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5 days in Malta

A five day Malta route that settles the two arguments every visitor has: where to sleep, and whether the buses can be trusted.

Last updated . Transport access rules, ticket prices, opening times and booking windows change, and several of the facts on this page are recent enough that they changed once already. Recheck the official sources below before travelling.

Book the trip

Start with Malta, dates and travellers

Compare the travel services first, then use the itinerary below to plan each day.

You book each service directly with its supplier. These separate bookings do not form a RoamWeek package.

Two decisions shape a Malta trip more than any sight does: where you sleep, and how you move. Visitors who base themselves in the nightlife towns and visitors who base themselves in Valletta or on Gozo routinely describe the same week in completely different words, and the difference is the postcode rather than the island. This plan puts the base in Valletta and gives Gozo a full day rather than a detour.

How many days do you need in Malta?

5 days: 3 on the main island, 1 on Gozo and 1 held for the temples or Comino.

Three days covers Valletta, the Three Cities and Mdina at a reasonable pace. The fifth day is what stops Gozo from collapsing into a rushed half day.

Do you need a car in Malta?

No. Bolt rides run at roughly 12 euros across the island, and most residents actively advise visitors against driving.

The objections are consistent: heavy traffic, driving on the left, narrow streets and almost no parking. One resident of Pieta described timing their arrival home around when local offices emptied, in order to find a space at all.

Is the Malta Explore card worth buying?

Only if you will genuinely lean on the buses. It costs 21 euros for 4 days or 27 euros for 7, and 36 euros for 4 days including a Gozo return.

That is about two ride hailing trips, so the card pays for itself quickly on paper. Whether it pays in practice depends entirely on the caveat below.

How far ahead do you book the Hypogeum?

Months. Only 10 visitors are admitted per hour, and an adult ticket is 35 euros.

If you miss the advance window there is a last minute ticket at 50 euros, sold only the day before the visit. Children between 1 and 5 are not admitted at all, which catches families out.

The plan at a glance

Day
1
Where
Valletta
What needs booking
Nothing fixed
Day
2
Where
The Three Cities and the Hypogeum
What needs booking
Hypogeum tickets, months ahead
Day
3
Where
Mdina, Rabat and Dingli
What needs booking
Nothing fixed
Day
4
Where
Gozo
What needs booking
The fast ferry
Day
5
Where
Hagar Qim and Marsaxlokk, or Comino
What needs booking
A Blue Lagoon slot if you choose Comino
Only one thing on this list has to be booked long in advance, and it is the one people most often miss.

The route at a glance

13 mapped stops · 5 days

Live route map

OpenStreetMap tiles

Loading the OpenStreetMap map.

ROUTE OVERVIEW13 stops · 5 daysStop 1: St John's Co Cathedral1Stop 2: Upper Barrakka Gardens2Stop 3: Fort St Elmo3Stop 4: Birgu and the Three Cities4Stop 5: Hal Saflieni Hypogeum5Stop 6: Mdina6Stop 7: Rabat7Stop 8: Dingli Cliffs8Stop 9: Victoria and the Citadella9Stop 10: Ggantija Temples10Stop 11: Hagar Qim and Mnajdra11Stop 12: Marsaxlokk12Stop 13: Blue Lagoon on Comino, as the alternative13

Route stops

Follow the numbered order through each day.

2 stops need a location

Day 1: Valletta

  1. 1St John's Co Cathedral · about 90 minutes
  2. 2Upper Barrakka Gardens · about 45 minutes
  3. 3Fort St Elmo · about 2 hours
  4. ·The Valletta grid · about 90 minutes

Day 2: The Three Cities and the Hypogeum

  1. 4Birgu and the Three Cities · about 3 hours
  2. 5Hal Saflieni Hypogeum · about an hour

Day 3: Mdina, Rabat and the cliffs

  1. 6Mdina · about 2 hours
  2. 7Rabat · about 90 minutes
  3. 8Dingli Cliffs · about 90 minutes

