Fort Manoel
The star fort on Manoel Island faces Valletta across Marsamxett Harbour. It has no regular opening, so walk the shore path from the Gżira bridge for a close view of the walls.
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Stay a short boat ride from Valletta, and swim off the Tower Road rocks the same afternoon.
Town guide, Malta. Meridian Dispatch.
Ninety seconds on Sliema
Qui-Si-Sana, Tigné and the Sliema side of Balluta tend to be calmer than the main seafront roads, though some Tower Road seafront rooms still hear traffic. In St Julian's, rooms facing the marina or the sea usually feel calmer than those facing the road into Paceville.
Valletta Ferry Services crosses daily from The Strand. The winter timetable runs 1 November to 31 May and the summer one 1 June to 31 October, with a night fare from 19:30 in summer. Local boatmen also cross, leaving once the boat is full.
Routes 13, 13A, 14, 16, 21 and TD13 run from the Valletta terminal to Sliema or St Julian's. The terminal stands just outside the city walls.
By ladder or from the rock-cut pools along the Tower Road seafront, which has flat rock and no sand. Swimmers find the exit points before going in and keep out of rough seas.
It can be, around sunset in particular. The path follows the seafront round the peninsula, so a walk can start or stop anywhere along it.
Airport Direct bus TD3 links Malta International Airport, MLA, with Gżira, Sliema and St Julian's. Payment is taken on the bus, in cash or by contactless card. The same route returns to the airport from either Sliema or St Julian's.
For a seafront base, yes. Valletta is a short ferry ride across the harbour.
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Sliema is a town of apartment blocks on a low peninsula, across Marsamxett Harbour from Valletta. Its draw is the shore: rock to swim from, a promenade round the point, and the boat to the capital.
30 minutes
Three hotels on the Sliema seafront: one on The Strand by the Valletta ferry, one on the Tigné waterfront facing Valletta, and one on Tower Road.
10 min from the Sliema ferry
7 min from the Sliema ferry
9 min from the Sliema ferry
Sorted by what you do there, from swimming off the rocks to walking past the forts on the harbour.
Everything here is on foot from The Strand. Tigné Point is ten minutes away, the Tower Road front runs north-west to Balluta, and Manoel Island is over the bridge from Gżira.
The star fort on Manoel Island faces Valletta across Marsamxett Harbour. It has no regular opening, so walk the shore path from the Gżira bridge for a close view of the walls.
Read the guide
Walk Sliema's seafront in the late afternoon, from the view of Valletta's bastions across Marsamxett Harbour to sunset at the St Julian's end, with clear water off the rocks for a swim between.
Read the guide
Fort Tigné and two British gun batteries hold this headland, so you get restored fortifications with Valletta straight across the water and Malta's largest shopping mall behind them.
Read the guide
Climb down a ladder off flat concrete into clear sea for a swim, or bring dive gear for the reef just offshore and the Tug 2 wreck beyond it.
Read the guide
By boat, Valletta is a short, scenic crossing from Sliema's harbour front, and it beats the bus into the heart of the capital.
Read the guideAt the eastern end of Sliema's seafront, you swim off limestone shelves where old bathing pools are cut into the stone, right beside the sea.
Read the guideOn the Tower Road seafront between Sliema and St Julian's, you get a bench facing the sea in a small public garden, with a swimming bay on the rocks right below.
Read the guideThis is Sliema's oldest parish church, home to the statue of Our Lady at the heart of the town's summer feast procession. Step inside for that statue, the dome and the painted apse.
Read the guideSwimming at Fond Għadir means flat limestone shelves to lie on and a choice of water: the open sea, or old bathing pools cut into the rock.
Read the guideSwim off the rocks on Sliema's northern shore, then dry off on stone smooth enough to sunbathe on. On a calm day the water is clean and deep enough for a proper swim.
Read the guideStop at Sliema Point Battery to see a British artillery battery from the 1870s that you can sit inside, because the fort now trades as a bar and restaurant.
Read the guideTower Road takes its name from this 17th-century watchtower of the Knights of St John, and the building now operates as a restaurant, It-Torri.
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A low island in Marsamxett Harbour, joined to Gżira by a bridge. Walk the public shore path round it for the view of Valletta's bastions and the walls of Fort Manoel.
A low fort with a round keep at the mouth of Marsamxett Harbour, behind Tigné Point. It has no public opening yet, so you see its walls and ditch from the point.
A row of high arches along Lazzaretto Creek, the island's old quarantine hospital, still awaiting restoration. See it from the island's shore or from Ta' Xbiex across the creek.
A Franciscan church a few streets up from The Strand, with gilded sculpture, painted vaults and five altar paintings by Giuseppe Calì. Visit outside services, with shoulders and knees covered.
About a third of a terraced 19th-century garden survives on the Pietà waterfront. It opens on occasional open days listed by Heritage Malta, with entry through the grounds of St Luke's Hospital.
Sliema has no sand. You get in by ladder or from pools cut into the flat rock along the shore.
Walk Sliema's seafront in the late afternoon, from the view of Valletta's bastions across Marsamxett Harbour to sunset at the St Julian's end, with clear water off the rocks for a swim between.
Read the guideClimb down a ladder off flat concrete into clear sea for a swim, or bring dive gear for the reef just offshore and the Tug 2 wreck beyond it.
Read the guideAt the eastern end of Sliema's seafront, you swim off limestone shelves where old bathing pools are cut into the stone, right beside the sea.
