Malta

Me and the better half are looking at booking a holiday, I was thinking about Greek island but the wife seems very keen on Malta. There is one in Marfa bay which looks nice and is well priced. Dont know much about Malta or the resorts so any info would be helpful. Im looking to lie about reading books and eating nice food, the wife wants shopping and little outings ect.
Thanks in advance

If you switch over to BBC2 you’ve got ten minutes left to see if you like the look of the place.

Malta is nice, was there for a short break in May. Not a huge amount to do though.

I went there last year. Some nice little bits of history, the old town of Mdina is interesting.

It’s a very crowded and chaotic little island though. For somewhere so small, everyone travels by car and the roads are pretty horrendous – traffic is mental. Mix of new bypass/dual carriageway type and tiny dusty potholed country roads. I didn’t like it much, wouldn’t go back.

Decent climate and some good swimming but no, there’s better places in the Med to go. Try Sardinia or Rhodes, much better all round IMHO.

I’ve been twice and been to Rhodes, I’d go back to Rhodes but won’t rush back to Malta, it’s nice but not an ideal holiday destination IMHO.

What is the food like over there?
thanks for the comments so far. We have been to greek islands before and enjoyed it but think we are worried we might only ever go to Greek Islands on holiday now. Haven’t got a massive budget so five star hotels in Cuba are out the window.

Been once wouldn’t go again.

Nice enough for a week though.

Malta GC.

Food is not to great, mostly Italian and usual holiday fare, local speciality is rabbit, if you like history then it’s got it by the bucket load, hospitallers castles and fortresses are outstanding, ww2 stuff is also everywhere, Valletta is the most bombed place in ww2 but has retained much of its C15 character, I stayed at the Westin dragonara, major thumbs up ,

Gets bloody hot in the summer and very busy

Quite fancy it after watching that.
Knew the history before, but that was a decent documentary.

Friends have said hot and busy – must be some nice, quiet bits?

They always vote for us at the Eurovision song contest.

Obviously depends what time of year you go as to how busy.

Went over christmas and it was eerily quiet in the touristy bits. Obviously it’s low season but every bar person I spoke to said they’d never seen it so quiet.

Valetta is nice and busy. Reasonable shopping.

Sliema and St Julian are the best places IMO. Plenty of life and beautiful Maltese women, opposite of Bugibba which is full of British pensioners.

Thinking of spending Feb over there. Fly a bike over for £150 and stay in some nice digs I found for £12 a night.

Overcrowded roads. Cheap seafood. Very friendly people unless they’re in a queue then oowee you’d better watch out. About 18 degrees when I went.

How about Gozo? Be careful where you go in Malta there are some really scummy chavvy places! Gozo is beautiful and easy to get to.

how about Croatia? or Chios?

Where were these scummy chavvy places you speak of?

I liked Malta when I went, good for snorkelling, food, sunshine, beaches.

I recommend a little boat trip over to Comino if you like snorkelling. Also blue lagoon there (very pretty and crystal clear water where I managed to swim with a turtle.

The worlds largest Great White Shark was also caught off Malta.. not that you are likely to ever see one though.

My family owns 2 time shares in malta and ive thought about living there before. I really enjoy it. Not very big and not amazingly tourist oriented but it is a beautiful place and the people are very friendly. Plus english is one of the native languages so there is no translation issues.

If you want a peaceful holiday then malta would be really high up the list for me. Also if you can get a bike over there the riding is amazing.

Paceville , scummy place

****hole. The only ever place I’ve asked to leave early.

Good diving. Good weather. Otherwise a dump and short on beaches. Like a hot sandy, cat poo covered building site that no ones going back to.

Tring and Whipsnade were on Countryfile last night, that’s where I live. I’d go on holiday here after watching the place get glammed up on the telly box.

Sliema and St Julian are the best places IMO

Great if you like history, not too sure if you like beaches.

We loved it.

Crete

If you’re keen on that area, have a look at Gozo. much smaller and quieter than Malta, and with much more personality. The food is a bit more distinct on Gozo, and you can do some great snorkelling, diving and sea kayaking. You can also do some biking there if you so wish.

My impression of Malta was hot, dusty, confined and grubby, much preferred Cyprus..

I remember climbing there and being on the receiving end of shotgun pellets fired at all the migrating birds. The Maltese have an interesting culture of slaughtering very small migrating birds for no other reason than they can…I found this pretty depressing, so on that basis, I’m out.

You mentioned Croatia which would be my choice, or have you thought about Slovenia / Montenegro?

Small, cramped, scuzzy with pokey little fields and busy roads. I wouldn’t be going back. Food wise some of the fish was o.k. But compared to places like Sicily just up the road it’s a right dive.

Why don’t you look at the Ionian Islands?

Got the Islands, but they are nice and Green too.

I might be a little biased, but if you want a Med holiday…It’s got to be Greece…can’t be beaten for Beaches, culture and food (as long as you stay away in August and from the real “tourist” traps.

Although I will say Corsica was pretty bloody impressive, would visit there again!

Another recommendation for a med holiday would be formentera.. Island off the south of Ibiza. Beaches are beautiful and it is very quiet/chilled also a cool place to ride around on a bike.

Mixed bag – no beaches to speak of, other than at the blue lagoon and that looks like it would get crowded. very hot. public transport was plentifula nd cheap but in poor condition, often with faulty air conditioning making traveling uncomfortable. Whole island seemed like a huge building site, but still with plenty of interesting history. Food was generally ok but not inspiring, usually Italian influenced. I did PADI AOW and the diving was excellent. Took partner snorkelling a couple of times and she loved that.
Overall – it was was ok, but can’t see me heading back in a hurry.
BTW – given the traffic and temperature, i wouldn’t be looking at it as a biking holiday.

My brothers wife is Maltese and they got married in Malta 4 years ago. We went for the week which was about 4 days too long. The beaches near st julians where we stopped are tiny and the roads are crazy.