Need to book pronto so no time to research.
Where’s nice? Must be near the top of the island. If it has some nice snorkelling and good food that’s a bonus.
Someone advised against renting a car is the driving really that bad?
Will day trip to the blue lagoon so won’t stay there.

Nearby Gozo is supposed to be mint, especially for snorkelling. Not sure if it’s a day trip or what though.

Mdina is awesome. Valetta too. Lots of history. It’s not a big place and the buses are good, so maybe forget the car.

Go to Gozo, it’s much nicer. Marsalforn is good, with a beach

wheels are definite advantage on Gozo, unless you want to use taxis to get to the more out of the way beaches/ DWS etc. Never biked there but you can rent bikes from Xewkija i beleive

day trip to Comino is great

day trip back to valleta for culture etc perfectly possible

Is this generally a good part of the world to visit? Not too touristy/expensive/spoiled/British/cultureless? Never been to Malta or Gozo but been tempted for a while. Ta.

If you like snorkling why not do the basic PADI course and get diving?

I dive but prefer to snorkel,mrs zip can come along too.

If you stay on Malta you don’t really need a hire car as the local buses will pretty much take you anywhere. Its really not a big island

Gozo is nice too, a lot quieter than the main island.

Really enjoyed it there, lots to see. Nice food friendly locals, they drive on the left, use UK plugs and all speak English!

We stayed in at the Mellieha Bay Hotel, other side of the bay from Mellieha (long white building, you can’t miss it). Big, bland 4* all-inclusive kind of place, but OH demanded this in in return for me abandoning her to do the PADI AOW course. 3 pools, one of which was empty most of the time. The views out over the bay were spectacular and I have to say I did like the look of the bay for snorkeling – there’s a PADI dive centre as part of the hotel who can sort you out.
Also, we took a tour boat (English Rose Cruise, left from harbour at Mellieha) which went up the coast, visited a few caves, then stopped at the Blue Lagoon for a couple of hours where we did a spot of snorkeling. Good but then the boat went over to Gozo, then back past the Blue lagoon to the Crystal lagoon, much quieter and much better for a swim. If I did this again, I would take the snorkeling kit and walk over from the Blue Lagoon to the Crystal Lagoon and tell the boat to pick me up there.