Malta has been on my list ever since I heard about it and I'm just so glad to finally visit it this summer!!! This country (yes it's a country) that I've only heard about a few years ago is situated South of Italy, with a total surface area of 316 km² (around 30mins drive from one end to the other?). Honestly this place is just so beautiful and underrated I hope it gets on your list after reading this! 

Getting Around & Where We Stayed

We're a big group of 12 so we decided that renting cars would be more convenient for us, imagine rushing for buses or waiting for 3 ubers every time we want to travel around? 

We stayed in an airbnb in Gzira and we had no problem commuting around except for the lack of street parking.

When to visit?

The weather was reallyyyyyyyyyyyyy hot and I think late May- early June would be the best time to visit. Else remember bringing an umbrella and LOTS of water with you omg we definitely spent alot on iced drinks and gelato.

Day 1 (23 June 2019)

There was quite a delay while collecting our car because we didn't have enough credit cards so we had to cancel and re-book at a much higher price with other car companies. After all the hassle we went to the restaurant we found online but it was closed sigh so we just settled for this while walking around. Food was okay and ya that's a plate of grilled rabbit. FYI Malta is famous for their rabbit dishes so we gave it a try and tbh it tasted like chicken meat.

MJ recommended us this coffee shop - Lot Sixty One Coffee Roasters and gosh their coffee is so so good my personal favourite is the New Orleans (Cold brew latte) and Cold Brew Soda.

We spent the whole day walking around Valletta, the smallest capital city in the EU. It is really small so there's no point driving and looking for parking all the time. There are four different colours of parking boxes so remember to park in the WHITE boxes (available all day) or the blue ones outside of 6pm-8am. 

Below are some snapshots from getting lost in Valletta.

(All the streets looked like this I honestly don't know how they managed to find where we parked!)

 

Grandmaster's Palace

Upper & Lower Barrakka Gardens

You could also catch the cannon firing here at 12pm!

And we ended our day at a restaurant near our stay.

Day 2 (24 June 2019)

We took the ferry from Bugibba Jetty to Gozo and Comino (the blue lagoon). We intended to follow Hornblower Cruises at first (because of the slide on their ferry HAHAHA) but it was fully booked :( So we asked other ferry companies and thank god we managed to find Captain Morgan cruises available and paid €22 for it.

IMO, I don't think it's worth it going to Gozo because it was rushed and the places they brought us to was not what we expected. Don't know if other tours are like this too but I would recommend going to just Comino and enjoying the afternoon there because we only had an hour there and that was barely enough time. It's even better if you could stay a night there and explore Gozo & Dwejra (especially for GoT fans) at your own sweet time.

Ta’Pinu Basilica

I didn't take any photos of the Comino island itself D; but the water was very very very clear and beautiful and I really wished we had more time to walk around the island.

And ofc we had to pay €10 for this pineapple cocktail for the grams c:

After the tour, we chilled at a nearby beach and went for some local Maltese dinner at Ta Pawla and oh boy their rabbit dish (fenek imsajjar something something on their menu, basically rabbit marinated in wine and cooked in garlic served with gravy) is absolutely amazing we loved it. 

We went out for some drinks later on at Paceville <<< great for nightlife.

Day 3 (25 June 2019)

On this day, we went to Mdina - The Silent City. We reached there around noon so we went straight for lunch first. The restaurant was looked pretty much like a tourist trap but we went for it anyway... price is slightly higher than our previous meals.

The iconic Mdina Gate, another filming site for GoT.

St Paul's Cathedral

We had tea at Fontanella Tea Garden and their cakes are absolutely gorgeous!

We had extra time to kill so we went to Dingli Cliffs -  highest point of the Maltese islands. You'll get to enjoy the panoramic sea view but there's pretty much nothing else to do.

We then headed to Għajn Tuffieħa beach - rated the best beach on Malta Uncovered. 

We loved everything about the beach, from the soft sand to the clear water (without stones!!), and of course not to forget the prettiest sunset we've seen in awhile :') We had a great time chilling there, playing volleyball in the water, enjoying the sunset etc.

And had dinner at an Italian restaurant nearby. Their pizzas are pretty good!

Day 4 (26 June 2019)

You can't miss making a visit to the Popeye Village when you're in Malta! The village is the exact film set used but it's now converted into a small attraction park. You would need to pay a fee to enter the village but it's free if you just drive to this spot for pictures. The price varies throughout the year and can be found on their website along with more details.

IMO the splash pools and mini golf-course are more suitable for kids... but we still had a great time playing at the water park. Felt like we were in a variety show HAHAHA. Sadly the boat trip around Anchor Bay was not running on that day.

After spending a couple of hours there, we headed to Marsaxlokk Village - a traditional fishing village in Malta. 

We took some pictures and proceeded to our cliff jump destination >> St Peter's Pool!

It's kinda hard to photograph this cliff.. anyways it is REALLY tall you will experience quite a few seconds of air time when you jump. It is best to jump when everyone does it too but do take note that it's a public pool and jump at your own risk. The water became dirtier later in the evening when the tide got low and there were jellyfishes too so yea please be careful.

Isn't the sunset beautiful?

We managed to catch the sun setting down when driving out of the pool. It happened in just a short minute!

We were totally exhausted after all the swimming so we bought some kebabs for dinner before heading back to our airbnb.