Malta: October 2017
In mid-October 2017 I went to Malta for a 3 day weekend with a friend for my birthday. Malta had been on my hit list for a long time so was so happy to finally get there! Here is my guide on what to do in Malta in 3 days!
Where to stay in Malta
We booked an AirBnb for the weekend, which was a whole apartment in the town of Sliema, which is just across the harbour from the old town of Valletta. The apartment was really cheap and huge! Sliema was a good location, walking distance to the port, lots of restaurants and cafes around and a really nice waterfront you can walk along. It’s really easy to get a quick ferry across to the old town of Valletta.
Valletta and it’s surrounds are the main city in the country so a really good base to explore the island from. Malta is really small so its easy to drive to a bunch of spots in one day, which is exactly what we did!
Weather in Malta in October
You might think to go in October would mean that it would be too cold for swimming and average weather, but the opposite was true. The weather was perfect, not scorching hot.
The water was warm, the places we went to weren’t overrun with tourists and everything was cheaper. I highly recommend going in October to squeeze out the very last remains of European summer!
Day 1
St Peter’s Pool
The first day we missioned to find an automatic car to hire (very difficult in Europe but highly essential for us!), and headed off on our first road trip with the first stop being St Peter’s Pool.
St Peter’s Pool is a giant rock pool. You can lie on the rocks and jump off into the beautiful, blue waters. As I was lying on the rock with salt in my hair and heavenly sun on my skin, I thought, ‘I’m never going to spend a birthday again not doing something I absolutely love!’
Marsaxlokk
We also headed from St Peter’s Pool to the little seaside town of Marsaxlokk for some lunch and drinks, it’s such a cute town with pretty painted boats decorating the harbour and lots of alfresco dining options.
The Blue Grotto
From Marsaxlokk we continued on to the Blue Grotto, which you can view from the cliff tops. It was stunning! The most amazing clear water, rocks, cliffs and caves.
Driving the coast in Malta is dramatic, there are sheer cliffs dropping away into the ocean with epic views everywhere. You can get a boat ride to take you closer to the grotto but we opted out.
Warning- lots of tour buses come to the viewpoint so you can to battle the tourists yielding caps and neck tags for rail space, even in October. Definitely worth it though.
Day 2
Mdina
We set off on another road trip, this time we stopped by an old walled city perched up on a hill in the middle of the Island called Mdina. This is nice for medieval history fans! With cobbled streets, Old Walls and beautiful views over Malta.
Dingli Cliffs
We drove along to the coast to check out the views from the Dingli cliffs which were epic!
Cafe Del Mar
Next stop on our road trip was Cafe Del Mar to soak up the last rays of the day and enjoy the sunset. Cafe Del Mar was really beautiful, with an infinity pool out to the ocean plenty of lounging options and photo opportunities. The drinks weren’t too expensive either.
It was really quiet there at this time of year but I can imagine during the season this place kicking off and being a lot of fun!
Candle Festival in Valletta
During the weekend there was a Candle Festival in Valletta. There were thousands of candles lighting up every narrow street and door front. The streets were packed with people, food stalls and live music. It was a very unique experience!
Day 3
Day Cruise to The Blue Lagoon
On our last day, we booked into an all-day cruise to the Blue Lagoon on the nearby island Camino. The boat ride itself is lovely and you get to see some really nice views of Valletta. The company we went with was called Captain Morgan. To find the best deal we walked along the port the day before and found the best price among the competitors.
Our boat was like a pirate ship and was unlimited alcohol and food, very dangerous! We set off and spent a few hours at The Blue Lagoon, which is magical. Its really, very BLUE and the water is crystal clear. It’s like your eyes have Instagram filters on them.
There were a lot of people perched precariously for the day with sun chairs and umbrellas on the rocks. I honestly can’t imagine how crazy busy this place must be in summer!
We enjoyed the crisp cold white wine that was on tap a little too much, we both woke up the next morning with very weak recollections of the journey back or the dinner we went out for afterwards.
And that’s a wrap on the best things to do in Malta!
There wasn’t much to not love about Malta. It’s a Mediterranean island paradise with the most beautiful coastlines and islands. The place is also full of history and impressive architecture and monuments. It’s inexpensive, has great options for accommodation, there’s plenty of places to eat and drink and it’s easily reachable from the UK. Bonus- they drive on the same side of us and use British power points. Go to Malta already!!!!
To see more magical beaches in the Mediterranean check out my posts on Albania, Greece and Turkey!
