Valletta

Valletta takes two to three days, or four to five once Mdina, Gozo and Comino are added. It was founded in 1566 on 0.61 square kilometres, which makes it the smallest capital in the EU, and almost everything inside the walls is a walk. The plan below hangs on a few doors that close and one ticket that has to be bought first.

From Malta International Airport, bus TD4 runs to the Valletta terminus in 25–35 min and costs €3. Take that one, not TD1, which heads north. Francesco Laparelli drew the city as a grid of right angles between the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett, and on a map it looks like an afternoon. On the ground the streets climb in steps, so a short block can mean a long haul with a suitcase. You will not need a car here, and anyone who hires one has to drive on the left.

Be at the door of St John’s Co-Cathedral at nine, before the cruise passengers arrive, and remember that it is shut on Sundays. The Grand Master’s Palace is a few minutes away, and by noon you want a spot in the Upper Barrakka Gardens, where the Saluting Battery fires over the harbour from Monday to Saturday. A lift then drops to Lascaris Wharf for €1. That order keeps the Caravaggio, the view and the guns inside one morning.

Fort St Elmo needs at least 1 h 30, so give it an afternoon of its own. The Hypogeum lies outside the walls in Paola, costs €35, admits ten people at a time and bans photography, which is why it gets booked before anything else and the other days are arranged around its slot. Give it a different day from the walking days in Valletta, since it sits in another town. Heritage Malta sites are shut on 1 January, Good Friday, 24, 25 and 31 December.

Cruise ships brought 962,966 passengers in 2025, and 772,664 of them came for the day, so the old town is at its calmest at nine or after half past two. They treat Valletta as a half-day stop. The fort, the Hypogeum and the museums need two more days, and Mdina, Gozo and Comino take half a day or a whole one each. The Comino pass is free and booked online.