Malta, Gozo and Comino, sorted.
Blue Lagoon cruises, Grand Harbour under the bastions, Gozo across the channel and a fish lunch at Marsaxlokk. What each tour is really like, what it costs, and where to book.
Seven for a first Malta trip.
First visit or fifth, these are the bookings a Malta trip is built on: the Blue Lagoon cruise everyone photographs, a walk through Valletta’s bastions, the ferry over to Gozo, the harbour seen from a boat.
Comino: Blue Lagoon, Crystal Lagoon, and Seacaves Tour
Relax on a modern Malta catamaran to Blue Lagoon, Crystal Lagoon, and sea caves, with sunbeds, a waterslide, and swim time.
From $35 per person
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★ 4.7Safe betBlue Lagoon, Beaches & Bays Trip by CatamaranFrom $625,496 reviews
★ 4.6Books out fastFrom Malta: Full-Day Gozo UTV Tour with Lunch and Boat RideFrom $944,408 reviews
★ 4.5Island favouriteFrom Sliema: Comino, Crystal Lagoon, and Blue Lagoon CruiseFrom $403,792 reviews
★ 4.5Worth a slotFrom Sliema: Gozo, Comino and Blue Lagoon CruiseFrom $413,461 reviews
★ 4.7Easy winComino, Blue Lagoon, Crystal Lagoon & Caves CruiseFrom $342,882 reviews
★ 4.4Traveller favouriteSt Paul’s Bay: Malta National Aquarium Entry TicketFrom $202,532 reviews
The blue everyone comes for.
Catamaran out of Sliema or Bugibba, an hour at anchor in water too bright to look real, then the Comino sea caves and the Crystal Lagoon on the way back. Bring reef shoes and take the early boat; by noon the whole island knows about it.
Blue Lagoon, harbour or sunset?
Half of Malta happens offshore, and the cruises blur together fast. Three ways to spend a day on the water. Pick the one that sounds like you, and every trip behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Swim & caves
The Blue Lagoon day
from $62 · 5,496 reviews
The one on every postcard: an anchor stop in the neon-turquoise shallows, the Comino sea caves, the Crystal Lagoon around the corner. Catamaran or powerboat, a few hours in the water, busiest by midday. Book the early sailing and pack the reef shoes.
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Bastions & creeks
The Grand Harbour cruise
1.5 hours · from $24 · 432 reviews
No swimming, all history. The boat traces the fortified creeks of the Three Cities while the bastions rise straight from the water, the whole knights’ harbour reading at once. Calm, shaded and short. The best seat in Malta for a first afternoon.
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Golden hour
The sunset sail
from $34 · 725 reviews
Cast off late, ride the flat evening sea, and watch the limestone turn gold as the sun drops behind Gozo. Some add a Blue Lagoon swim before the light goes, most add a drink. The unhurried way to end a Malta day.
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The limestone glows at night.
Valletta’s limestone turns gold under the floodlights, the harbour fills with reflections, and the boats keep sailing for the sunset. Spend the evening on the water or in the lit-up lanes, with a table booked and someone else steering.
Eat like the island does.
Pastizzi from a hole in the wall, fenkata rabbit slow-cooked in wine, a ftira packed at the bakery, Gozo wine to finish. If you only book three food stops in Malta, make them count.
The island at full throttle.
Quad convoys across Gozo’s back lanes, a jet ski along the Sliema front, a buggy down to the swimming spots the coaches skip. Loud, quick, and the fastest way to cover ground on a small island.
The Silent City keeps its quiet.
Mdina was Malta’s capital for two thousand years before the knights moved to the harbour, and it kept the walls, the palazzos and the hush. Rabat’s catacombs sit outside the gate; the Dingli cliffs drop into the sea beyond. Go early, or after the coaches leave.
Where to spend each day.
The islands work in pockets, and each is its own day out. Valletta for the bastions and the guns. Sliema for the seafront and the boats. Mdina for the hush. Marsaxlokk for Sunday lunch.
Know what you’re after?
Twelve ways into the same islands. Pick the kind of day you want and every option behind it is already reviewed and priced.
Half an hour, a different island.
Nothing here is far. Gozo and Comino are a short crossing, the south coast a coach ride, and the ferry back is part of the ticket.
Three days to see it right.
You can’t do all of Malta in one trip, but you can get the right three days spot on. This is the order we’d give a friend landing at the airport tomorrow.
Day 1
Land in the capital
St John’s Co-Cathedral, the Upper Barrakka guns over Grand Harbour, lunch in the honey-stone lanes, then a harbour cruise to shake off the flight.
Plan day one →
Day 2
A day on the water
The early boat to the Blue Lagoon before the crowds, the Comino sea caves, a swim in the Crystal Lagoon, back in time for a Sliema sunset.
Plan day two →
Day 3
Cross to Gozo
The ferry to the quieter island: the Citadel over Victoria, the salt pans, Ramla’s red sand, and Ġgantija’s temples older than the pyramids.
Plan day three →
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