City Gate

Landmark

Landmark · Valletta, Malta 35.8959°N 14.5094°E

Why you should go

Ninety seconds on City Gate

Time needed

20 to 30 minutesThe gate and the bridge

Best time

EveningWarm light on the walls

Access

On foot, by bridgeFrom the bus terminus

Guide

Not neededGo on your own

Hours

Is City Gate open 24 hours?

City Gate is an open passage through the walls, not a building with a door, and travel guides list it as open for passage 24 hours a day. It is also the starting point for most city tours.

Bus

Where does the bus drop you at Valletta City Gate?

Buses stop at the main Valletta bus terminus, beside the Triton Fountain just outside the gate, which stands at the head of Republic Street. Cross the bridge from the stops to reach it.

Nearby

What is near City Gate in Valletta?

The Parliament House, Pjazza Teatru Rjal and the City Gate Shopping Arcade stand in its immediate vicinity. Pjazza Teatru Rjal occupies the ruins of the former Royal Opera House, just inside the gate on the left.

Cross the bridge into Valletta and you walk through Renzo Piano's City Gate, a long cut through the old walls that opens straight onto Republic Street, the capital's main spine.

What makes it special

This is the fifth gate to stand on the spot, and Piano's version was completed in 2014. It is a sharp, modern composition in the same pale stone as the old city, with a long opening cut through the bastion wall.

The gate is one of four parts of a single scheme. Piano also designed a new Parliament building beside it, the open-air theatre of Pjazza Teatru Rjal, and the landscaping of the ditch below.

The facade stone was quarried from one chosen location on the island. It frames the gate and is also used on the textured Parliament walls, so compare the two surfaces as you pass.

Turn round on the bridge and you look back at Floriana, the bus terminus and the Triton Fountain.

Visiting

Crossing the bridge from outside the walls takes you over Valletta's deep dry ditch to the gate. Stop halfway and look down: from this angle the thickness of the fortifications is clear.

Once through the gate, Republic Street runs straight ahead.

From here the visit becomes a walk. Republic Street passes Freedom Square, Palazzo Ferreria and the Archaeology Museum, so follow it as far as you like and come back the same way. The Hastings Gardens and the Lascaris War Rooms are both short detours from the start of the walk.

Tips

For the view over the Grand Harbour, Upper Barrakka Gardens is 5 to 10 minutes away. Walk about 100m down Republic Street, turn right into Triq id Nofsinhar, pass Piazza Jean de Valette and follow Castille Street.

The Parliament Staircase, near the gate, is one way to the Parliament entrance; the other is round St James Cavalier from Castille Place.