Malta 5-Day Itinerary: Culture, Beaches & Gozo

Five days in Malta allows a properly rounded visit: the capital and its harbours, the prehistoric temples, the best beaches, a Gozo overnight rather than a rushed day trip, and the quieter south of Malta that most day-trippers miss. This itinerary assumes a base in Sliema or St Julian's.

Day 1 — Valletta in depth

Arrive in Valletta by ferry from Sliema. Morning: St John's Co-Cathedral (pre-book tickets), Grand Master's Palace, Upper Barrakka Gardens. Afternoon: walk Republic Street's full length, visit the National Museum of Archaeology (houses the Maltese Neolithic 'Sleeping Lady' and other treasures from Ħaġar Qim). Evening: dinner in Valletta — the streets around Strait Street have some of Malta's best restaurants.

Day 2 — Prehistoric Malta: Ħaġar Qim and the south

Hire a car or join a tour for day 2. Drive south to Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Temples — two adjacent UNESCO-listed Neolithic sites that predate Stonehenge by a thousand years. Continue to the Blue Grotto sea caves (viewable by boat from the pier below Żurrieq village) and Marsaxlokk fishing village — the most photogenic village in Malta, with its colourful luzzu boats. Return through the Three Cities (Birgu, Senglea, Cospicua) — the medieval fortified cities across the Grand Harbour from Valletta — and take the water taxi back to Valletta.

Day 3 — Mdina, Rabat and Mosta

Day 3 is inland Malta. Start at Mdina — the Silent City — in the morning before the day-tripper buses arrive. Walk the fortified walls, visit the Cathedral of St Paul. Walk down into adjacent Rabat for St Paul's Catacombs and the Villa Romana museum. Afternoon: Mosta — the town's Rotunda (the Pantheon of Malta) is the third-largest unsupported dome in Europe and the site of the famous 1942 wartime miracle when a bomb fell through the dome during Mass and failed to explode. Return to base.

Day 4 — Gozo (overnight)

Take an early bus or drive to Ċirkewwa for the Gozo ferry. Spend the full day and overnight in Gozo: the Cittadella in Victoria in the morning, Ramla Bay beach in the afternoon (Gozo's main sandy beach with distinctive red-orange sand), Ġgantija Temples at Xagħra (older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids). Stay overnight in Xlendi, Marsalforn or Victoria — Gozo is distinctly calmer than Malta, particularly appreciated in summer.

Day 5 — Golden Bay, northwest Malta

Return from Gozo on the morning ferry, then drive or bus north to Golden Bay — Malta's largest and most popular sandy beach. Spend the morning swimming, then drive to Mellieħa village for lunch and its Parish Church with the oldest Madonna painting in Malta, carved into the rock below. The Mellieħa Bay wetland and bird reserve is a short walk from the beach.