Day 4: Gozo

  1. 9Victoria and the Citadella · about 2 hours
  2. 10Ggantija Temples · about 90 minutes
  3. ·Xlendi · about 2 hours

Day 5: The southern temples, or Comino

  1. 11Hagar Qim and Mnajdra · about 2 hours
  2. 12Marsaxlokk · about 2 hours
  3. 13Blue Lagoon on Comino, as the alternative · half a day
Days 1 and 2 stay around the Grand Harbour. Day 3 crosses to the old capital inland. Day 4 is Gozo. Day 5 goes south, or north to Comino. 2 of the 15 stops are not plotted because we do not hold a checked coordinate for them.

Day 1: Valletta

The capital is small enough to walk in an afternoon and dense enough to deserve a whole day.

On foot
About 4 km on foot, and Valletta is properly hilly

Morning

  1. St John's Co Cathedralabout 90 minutes

    The single most concentrated interior on the islands, and the reason to start here before the day trippers arrive off the cruise ships.

  2. Upper Barrakka Gardensabout 45 minutes

    The view across the Grand Harbour to the Three Cities, which is also the best possible preparation for going there tomorrow.

Afternoon

  1. Fort St Elmoabout 2 hours

    The fort at the tip of the peninsula, holding the national war museum. There is an orientation film beside it that repays being watched on the first day rather than the last.

  2. The Valletta gridabout 90 minutes

    Walk the cross streets rather than the main one. The city is a grid on a slope, so the side streets drop away in staircases and that is where it stops feeling like a shopping street.

Day 2: The Three Cities and the Hypogeum

A short ferry to the quieter side of the harbour, then the one ticket you booked months ago.

On foot
About 5 km on foot, plus a ferry of roughly 15 minutes
Book before you go
Hypogeum tickets, booked months in advance

Morning

  1. Birgu and the Three Citiesabout 3 hours

    Reached by the harbour ferry from below the Barrakka gardens. Fortified, residential and far less visited than Valletta, which is exactly why it is here.

Afternoon

  1. Hal Saflieni Hypogeumabout an hourbook ahead

    An underground prehistoric complex in Paola, admitting only ten people an hour, which makes it one of the least visited World Heritage sites anywhere. Ten minutes from Valletta and impossible without a ticket bought long beforehand.

Day 3: Mdina, Rabat and the cliffs

The old capital inland, which most visitors see for two hours and should see for a day.

On foot
About 5 km on foot

Morning

  1. Mdinaabout 2 hours

    The walled former capital, almost empty of cars and very different after the coaches leave. If your days allow it, people who have been will tell you to see it twice, once by day and once at night.

  2. Rabatabout 90 minutes

    Directly outside Mdina's walls and where the Roman and early Christian layers are, including the catacombs. The two are one visit, not two.

Afternoon

  1. Dingli Cliffsabout 90 minutes

    The high western edge of the island, and the one piece of Malta that feels empty. Pick a day when the wind is down, because it is fully exposed.

Day 4: Gozo

A full day, not a half one, and the reason the trip is five days rather than four.

On foot
About 6 km on foot if you walk the Xlendi cliffs
Book before you go
The fast ferry from Valletta

Morning

  1. Victoria and the Citadellaabout 2 hours

    The island's centre and its fortified core, on a hill with the whole of Gozo visible from the walls. Avoid arriving on a Sunday morning, when the buses from the ferry are packed.

Afternoon

  1. Ggantija Templesabout 90 minutes

    Megalithic temples at Xaghra, older than the pyramids and considerably easier to get into than the Hypogeum.

  2. Xlendiabout 2 hours

    A bay about thirty minutes downhill from Victoria, with a clear cliff path climbing out of it. Leave a wide margin for the return ferry rather than cutting it fine.

Day 5: The southern temples, or Comino

One choice, made on the forecast: prehistoric sites and a fishing harbour, or the Blue Lagoon.

On foot
About 4 km on foot
Book before you go
A Blue Lagoon time slot if you choose Comino

Morning

  1. Hagar Qim and Mnajdraabout 2 hours

    Two megalithic temple groups on the southern cliffs, sheltered under canopies and looking straight out to sea. The most rewarding archaeology on the island that you can simply walk into.

