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Ninety seconds on St Thomas' Bay
Visitors report that St Thomas' Bay is a public beach, open at all times with no restrictions on hours, so a swim in the evening or outside the summer months needs no planning around a ticket office.
Routes 119 (Marsaskala to the airport) and 135 (Marsaskala to Mater Dei) stop at Bajja, a short walk from the bay, about every 30 minutes. Check the current timetable before setting out.
One guide describes both sandy beaches in the bay as shallow and safe for children. Munxar Point, further along the coast, is different: deep water reached by ladders, and not for children or non-swimmers.
The largest watchtower in Malta stands on the headland above St Thomas' Bay, where you swim in blue water a short stroll from Marsaskala, then walk the cliffs to Munxar Point.
St Thomas' Bay is a deeply indented bay just south of Marsaskala, on the southeast coast of Malta. It has two small sandy beaches, and the rest of the shore is a rocky formation with small natural pools above blue water.
The bay is built up. Concrete and breeze-block huts line the shore along a potholed road, and apartments surround it. A few restaurants and food trucks stand on the bay, and many boats moor in it.
Look up at the il-Ħamrija headland above the bay to see St Thomas Tower, a bastioned watchtower built above the shore. Further along the coast at Munxar Point, white cliffs rise behind a limestone arch, the Munxar Window.
Drive down from Valletta in about half an hour and leave the car on the roadside near the beach.
Swim off either sandy beach, or from the rocks to the left of the first one, where ladders lead into the water. Stay inside the swimmers' area, since boats use the bay. Bring snorkelling gear for the sea bream, octopus and fish over the seagrass.
Afterwards, walk out to Munxar Point for the view from the top of the cliffs; there is no way down them. In calm sea you can swim through the arch there. From the point, the path continues to St Peter's Pool.
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