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Ninety seconds on Simar Nature Reserve
As of November 2026, in winter the reserve opens on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 13:30 to 17:00, and on Sunday from 10:00 to 16:00.
Yes, entry to Simar Nature Reserve is free of charge, though donations are welcome. There is no ticket to book in advance: visitors walk in during the opening hours.
BirdLife Malta names two stops for the reserve, Roti and Simar. Buses on routes 41, 42, 221, 222 and X1 call at both of them, as of November 2026.
One visitor's account favours Simar for a full loop walk: its trail goes all the way round the reserve, while the public path at Għadira covers only half of that reserve.
Yes. BirdLife Malta offers bookable slots at a photography hide overlooking open water lined with reeds and tamarisk trees, where waders, Common Snipe, Moorhen and Water Rail can be photographed at eye level. Bookings go through the BirdLife Malta hides page, which also gives the hide’s opening hours.
Chameleons and geckos can be spotted camouflaged on the branches along the trail. The pools also shelter the rare and protected Mediterranean Killifish, and a rare species of tassel-weed grows there.
In the Pwales Valley you can sit in a hide at the only place in the Maltese Islands where Coots and Little Grebes breed.
Simar is a fully protected bird sanctuary of about five hectares where the Pwales Valley meets the sea at Xemxija Bay. Its mosaic of open pools, reedbed and trees supports a lot of birds in every season.
Black-winged Stilts have bred here too, a pair first raising young in 2014. In the reeds and bushes, look for the five birds most listed for the site: Cetti's Warbler, then Sardinian Warbler, Zitting Cisticola, Moustached Warbler and Penduline Tit.
The site became a nature reserve in 1991, when a theme park planned for this abandoned marsh gave way to a plan to restore the wetland. BirdLife Malta volunteers created the habitat you see in the 1990s.
Look for the Pit Stop kiosk on Triq il-Pwales in Xemxija: the reserve is next to it. It has a visitor centre, and if birdwatching is new to you, volunteers are on hand to help you spot its wildlife.
The nature trail leads to a number of bird hides, with information boards along the way. It is a circular trail, flat and easy but narrow, so take it slowly and stop at each hide in turn until you are back at the start.
Bring binoculars or a camera for the hides. Pack a telescope too if you have one, as it can be useful here.
Pictures of all the birds you can see in the reserve are on display, which helps you name what you spot from the hides.
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