Afternoon

  1. Marsaxlokkabout 2 hours

    The fishing harbour in the southeast, full of painted luzzu boats. Sunday is the market and also the busiest possible day to come.

  2. Blue Lagoon on Comino, as the alternativehalf a daybook ahead

    If you swap this day for Comino, note that the lagoon now runs a free timed booking system with three slots a day and a cap on how many people are there at once. Reserve before you travel.

Malta in outline

Where you sleep decides the week

Limestone, harbour and a second island, and a trip whose character is set by which town you wake up in.

Illustration of honey coloured limestone fortifications above a deep blue harbour
Valletta sits on a peninsula between two harbours, which is why the ferries beat the roads.
Illustration of a narrow stepped street climbing between limestone walls
The capital is a grid on a slope, so the cross streets fall away in staircases.
Illustration of a squat stone watchtower on a low cliff above open sea
The southern cliffs hold the temples, and they are the quietest part of the island.
Illustration of a small brightly painted fishing boat on flat turquoise water
Marsaxlokk on a weekday, rather than on market Sunday.

Illustrations generated with FLUX for RoamWeek, August 2026. Stylised artwork rather than photographs of the places named.

The options below are separate choices rather than a package. Read how RoamWeek chooses and orders suggestions before using any of them.

Book the separate parts

Book the parts that need booking

One of these five days depends on a ticket bought months ago. The rest is flights, a bed, and the two boat days that are easier bought than assembled.

You book each service directly with its supplier. These separate bookings do not form a RoamWeek package.

  • Flights
    Flights to Malta(opens on Aviasales)

    Malta is a single airport island and low cost fares from Europe swing hard between the shoulder months and August, so the dates are worth pricing before anything else.

    Search on Aviasales

  • Stays
    A base in Valletta or Victoria(opens on Booking.com)

    Where you sleep is the decision that most changes how this week feels, and the split between people who liked Malta and people who did not tracks it almost exactly.

    Search on Booking.com

  • Activities
    Gozo and Comino boat days(opens on GetYourGuide)

    Gozo rewards a full day and Comino now runs timed entry, so both are the kind of day that goes better bought in advance than assembled at a kiosk on the morning.

    Search on GetYourGuide

What is worth the time, and what is not

Worth your time

  • The Hypogeum, if you can get a ticket. Ten people an hour makes it one of the least visited World Heritage sites in the world, and it is a ten minute ride from Valletta.
  • The Valletta to Three Cities ferry. Fifteen minutes across the Grand Harbour, and the crossing itself is one of the better things you will do here.
  • Gozo as a full day. Everyone who gives it half a day regrets it, and it is the part of the trip that people who disliked Malta almost always skipped.

Skip it

  • Manoel Island. It is largely a construction site at present, and locals say plainly that there is not much there to see.
  • A hire car for the Valletta days. Parking near the capital is the single worst part of driving here, and the ferry and the harbour walks do not need a vehicle at all.
  • Treating Comino as compulsory. Opinion among residents runs from essential to entirely skippable, and in poor weather the boats do not run anyway.

Why this order

The first two days stay around the Grand Harbour because that is where the base is and because the ferry makes the Three Cities cheaper in time than anything else on the islands. Mdina sits on day three so that the two walled cities are not consecutive. Gozo takes day four rather than day five for one practical reason: the ferries are suspended when the wind gets up, so putting Gozo second to last leaves a spare day to move it into. Day five is deliberately the flexible one, and which version of it you take should be decided on the forecast rather than in advance.

Read next

  • 3 days in Rome

    The most common European city to pair with Malta, and a short hop across the water.

  • 7 days in Italy

    For anyone treating Malta as one leg of a longer Mediterranean run.

What we checked

Why this page exists. This is the only RoamWeek route that prices the Explore card against a Bolt ride and states the rule that Maltese buses will not stop unless you flag them down.