St John’s Co-Cathedral Valletta: Tickets, Queues and the Caravaggio
A Caravaggio in the Oratory, Flemish tapestries in the museum and a queue that depends on the ships
- Ticket
- €15, audio guide included
- Open
- Mon–Sat 9–16.45
- Closed
- Sundays and public holidays
The co-cathedral is won in the first hour after 9.00 or after 14.30, and the ticket has little to do with it. Ships fill the nave through the middle of the day, so the line decides the visit more than the price does. Inside wait a floor of graves, nine chapels and the only painting Caravaggio ever signed, and every one of them is easier to enjoy before the crowd arrives, with room to stop and look.
Which ticket for St John's Co-Cathedral
Pay for the adult ticket, €15, and the audio guide comes with it. Seniors and students pay less, children under twelve go in free with an adult, and the figures sit in the table below. The church stands in St John Street, so there is nothing to plan around the entrance except the hour, which matters far more than the choice of ticket. Hour first, ticket second.
Booking online is recommended, because a ticket bought in advance spares you the queue at the door. On a busy morning that queue is the longest part of the visit. Opening hours: Mon–Sat 9–16.45. The building closes on Sundays and on public holidays, so give it a weekday and keep Sunday for the fort or a day trip.
Shut on Sundays and public holidays.
Official ticket
- Adult
- €15, audio guide included
- Under 12
- free with an adult
Through a partner
- options with a guide or audio guide
- usually costs more than the official ticket
When to come
The cruise ships decide the day. On a ship day the line between ten and half past one can run past three-quarters of an hour, and the stone floor that is quiet at nine becomes a corridor by eleven. Valletta takes a large share of its cruise passengers as day visitors, and the co-cathedral is the first building most of them want. Plan around that.
The verdict is simple: come at 9.00, when the doors open, or after 14.30, when the busiest block has passed. Either window gives you the nave with room to look up at the vault, and the Oratory with space in front of the big canvas. Choose the morning if you also want the Palace and the noon salute the same day, because the whole route then fits before lunch.
Through the co-cathedral in order
Start in the nave and look at the floor before the ceiling. Grand Master Jean de la Cassière commissioned the church, which was built between 1573 and 1578 to a design by Girolamo Cassar, and its pavement holds the graves of about 400 knights of the Order, so the first lesson of the visit is to watch where you step. Then look up. The church went up within a decade of the founding of Valletta itself.
Nine chapels open off the nave, one for each of the eight languages, the national divisions of the Order, and a ninth for Our Lady of Philermos. Take them in turn along one side and back along the other, so that the ground floor ends where it began, at the door. A slow circuit of the chapels, with the audio guide in your ear, is the part of the visit that makes the Oratory feel earned. Do not skip the small ones, since the audio guide is already paid for and gives each chapel its own few minutes of story.
The Oratory and the museum
The Oratory, completed in 1604, is the reason most visitors come. It holds Caravaggio's Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, painted in 1608, which is the only painting he signed and his largest canvas. Stand back to the width of the room, give your eyes a minute to adjust, and let the dark corners do their work. Nothing else in town looks like it.
Saint Jerome, dated 1607 to 1608, hangs nearby, a smaller picture that rewards the second look once the crowd has thinned. The museum adds Flemish tapestries woven after drawings by Rubens, and they make a calm way to finish before you step back out into the light of the street.
When you are short on time
With a short stretch free, the Caravaggio is the reason to go, and the rest of the building can shrink around it. Cut in this order and the visit still holds together, with the nave glimpsed on the way in and out. Even that shortened visit is worth the ticket, because the Oratory is the one stop the rest of the city cannot replace.
- Arrive at 9.00 and go straight to the Oratory for the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist.
- Take Saint Jerome in the same room, then return through the nave.
- Walk the floor once and look into one chapel rather than all nine.
- Leave the museum with the Flemish tapestries for a second visit.
Where to next
Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum Malta: Tickets, 10 People at a Time and What You See
→Ten people at a time, three levels of stone and a ticket you buy before the flight
Malta
→Three islands, a capital smaller than a square kilometre and megalithic temples from the fourth millennium BC
How well does Valletta suit you?
→Six questions: a score for this place and others like it.
Nomadinho scores out of 100, the same ones behind “Where to go”.
If you like Valletta
Three places with the closest scores, from any country.
Before you go
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Is the audio guide included in the ticket?
Yes. The audio guide comes with the adult ticket, so there is nothing more to pay at the door and no second queue to join for it.
Can you visit the co-cathedral on Sundays?
No. The building is shut on Sundays and public holidays, so plan it for a day from Monday to Saturday, and keep Sunday for a place that opens.
Do I need to book ahead?
Booking online is recommended. It spares you the queue at the door, which is longest between ten and half past one on days when ships are in port, so a morning slot at opening time is the safest. Arrive a little before 9.00 to be among the first through the door.
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