Ever heard of Malta? Neither had we until a few months ago. Our Barcelona buddies suggested we meet there this May. Being that we had some reward points to burn, we booked it no questions asked. After booking, we finally did some Google searching to discover that this tiny Mediterranean island looked amazing! From beaches to cliff diving to ancient temples and cities; we’re going to show, and tell you a shit load of reasons for why you need to visit Malta.
If you are like we were, then you have no idea where Malta is or how to get there. Picture the map of Italy. You know how it looks like boot? Picture the island that “the boot” is kicking. That’s not Malta, it’s Sicily. Right below Sicily, you’ll find Malta. You can fly to Malta from many of the major European airports on Air Malta or AlItalia. From many locations, a ticket on these airlines will be less than $100. Lacey and I traveled to Malta from Rome for $70 a ticket.
What’s so cool about Malta? Literally everything, and I don’t use the word “literally” as loosely as some. Malta and it’s neighboring islands Comino and Gozo, are responsible for some of the most amazing geographical features in the world. Places like the Blue Lagoon, Azure Window, and St. Peter’s Pool are just a couple featured spots off the top of my head. As if the beauty of the island weren’t enough, the history of Malta is even more incredible. Ancient cities, megalithic temples (older than the Pyramids), and the roots of Christianity can all be found and explored here. For all of you Game of Thrones nerds out there, Malta is also responsible for numerous breathtaking backdrops in the earlier seasons of this show.
We felt pretty overwhelmed at first while planning this trip. There was so much to explore and there were only 4 days to do it. We couldn’t afford to lose time relying on public transportation to trek us around. We decided to reserve a rental car. Renting a car was trickier in Malta because I needed an international driver’s permit and oh yeah, they drive on the other side of the street. Yikes!
Our first day was spent cruzing around St. Julian’s Bay which was a block from our hotel, the Hilton Malta. We would definitely recommend staying in this area as it is very close to a ton of restaurants and night life while also being a central take off point to all of the sites you’ll want to visit.
Day 2 got off to a quick start as we were touring the capital city of Valletta before noon. We popped into St. Paul’s Shipwreck Church, took some pics of Ft. St. Elmo, and grabbed some lunch before taking off toward the city of Marsaxlokk. Yeah, try to pronounce that…Marsaxlokk. Just outside of this city, Lacey found St. Peter’s Pool, which ended up being a major highlight of the trip. After a few hours of cliff jumping and swimming, we made our way back to St. Julian’s for a lot of pizza and wine. This day was so much fun!
The next day was, to this point, the best vacation day of my life. We caught an early morning ferry to the Blue Lagoon on the island of Comino. Words can’t describe the beauty of this place. It’s probably easier to just check out our pics below. The Blue Lagoon is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.
After the Blue Lagoon, we loaded up our rental car on a giant ferry and headed for the island of Gozo where the Azure Window is located. This landmark is so grand and spectacular. Unfortunately it’s rapidly eroding away so you better get over there and see it soon! After a couple hours of hiking around and eating a late lunch, we headed out. On the way back to the ferry we realized that there were some megalithic temples along the way, so we stopped to check ’em out. I would recommend anyone interested in Aliens and the Ancient Astronaut Theory, to read up on these temples. There were a bunch of elongated skulls found there as well as other locations in Malta.
Our final day was relatively mellow as we spent the day at the ancient city of M’dina and then at the Golden Sands Beach. I think we were all still a bit tired from the action packed day before. It was nice to finish up the trip with a relaxing beach day with friends.
Malta is incredible! I would recommend it to anyone.
Let us know if you have any questions!
Click here to see our video edit from this trip.
Click here to see how we used rewards points to book this trip for free!
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