The Blue Lagoon first. Then the rest of Malta.
Which Comino boat gets there before the fleet, what a skippered day to Gozo actually costs, and whether the Valletta walk is worth a morning. Every tour on the islands, reviewed.
Comino: the Blue Lagoon is the whole point.
A limestone channel between Malta and Gozo with no cars, no town and water the colour of a swimming pool. Boats leave Sliema, Bugibba and Cirkewwa through the morning, and the early ones get the lagoon before the day-trip fleet ties up.
Blue Lagoon, Valletta, Gozo: the Malta shortlist.
Three islands, twenty-seven kilometres end to end. Almost every trip here is built out of the same six days, and the difference between a good one and a wasted one is which boat or which guide you booked.
Charter a boat and the Blue Lagoon empties out.
The lagoon is busiest between eleven and three, which is exactly when the scheduled boats are in it. A skippered charter out of Sliema or Mgarr keeps its own hours, adds the Crystal Lagoon and the Santa Marija caves, and split four ways costs less than most people assume.
See every charter →
The Malta tours everyone else is already on.
Every review →These carry more travellers than anything else on the islands, and most of them leave from a quay.
1
Gozo & Comino Islands, Blue Lagoon & Seacaves Tour
Review of Malta’s $28 Gozo and Comino boat tour, with Blue Lagoon swimming, sea caves, Gozo sightseeing, waterslides, and practical tips.
From · $28
Read our review →
2
Blue Lagoon, Crystal Lagoon, and Seacaves Tour
from $35
3
Blue Lagoon, Beaches & Bays Trip by Catamaran
from $62
4
Full-Day Gozo UTV Tour with Lunch and Boat Ride
from $94
5
Comino, Crystal Lagoon, and Blue Lagoon Cruise
from $40
6
Gozo, Comino and Blue Lagoon Cruise
from $41
7
Comino, Blue Lagoon, Crystal Lagoon & Caves Cruise
from $34
8
The Original Valletta Walking Tour
from $26
Gozo is twenty-five minutes and a different pace.
Ta’ Pinu alone on its hillside, Xlendi Bay for lunch, the salt pans above Marsalforn and Ggantija, which went up before the pyramids. Most people cross for the day; the ones who stay a night get the island without the coaches.
- 1Gozo & Comino Islands, Blue Lagoon & Seacaves Tourfrom $28
- 2Full-Day Gozo UTV Tour with Lunch and Boat Ridefrom $94
- 3Gozo, Comino and Blue Lagoon Cruisefrom $41
Valletta fits in a morning. Give it two.
A grid of honey limestone laid out by the Knights, Grand Harbour on one side and Marsamxett on the other. Walk it before the cruise ships berth, take the Barrakka lift down to the waterfront, and cross to the Three Cities on the ferry rather than the bus.
Malta prices, from a harbour ferry to a private skipper.
Every tour on the site grouped by what it costs. The cheapest way onto the water is a scheduled boat; the dearest is having one to yourself.
Harbour cruises, walking tours, entry tickets and the scheduled runs out to Comino.
Full days: Gozo with a guide, catamaran trips with lunch on board, jeep safaris across both islands.
Private charters, skippered sailing days and the trips that reach anchorages the big boats cannot.
Sea caves, stone temples and painted luzzus.
Beaches and boat trips run the length of the Mediterranean. The blue caves under Zurrieq, temples a thousand years older than Giza and a fishing fleet with eyes painted on its bows belong to Malta.
The Blue Grotto
Under the cliffs at Wied iz-Zurrieq a string of sea caves takes the morning light and throws it back up through the water as pure blue. The boats are small open luzzus and they stay tied up whenever there is swell, which is most winter mornings and the odd summer one. Go before ten: after that the sun is off the cave mouths and the colour goes with it.
- 1Blue Grotto & Sunday Market at Marsaxlokk Fishing Village★★★★★★★★★★ 3.6 · 803 reviews
- 2Marsaxlokk, Blue Grotto, and Qrendi Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 547 reviews
- 3Prehistoric Temples, Limestone Heritage & Blue Grotto★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 412 reviews
The Megalithic Temples
Ggantija on Gozo was raised around 3600 BC, a thousand years before Giza and five hundred before Stonehenge. Hagar Qim and Mnajdra sit on the south coast under protective canopies with nothing between them and the sea. Nobody knows who built them, and nobody knows why the building stopped.
- 1Gozo Day Trip Including Ggantija Temples★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 2,399 reviews
- 2Gozo Full-Day Tour with Guide, Temples, & Train★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 567 reviews
- 3Prehistoric Temples of Malta Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 517 reviews
Marsaxlokk on a Sunday
The fishing fleet at Marsaxlokk still paints an eye on each bow, a habit left behind by the Phoenicians. On Sunday morning the harbour front turns into a market, fish at one end and everything else at the other, and the whole thing is packed away by two. Most tours pair it with the Blue Grotto because the two are twenty minutes apart.
- 1Blue Grotto & Sunday Market at Marsaxlokk Fishing Village★★★★★★★★★★ 3.6 · 803 reviews
- 2Marsaxlokk, Blue Grotto, and Qrendi Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 547 reviews
- 3Private Jet Ski Experience★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 245 reviews
The Grand Harbour is worth a second visit at night.
All evening trips →
Valletta Waterfront Area, Mdina, and Rabat Night Tour
Read our review →
Marsamxett Harbour and Grand Harbour Cruise by Night
Read our review →Three Malta days that only work on the right one.
Most of the islands can be booked from your hotel the night before. These cannot. They run on a market day, on a flat sea and on whatever hour the sun happens to set.
- 01Blue Grotto & Sunday Market at Marsaxlokk Fishing VillageThe market is a Sunday-morning fixture and the stalls are down by two. Any other day gets you the harbour without it.
- 02Blue Grotto & Sunday Market at Marsaxlokk Fishing VillageThe cave boats are small and open, and they do not sail in swell. A calm morning is the entire trick.
- 03Blue Lagoon Afternoon Swim with Sunset CruiseDeparture moves with the sunset, well over an hour earlier in October than in June. Check the time for your date, not for today.
- 04Private Boat Tour: Crystal Lagoon, Blue Lagoon, Comino and GozoOne boat, one party. July and August weekends go weeks out, and the skippers people ask for go first.
Nothing in Malta is more than an hour away.
The main island is twenty-seven kilometres long. Valletta to Mdina is half an hour, Valletta to Marsaxlokk about the same, and the Gozo ferry crosses in twenty-five minutes. A day trip here is really an afternoon, so two of them fit in a day and you are still back for dinner.
By island and town
Comino and the Blue Lagoon224 tours
Gozo207 tours
Valletta143 tours
Northern Malta105 tours
Sliema and St Julian’s48 tours
Mdina and Rabat63 tours
Three Cities19 tours
Marsaxlokk26 tours- Every area →
By what you want the day to be
A first week in Malta, in the order it works.
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Private Walking Tour With A Guide ( Private Tour )
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