Malta in Depth: History, Temples, and the South Coast

Day 1 and 2: Valletta

A private driver meets you on arrival for the transfer into the city.

Valletta is a UNESCO World Heritage site in its entirety, closer to an open-air museum than a conventional capital, and has hosted emperors, heads of state, and artists throughout its history. It remains the seat of Malta’s government today, and shared the title of European Capital of Culture in 2018, a period that left the city with a stronger cultural calendar, English-language theatre, opera performances, and a livelier arts scene generally, that it’s kept up since.

A guided tour takes in the Upper Barrakka Gardens, St. John’s Co-Cathedral, and the Grand Master’s Palace, followed by the Malta Experience, an audiovisual presentation covering roughly 7,000 years of the island’s history in a single sitting.

Day 3: Rabat

After breakfast, the day moves to Rabat, just outside Mdina and Malta’s original capital under Roman rule. The guide covers St. Paul’s Catacombs and the Domus Romana, the remains of a wealthy Roman townhouse accidentally uncovered in 1881, its mosaic floors still largely intact. Mdina Cathedral rounds out the morning.

After lunch, the route continues to Ta’ Qali Crafts Village, a cluster of former WWII airfield huts now given over to Maltese craftspeople and retailers, before closing at the Mosta Dome, often cited as the third-largest unsupported church dome in Europe, and one of the island’s most recognizable landmarks.

Days 4-5: Gozo

Two days are spent on Gozo, Malta’s sister island, long enough to actually settle into its slower pace rather than passing through it. Time is split between Victoria’s cathedral and citadel, the Ġgantija Temples, among the oldest freestanding structures on earth, and the island’s quieter coastline, including the site of the Azure Window, once one of Gozo’s best-known natural landmarks and a filming location for Game of Thrones’ first season, before it collapsed into the sea in 2017.

A relaxed lunch with coastal views is worked into the second day, before the return to the mainland in the late afternoon.

Day 6 and 7: South Malta

The final two days move through Malta’s south. Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, two prehistoric temple complexes set on open, windswept land above the coast, sit in a landscape stark enough to feel closer to the temples’ own era than to the present one.

From there, the route continues to Marsaxlokk, whose name translates roughly to “south-east harbor,” still Malta’s principal fishing village and among the most photographed waterfronts in the islands. The following day closes with a tour of the Three Cities, Vittoriosa, Senglea, and Cospicua, each with its own distinct character despite sitting within sight of one another across the Grand Harbour.