Malta

[vickster]

Anyone been? Thinking about a trip with 4 friends in September, either a villa with private pool or possibly hotel or apartment complex depending on price etc

Recommendations appreciated

 

[screenman]

Love the place or hate it, I was the latter. Maybe not what you are after, sorry.

 

[gbb]

It has its pros and cons. If you're beach people, Malta is a struggle because there arent many.
We stayed about 5 miles from Valetta so used to walk in or bus, nice place, nice people, Valetta is steeped in history and you can just soak it up.
A week is ok, two weeks would drive me nuts.

 

[fossyant]

Permanent building site

 

[Beebo]

It is very rocky, not much grass or trees about so can look quite brutal.
But it is small, easy to navigate by bus and everyone speaks english.

 

[wonderloaf]

Stayed Slimea, hated it. The only good thing about it was it was a short boat ride over to Valets, which was really nice.

 

[Andy_R]

Stay away from St Pauls, Qawra, or Buggiba. Head north to Mellieha. It has a very harsh beauty as it is just a lump of limestone in the middle of the Mediterranean. The peole are amazing though, friendly, helpful, noisy (spoken Maltese sounds like a constant argument!) If you're into sea swimming/snorkelling/diving it has the best waters around. But, like others have said, it's like marmite - you either love it or hate it. We happen to love marmite! If you're going in September, try to get there for the Second Sunday in the month and head along to Mellieha for the village saint's day festival - you've never seen or heard fireworks like it!

 

[MrPie]

Great food: seafood a speciality, natch, with fab Italian / Sicily influence. Excellent scuba diving and great for just chillin in the sunshine. Catch a bus to Mdina, shopping in Valetta, fishing port visit on the south side, boat tour round the island, trip to Gozo, water park, folks are friendly.....what's not to like?

 

[Spinney]

You can stay in historic cities or in tourist complexes like the Costa del Grot - but without the sandy beaches. I lived there for 3 years in my teens, loved it as we went sailing every weekend. Went back recently for a week with my sister and my partner - sis and I loved seeing the places we used to go when we lived there. Partner enjoyed the history - but not the heat - even in September it can be pretty hot.

 

[vickster]

Love the place or hate it, I was the latter. Maybe not what you are after, sorry.

Why did you hate it?

Not really looking for beach, sunshine and a pool work for me, others are less keen on sunbathing and want history and stuff to visit

 

[Andy_R]

[QUOTE 4133656, member: 9609"]its treatment of birds and in particular the mass slaughter of migrant species in the spring should make it a destination to boycott.
http://www.chrispackham.co.uk/news/video-diaries

they sit in arm chairs on the cliff tops blasting birds like swallows out of the skies with shot guns - disgusting attitude to wildlife. They certainly don't belong on Europe.[/QUOTE]
It's only a tiny percentageof the population that do that - similar to those that hunt in this country

 

[vickster]

Permanent building site

So are most holiday destinations in Europe

 

[Deleted member 26715]

If you hire a car watch out as the other drivers will drive in the shade no matter which side of the road it is on, they don't seem to stop at junctions, they seem to assume you will get out of the way. We spent a week there, it was enough, not sure we'd go back unless of course it was cheap

 

[vickster]

Just looking for something and somewhere a bit different, not too expensive nor too far, a week with sunshine and quite possibly some booze

 

[Andy_R]

Why did you hate it?

Not really looking for beach, sunshine and a pool work for me, others are less keen on sunbathing and want history and stuff to visit

you'll definitely get that in Malta, from Neolithic temples to WW2 underground tunnels. During September you'll get daytime temps around 30c and nightime temps are not much lower as the sea is still so warm (around 26c)