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Ninety seconds on Esplora
Esplora is an interactive science centre for families with children. Its science shows and hands-on activities are aimed at different ages, and all children under 15 must be accompanied by an adult when they enter.
Bus 3 runs from Valletta and stops opposite the centre. For a harbour crossing, take the water taxi from Valletta to Bormla (Cospicua), then bus 3 or the walk past the Cottonera harbours. A sightseeing ferry from Sliema docks just below Esplora.
Yes. There is roadside parking in the square below and along most of Dawret Fra Giovanni Bichi road, plus a parking area on the corner of Fuq-il-Fortini and San Dwardu road. Coaches and minibuses have a separate drop-off zone off the main road.
Villa Bighi, the old naval hospital above the Grand Harbour, is now a science centre packed with hands-on exhibits. Bring the children for the planetarium dome and the science shows.
Esplora fills Villa Bighi, the former Royal Naval Hospital Bighi, a grand neoclassical block on the Kalkara headland. Its linked buildings and outdoor spaces look straight across the Grand Harbour.
Inside, many of the hands-on exhibits deal with natural phenomena, and you learn by trying them rather than by reading panels. The centre is built for free-choice learning, so there is no set route and you follow whatever catches your interest.
The Planetarium is the signature attraction. It sits inside the shell of the old Auxiliary Hospital building, with exhibits around it and films shown under its dome. Other rooms around the site host the live science shows through the day.
Arriving in Kalkara, you find Esplora up the hill from the village parish church and square. Start at Reception. If you want a show in the Planetarium dome, collect a wristband there as you come in.
Then work through the exhibit halls in any order. Shows and activities run in several locations, so check the weekly schedule on Esplora's website before you go.
You can walk round the Planetarium exhibits without a wristband. For a dome show, doors open 20 minutes before the start and close exactly when it begins, so be there in that window.
End outdoors in the recreational areas, where the EsploraCafé is.
Weekday hours are short: Esplora closes at 15:00 from Monday to Friday and stays open later on weekends and public holidays.
A show only runs if someone has booked it: science shows and Planetarium films with no bookings 15 minutes before the start are cancelled automatically.
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