Classic Malta: Valletta, Ancient Temples & Gozo

A private guide leads a walking tour through Valletta, a UNESCO World Heritage city in its entirety. The route takes in St. John’s Co-Cathedral, the Triton Fountain, and Republic Street, each carrying its own piece of the city’s history as a base for knights, and later, artists and reformers. A stop at the Manoel Theatre, built in 1731 and one of the oldest working theatres in Europe, rounds out the morning, its Baroque interior largely unchanged since it first opened.

The afternoon closes with a walk back to Palais Le Brun, well placed for an evening spent wandering the same streets covered that morning.

A private historian leads a day through Malta’s wartime history, visiting lesser-known sites across the island: shrapnel-scarred facades, defensive pillboxes, and underground shelters built to survive the Axis bombing campaign that earned Malta the George Cross in 1942. In Mgarr, a village on the main island (not to be confused with the port town of the same name on Gozo), the tour visits a former air raid shelter, dug by hand beneath what’s now a restaurant, that sheltered local families through years of bombing.

The Italian fleet’s surrender to the Allies, a separate and significant chapter in Malta’s wartime story, took place at sea near the island in September 1943, and the historian covers that history alongside memorabilia connected to figures like Churchill and Rommel.

The day returns to Palais Le Brun, where the hotel’s quiet, centuries-old setting sits in contrast to the morning’s heavier history.

The morning is spent at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, prehistoric temple complexes dating back more than 5,000 years and among the oldest religious structures anywhere on earth, set on a clifftop above the Mediterranean. From there, the tour continues to Dingli Cliffs, Malta’s highest point, for uninterrupted coastal views.

Later, the trip moves to St. Julian’s for check-in at the Malta Marriott Resort & Spa, where the Sea View Room offers a change of pace after a day spent among some of the oldest structures on the island. The evening is left open, either a quiet night in or a walk along St. Julian’s lively seafront.

A scenic ferry ride crosses to Gozo, Malta’s sister island, for a day built around its older sites and quieter landscape. The Ġgantija Temples, older than the pyramids, come first, followed by hilltop views from Nadur, a stop at Calypso’s Cave, long associated with the Ogygia of Homer’s Odyssey, and a descent into the stalactite-lined Xerri’s Grotto. The afternoon continues to Gozo’s traditional salt pans and Dwejra Bay, with a short boat ride along the coast when weather allows.

The day closes at the Citadel in Victoria, Gozo’s fortified old town, before the ferry back to Malta and a return to the Malta Marriott Resort & Spa.

The day is left free, to spend by the pool, book a spa treatment, or walk St. Julian’s promenade independently. Your Destination Expert can also arrange optional activities, private boat charters or a wine tasting, for those who want more structure. Otherwise, the Malta Marriott Resort & Spa’s own facilities, sea views, dining, and spa, are enough to fill the day on their own.

A private driver collects you from the hotel for the transfer to the airport, closing out a week that moved through Malta’s ancient sites, wartime history, and coastline in roughly equal measure.