Malta and Gozo

A family week in the islands of Malta and Gozo

Holiday Ratings
Recommended days	7
Budget	£
Difficulty	Easy

Malta

Malta and Gozo are a great destination for a family break with literally something for everyone, history, sunshine, kids activities and travel photography. I’d forgotten how nice and familiar Malta is – UK power sockets, language and driving but Italian sun!

Accommodation

This holiday had been booked for quite a while and at the last minute we decided to take Kirsty our granddaughter. We were staying at the Radisson Blu on cliffs overlooking the beach, which was ideal for her and I’m sure it’s more fun than being at school! The hotel has lovely accommodation, a nice pool and gym etc.

Food in the hotel is obviously pricey but there are a few casual restaurants nearby. You could stay here and just use the excellent bus service that stops just outside but we had hired a car for convenience.

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Gozo

On the day we arrived we just chilled in the hotel and went for a walk along the beach then onto the lookout point with the Hospitaller watch tower. I then planned a visit to the nearby island of Gozo, a quieter and greener mini Malta.

We took the ferry to Gozo and firstly headed to the Ggantija Temples, magnificent Neolithic buildings that are older than Stonehenge. I know, dragging a 6 year old around a 5500 year old temple is a terrible thing to do but she is very bright and seemed to enjoy herself.

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It’s a shame that so much of the place was destroyed in the last hundred years because what they achieved with just stone and bone tools is pretty amazing! After the obligatory ice cream bribe we then went to a small play park before a walk and climb around a windmill.

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Marsalforn Saltpans

After a gorgeous lunch at a seafront restaurant we had a quick stop at the salt pans before heading back to the ferry. The salt pans really needed something special to make them more interesting photographically, a drone or sunset maybe. They were interesting to see though, a hundreds of years old process for getting the salt from the ocean. Far more traditional than the industrial scale we saw in Spain involving tractors scraping off the surface layer!

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This had been a good day for Kirsty, she got to go on a boat for the first time and saw some blue sky too! We finally got home in late afternoon and left Deb to do the dinner, her second favourite thing. An hours tv while Debbie was cooking was enough for Kirsty to recharge, unlike us!

Mdina

Tuesday was a chilled day, in more ways than one – it was damned cold and drizzled most of the day. We stayed in the apartment until just after lunch and then headed to Mdina. After we eventually found a parking space we visited the Roman catacombs under the city.

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Kirsty was fascinated by the burials and tunnels and had the distinct advantage of not knocking her head on the low roofs! We felt that deserved a reward so she had 2 cakes in the cake shop before we visited the Roman House.

This was largely destroyed by the British building a road through it! The mosaics and glass work that remain are very impressive and again, Kirsty was fascinated by it all.

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After that Deb and K headed to a petting zoo whilst I went into Mdina for a photography tour. We called this off after a couple of hours due to rain but I had a great time and hopefully learned some new stuff! Not a bad quiet day, despite the rain.

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Hagar Qim megalithic temple

Wednesday started well as we all slept in until nearly 8AM! We then had a leisurely start to the day and didn’t leave the hotel until lunchtime. Our first stop was more megalithic temples at Hagar Qim. Who said you can’t have too much of a good thing!

The drive was fun, I think it’s the only place I’ve ever been where I think the speed limit is sensible although in this case it’s because the roads are so bad! We had to check the wheels when we arrived to make sure nothing was broken!

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The weather was decent and the temples were impressive. Huge stones (the clue is in the name!) and, for the second one, a spectacular setting by the sea. Kirsty was mostly great and chatting about things as she looked around and coped well with all the walking.

Playmobil Park

As a reward for that we then drove to the Playmobil Playpark. Kirsty had a nice time there and was happy just playing on her own with the various toys and also with Deb in the park area. We stayed a few hours and then went in to the shop and expanded her collection of Egyptian Playmobil. Sadly none of this wore her out and she was still full of beans at 9PM!

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St Agatha’s Tower

On Thursday the forecast was heavy rain all day so we planned some indoor things to do. First stop was St Agatha’s Tower – a 17th century watchtower that has recently been restored. Special K and I climbed to the roof and the views were spectacular although it was damned windy!

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Malta National Aquarium

After a quick circuit around the outside of the tower we then headed to the aquarium. The aquarium was quite small but well done (although damned pricey!) – the exhibits were all well laid out and the shark tunnel was great, nice to walk under the sharks and eels, especially at feeding time. The photos were mostly rubbish as the light was poor and the selfish fish kept moving.

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I need an aquarium where they mix anesthetic with the water next time so they just drift somnolently. We had lunch and then headed outside into the (of course) baking sunshine and the play park. We had a thrilling (!) hour or so here before going back to the hotel. Deb and K stayed inside so I walked to one of the nearby watch towers to watch the sunset before returning for dinner.

Mdina again

On Friday I watched thunderstorms and rain lashing against the window from the safety of the gym! It meant a chilled day with almost no travelling (much to Deb’s relief!). We ambled around the apartment until after lunch and then just had a quick trip to Mdina.

It had been dry for an hour but started to drizzle when we got there but we headed into the old city and had a good walk around. It is a beautiful place, full of narrow alleys, balconies and churches and surrounded by the amazing fortifications of the Knights. We walked through the Howard Gardens under the ramparts before heading back home.

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I’d say today is the first day Kirsty has relaxed, she has been giggling, laughing and generally enjoying herself as a child should. To punish her for such laxness we did some maths homework when we got in then played some games for a while. I headed out to try and catch another sunset, thwarted again by clouds, before dinner.

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Valetta

Saturday, the day before we leave, was the best weather of the holiday. We got up relatively early and headed towards Birgu which was about 10 miles and 40 minutes away! We found a parking space near where we wanted to go (they are pretty rare in the town centres!) and stepped out into gorgeous sunshine.

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Valetta: Fort St Angelo

First stop was Fort St Angelo, just along the waterfront. This was the fort that held out against the Turkish invasion of 1565 and was then rebuilt with even more massive walls. It remained in continual use by the Knights then the British up until the 1970’s.

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The Fort was very well laid out as a museum with lots to see and do, Kirsty loved it and sat through more of the videos than we managed! After a small coffee (no Starbucks on the island!) we walked back to the car and then drove to Esplora.

Valetta: Esplora

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This is a kind of @Bristol place – a science museum aimed at kids. I have to say it was superbly done. It was a shame the planetarium wasn’t open until 4PM but we spent nearly 3 hours playing with the exhibits in the other halls and outside.

We spent so long there that we didn’t have time to walk around the streets of Birgu which was a shame as they contain a lot of old buildings and architecture. We had a long drive back to the hotel and a welcome cuppa! We timed it well too as by 5PM the sky was grey and cloudy.

Home and thoughts

After sorting all the photos (nearly 2000 of them) the last day was the usual rush to get to the airport. This was exacerbated by the Malta Marathon that was taking place, closing most of the main roads near the airport! The flight back seemed a lot longer but we landed to cold but blue skies at Gatwick. Typically, the best sunset we saw was on the drive home once back in the UK!

The resort was fantastic with plenty to do indoors – pool, gym etc and decent wifi. It is a bit out of the way as far as walking anywhere goes but there is the bus option if needed.

This visit was in February so the weather wasn’t ideal but we hadn’t planned a beach holiday anyway! The islands of Malta and Gozo are fantastic with so much to see and do in a compact and familiar environment.