Malta & Gozo Discovery

Arrive in Qawra, the lively seaside quarter of St Paul’s Bay in northern Malta. Around 6pm, we say bongu (bon–ju) to our tour leader and fellow travellers as we gather to get to know one another and hear about the adventures ahead. We then share a warm Maltese welcome over a group dinner. If you’d like to start earlier, you can arrange pre–tour hotel nights with your sales representative.

Guided by our expert tour leader, we begin in the Three Cities – Birgu (Vittoriosa), Senglea and Cospicua – facing Valletta across the Grand Harbour. We climb to the top of Birgu for sweeping views of the capital, then continue to Senglea to see the Gardjola Gardens. We cross the harbour to Valletta in a traditional dghajsa water taxi, admiring the Three Cities from the water, and ride the panoramic lift to the Upper Barrakka gardens for views over the Grand Harbour. Taking the minibus from the main gate, we explore Valletta’s highlights, including St John’s Co–Cathedral to see Caravaggio’s The Beheading of St John the Baptist, the Grandmasters Palace and several of the city squares.

After breakfast, we head north by minivan for the 25–minute ferry to Mgarr Harbour on Gozo, Malta’s sister island, separated by 3 miles (5km) of sea. With our expert tour leader, we discover the 5,000–year–old Ggantija Temples and learn about Neolithic life, then continue to Victoria to explore the citadel and the magnificent Basilica of Ta Pinu. We also visit Dwejra Natural Park – a Game of Thrones filming location – and the Qbajjar salt pans to learn about Gozo’s age–old salt‑harvesting tradition dating back to the Phoenician era. In the late afternoon, we take the ferry back to the mainland and return to the hotel.

After breakfast, we travel about 35 minutes to southern Malta to explore the hilltop megalithic complex of Hagar Qim, discovered under rubble in 1839 and dating from around 3600 BCE, then continue down to the Mnajdra temple complex. We make a short hop to the Blue Grotto – a series of sea caverns where, from sunrise until about 1pm, sunlight casts shifting shades of blue across the walls – and, weather permitting, we explore by traditional boat. Back on land, we visit Għar Dalam – the dark cave and museum that preserve Malta’s earliest evidence of human presence, with artefacts up to 7,400 years old and notable finds including two teeth from a Neanderthal man. Our final stop is Marsaxlokk, a traditional fishing village, where you can enjoy lunch at a harbour–side fish restaurant before we return to the hotel in the early afternoon.

We take a 25–minute bus ride to Rabat, founded by the Romans, to visit St Paul’s Catacombs – an extensive complex of interconnected underground cemeteries used until the fourth century and the earliest and largest archaeological evidence of Christianity in Malta, where Christians, Jews and Pagans were buried near one another. We continue to Mdina, an exquisite walled city of medieval and baroque architecture with far–reaching views from the bastions, and visit the 17th–century St Paul’s Cathedral, designed by baroque architect Lorenzo Gafa and home to historic artefacts including engravings by Rembrandt. After lunch, we head to the Dingli Cliffs – at 830ft (253m) the highest point on the Maltese islands – for Mediterranean views, petite terraced fields and a glimpse of the tiny uninhabited island of Filfla, passing a small cliff–edge chapel dedicated to St Mary Magdalene. We then visit Palazzo Parisio, a quintessentially Maltese residence often described as a miniature Versailles – built as a hunting lodge in 1722 by Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena, later used by the Order of St John, briefly a barracks during the French occupation in 1798, and subsequently enriched to its present state by Marquis Giuseppe Scicluna – with a unique gilded mirrored ballroom and two superb walled gardens blending baroque formality with Mediterranean colour and scent. After our visit, we transfer back to the hotel for our final night. Please note – in 2027 we visit the Wignacourt Museum instead of the catacombs, where Malta’s Christian heritage is presented through baroque art, World War Two shelters and the sacred grotto linked to St Paul’s arrival in 60 CE.

Having journeyed through Malta, explored Gozo and marvelled at the azure walls of the Blue Grotto, we conclude our adventure today. Begin your journey home – or, if you’d like more time to explore the island, you can speak to your sales representative about extending your stay.