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Stay here to wake up inside the walls of Mdina and to walk its evening streets.
Hotel, Mdina. Meridian Dispatch.
By road, the hotel is around 15 km from the airport, and its address is Misrah il-Kunsill, Mdina. By bus, TD1 links the airport with Rabat, the town beside Mdina.
Yes, in summer, at another property. The Xara Lodge, a sister property near Rabat, has the outdoor pool from June to September, and the hotel runs free transfers both ways.
Tuesday to Saturday, for dinner only, from 19:00 to 21:30. De Mondion sits on the bastions within the hotel and cooks in a modern Mediterranean style.
Yes. Trattoria AD 1530 is the hotel's casual restaurant, a relaxed alternative that faces the piazza outside. The hotel's other restaurant, de Mondion, is its fine-dining room.
Yes. The hotel lists family rooms but gives their details on request, so a family should contact it directly with its dates and the number of people travelling.
Yes. The hotel runs a 24-hour reception, so a guest landing on a late flight at Malta International Airport can still check in on arrival.
The Xara Palace was built in the 17th century as a home for the noble Moscati Parisio family, and it opened as a hotel in 1999. Its walls form part of the bastions around Mdina, Malta's former capital. The bastion side looks across the island in a 180-degree view.
The restored palace holds seventeen rooms and suites, each designed on its own, with antique furniture and paintings, Parisian fabrics and king-size beds. They look over either the countryside or the street.
The restaurant, de Mondion, holds one Michelin star, is built into the bastion walls and serves modern Mediterranean cooking.
The narrow streets outside mix medieval, neo-gothic and Baroque buildings.
Before you arrive, arrange parking and luggage with the hotel: buses and visitor cars stop outside the walls, and only licensed residents and emergency services drive in. The hotel is on Misrah il-Kunsill, reception runs 24 hours, and check-in comes with a welcome drink.
The categories sold with a view are the Deluxe Room, Deluxe Suite and Executive Suite with Panoramic View, and the Deluxe Room with Panoramic Porch.
Breakfast is on the top floor, with a terrace over the countryside and the coast. For dinner, book de Mondion before you travel; its terraces look out across the island, and its menus include one called Taste of Malta. Trattoria AD 1530 is the casual choice, on the piazza in front of the hotel.
Swimming is at the outdoor pool of The Xara Lodge, open from June to September at the sister property on the outskirts of Rabat, a five-minute drive away. Transfers there and back cost nothing. The hotel also has a fitness room.
St Paul's Cathedral and Palazzo Falson are both inside the walls. From Cathedral Square, Palazzo Falson is two more blocks along Villegaignon Street, and Gustav Café sits among its rooftops.
For a day in the capital, the bus between Mdina Gate and the Valletta terminus runs every 15 to 30 minutes.
Nearest first, all within 5 minutes on foot from the door.
Mdina Gate
No. 16 landmark in Malta
Carved with the arms of Grand Master Vilhena and of Mdina, and a Latin date, this gate is the main way into the walled city. Stop on the bridge…
St Paul's Cathedral
No. 12 in Malta
In this cathedral you look across a floor of coloured marble tomb slabs, on the spot where tradition says the Roman governor Publius met St Paul…
Bastion Square
No. 3 viewpoint in Malta
From this terrace at Mdina's northern tip you look across the fields and villages of central Malta to the sea, the width of the island in one view.
The Xara Palace Relais & ChâteauxThings to do
The town
Private cars stay outside Mdina's walls, so you cross this hilltop city in the middle of the island on foot, from Mdina Gate past the cathedral and the palazzi to the views from the bastions. It was Malta's capital until the Knights of St John moved to the harbour.
Stay in Mdina only if Mdina itself is the point. Rabat, next door, has the buses and a spa hotel.
Read the Mdina guideThe official pages this guide was checked against.
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