Day trips from Valletta

Each of the three day trips asks a different question. Mdina asks how long it takes, Gozo asks how you get back, and Comino asks if you may land at all. Take them in that order and the hardest comes last, with a pass to book online before you set out, and the first two will seem easy by comparison. Mdina and Comino take half a day each and Gozo a whole one. Valletta is the base for all three, and none of them needs a car.

Take the bus from Valletta to Rabat, a ride of 30–45 min one way, and get off there, because Mdina is a 500 m walk from the stop. The return by bus costs €4–5. Entering the walled town is free, and cars are banned apart from residents, emergency vehicles and wedding cars, which is why people call it the Silent City. About 242 people live inside its 0.9 km², counted in July 2024, so the lanes feel emptier than the map suggests. Game of Thrones viewers will recognise Mesquita Square, which the first season used for King's Landing.

Mdina was the island's capital until 1530, when the Order of St John settled in Birgu. The cathedral of St Paul was rebuilt in the Baroque style after the earthquake of 1693. Outside the walls, in Rabat, two sites charge their own entry: Domvs Romana at €6 and the St Paul's Catacombs, an early Christian cemetery, at €6. Finish with cake at the Fontanella Tea Garden, up on the bastion.

Gozo covers 67 km², and Victoria, where the Cittadella stands, has 7,242 residents. It deserves a full day with the way back planned before the way out. The cheap route is bus 41 or 42 from Valletta to Ċirkewwa, about 75 minutes, then the ferry to Mġarr, about 25 minutes, so the whole journey takes about 1 h 45 min one way. A foot passenger pays €4.65 for the return ferry, and the money is collected only on the way back from Mġarr.

The alternative is the fast ferry from Lascaris Wharf in Valletta, which takes about 45 minutes and carries foot passengers only. It leaves from the same quay that the lift from the Upper Barrakka Gardens comes down to. In winter and in rough weather its sailings are cancelled. The verdict follows from that: take the fast boat for the time it saves in settled weather, and take the cheaper Ċirkewwa route when cost matters most or the sea looks doubtful.

Spend the day in the order that Victoria, Ġgantija and Dwejra suggest. Start at the Cittadella in Victoria, go on to the Ġgantija temples, which share one ticket with the Ta' Kola windmill at €10, and end at Dwejra, where the Azure Window fell into the sea on 8 March 2017. Ta' Pinu near Għarb and the orange-red sand of Ramla Bay in Xagħra belong to a second, longer visit. The first visit already has enough to do.

One rule on Comino overrides all the others. Since 1 May 2025 a free landing pass has been compulsory, booked at bluelagooncomino.mt or blcomino.com. It comes in three slots, 8.00 to 13.00, 13.30 to 17.30 and 18.00 to 22.00, with a limit of 4,000 people on the island at once, and every visitor gets a wristband. Staying ashore without a pass earns a fine, while a passenger who stays on the boat needs none.

The ferries leave from Ċirkewwa, with more boats from Mġarr and cruises from Sliema and Buġibba, and your ticket is good only with the operator you arrived with. Budget €10–15 for the return ferry and the two bus rides to Ċirkewwa. Sunbeds and umbrellas are banned on the sandy beach, drones are banned too, and in June 2026 the island was crowded again as commercial boats filled the lagoon. Take the morning or midday slot.

The Three Cities across the harbour

The Three Cities lie across the Grand Harbour, and Birgu, the first of them, was the home of the Order from 1530, before Valletta existed. A short ferry from Lascaris Wharf crosses to it. Birgu is a peninsula with water on three sides, with Fort St Angelo and a maritime museum to visit. Go in the afternoon, once the longer excursions are done, and look back at Valletta from the water.

Prices are return and calculated from the official bus fares and published ferry prices; Comino covers the return ferry and two bus rides to Ċirkewwa.

3 daysThe three-day itinerary shows where a trip to Mdina or Gozo replaces the third day, and how a Sunday, when the co-cathedral is shut, pushes the excursion forward.Valletta in 3 days →

Getting aroundStops, tariffs and the airport line are covered on the getting-around page, along with the lift and the quay at Lascaris Wharf.Getting around Valletta →

BudgetThe budget page sets these trips beside the museum tickets and the tourist tax, so the full bill for a few days is visible in one place.What Valletta costs →

When to goWhich month suits Comino, and which suits Mdina on foot, is worked out month by month on the when-to-go page.The best time to visit Valletta →

Where to staySleeping in Valletta or in Sliema changes the first bus of the morning, and the where-to-stay page sorts out the areas.Where to stay in Valletta →

FoodRabat and Victoria both have a lunch stop, and the food page names what to order in the capital before you leave.What to eat in Valletta →

MistakesThe mistakes page lists the Comino pass among the errors that cost a morning.Mistakes everyone makes in Valletta →

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Where to stay in Valletta

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Valletta for quiet and walking, Sliema for price and the ferry, St Julian's for nights out, the Three Cities for calm.

Malta

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Three islands, a capital smaller than a square kilometre and megalithic temples from the fourth millennium BC

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