Read the guideOn the Tower Road seafront between Sliema and St Julian's, you get a bench facing the sea in a small public garden, with a swimming bay on the rocks right below.
Read the guideSwimming at Fond Għadir means flat limestone shelves to lie on and a choice of water: the open sea, or old bathing pools cut into the rock.
Read the guideSwim off the rocks on Sliema's northern shore, then dry off on stone smooth enough to sunbathe on. On a calm day the water is clean and deep enough for a proper swim.
Read the guideThe promenade follows the shore from Tigné Point round the peninsula to Balluta, past a seafront garden and bathing pools cut in the rock.
Walk Sliema's seafront in the late afternoon, from the view of Valletta's bastions across Marsamxett Harbour to sunset at the St Julian's end, with clear water off the rocks for a swim between.
Read the guideFort Tigné and two British gun batteries hold this headland, so you get restored fortifications with Valletta straight across the water and Malta's largest shopping mall behind them.
Read the guideAt the eastern end of Sliema's seafront, you swim off limestone shelves where old bathing pools are cut into the stone, right beside the sea.
Read the guideOn the Tower Road seafront between Sliema and St Julian's, you get a bench facing the sea in a small public garden, with a swimming bay on the rocks right below.
Read the guideStop at Sliema Point Battery to see a British artillery battery from the 1870s that you can sit inside, because the fort now trades as a bar and restaurant.
Read the guideTower Road takes its name from this 17th-century watchtower of the Knights of St John, and the building now operates as a restaurant, It-Torri.
Read the guideTwo forts guard Marsamxett Harbour, one behind Tigné Point and one on Manoel Island. Neither has a regular opening, so you see both from the shore paths.
The star fort on Manoel Island faces Valletta across Marsamxett Harbour. It has no regular opening, so walk the shore path from the Gżira bridge for a close view of the walls.
Read the guideFort Tigné and two British gun batteries hold this headland, so you get restored fortifications with Valletta straight across the water and Malta's largest shopping mall behind them.
Read the guideBy boat, Valletta is a short, scenic crossing from Sliema's harbour front, and it beats the bus into the heart of the capital.
Read the guideA low island in Marsamxett Harbour, joined to Gżira by a bridge. Walk the public shore path round it for the view of Valletta's bastions and the walls of Fort Manoel.
A low fort with a round keep at the mouth of Marsamxett Harbour, behind Tigné Point. It has no public opening yet, so you see its walls and ditch from the point.
A row of high arches along Lazzaretto Creek, the island's old quarantine hospital, still awaiting restoration. See it from the island's shore or from Ta' Xbiex across the creek.
Back from the seafront stand Sliema's oldest parish church and a Franciscan church full of gilded sculpture. Villa Frere's garden in Pietà opens on occasional open days.
On the Tower Road seafront between Sliema and St Julian's, you get a bench facing the sea in a small public garden, with a swimming bay on the rocks right below.
Read the guideThis is Sliema's oldest parish church, home to the statue of Our Lady at the heart of the town's summer feast procession. Step inside for that statue, the dome and the painted apse.
Read the guideA Franciscan church a few streets up from The Strand, with gilded sculpture, painted vaults and five altar paintings by Giuseppe Calì. Visit outside services, with shoulders and knees covered.
About a third of a terraced 19th-century garden survives on the Pietà waterfront. It opens on occasional open days listed by Heritage Malta, with entry through the grounds of St Luke's Hospital.
Walk out to Tigné Point from The Strand, about ten minutes, and follow the promenade round the tip. Valletta's bastions face you across Marsamxett Harbour. Fort Tigné stands behind the Tigné Point shops, and you see its round keep and ditch from outside only.
Swim round the corner at Qui-Si-Sana, where square pools are cut into flat rock. The shallow pools suit children, and the water is often calmer here in a north-westerly. There is no lifeguard, and storms have broken the edges of many of the old baths, so wear water shoes.
In the middle of the day, turn inland to Stella Maris Church on Stella Maris Street, the town's oldest parish church. Cover shoulders and knees, and go outside Mass. For the feast in late August the street is hung with banners, and the procession leaves on the Sunday evening.
Late in the afternoon, walk Sliema Front along Tower Road towards Balluta, about an hour at an easy pace. Independence Garden, on the way, has benches under the palms and ladders into the sea below. Stay out of the water when waves break over the rock.
For dinner across the water, take the ferry from The Strand to Valletta. From November to May boats run into the late evening and past midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, but the last one on Sundays and public holidays leaves at 18:30. From June to October they run until half past one in the morning, and until midnight on Sundays and public holidays.
Keep a second morning for Manoel Island: cross the bridge from Gżira and walk the shore below Fort Manoel. The shore path gives a close view of the fort's walls and of the arches of the old Lazzaretto along the creek.
Malta has one airport, at Luqa, south of Sliema. The Airport Direct bus TD3 runs from it through Gżira to Sliema and on to St Julian's.
It leaves from the airport bus terminal, signposted once you exit arrivals, and stops in Gżira and Sliema before St Julian's. Pay on board by cash or contactless card.
Buy a fixed-fare ticket at the booth in the Welcomers' Hall before you leave the terminal.
Request the car once you land. The app shows the pickup point outside arrivals; check it again before you walk out, because it can change.
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Swim below a neo-Gothic church and a row of Art Nouveau apartments, on a small curve of seafront a short walk from Spinola Bay.
The official pages this guide was checked against.
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