange it really is a golden bay!

How to get around Malta

I got a bus pass in the airport for 21 Euro for the whole week, which also works on Gozo. In theory it all looked quite easy but sometimes the bus times were wrong and Malta only has tiny roads, so I would say if you can, hire a car, will save lots of time waiting for buses and also you can stop at any point. Whereas I had to drive past some stops and know I couldn’t stop as the next bus wasn’t for an hour.

Where to Stay in Malta 

Hugo’s Boutique Hotel – St George’s Bay.

The most comfortable bed I’ve ever experienced. Right by the beach, it’s an adult only hotel with an incredible infinity rooftop pool. The bedroom also had a Jacuzzi over looking the bay, where I watched the sunset from! If you want a bit of luxury with your partner, I would totally recommend it here.

The ground floor of the hotel also has a bar, with 2’4’1 gin cocktails on a Friday which I cannot recommend MORE.

Where to eat near Hugo’s

Then head over to Hugo’s Pizza and Pasta for some seafood tagliatelle, pizza or salmon parpadelle, DIVINE.

THEN next door to Hugo’s Boutique Hotel is the new H Hotel, with very modern rooms, and a perfect view over the bay.

Book here now!

https://www.hugoshotels.com/

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