Three islands. One ferry timetable.
Which boat actually stops long enough to swim. What the Gozo day costs with lunch and without. Whether the Blue Grotto is worth the early alarm. Every tour in Malta, reviewed.
Six places that fill a week in Malta.
The lagoon, the sister island, the walled capital, the caves under the cliffs and the beaches up north. Nothing here is more than an hour apart, which is the whole trick of planning Malta.
Getting to the Blue Lagoon: pick your boat.
All Blue Lagoon trips →
Comino has no hotel worth the name and no road worth walking, so the whole day is decided by which boat you board and how long it gives you in the water. Three shapes of crossing, three different days.
Gozo, Comino and the caves in one run
Out of Sliema or Bugibba mid-morning, an hour or two anchored off the lagoon, then the Gozo coast and the caves at Santa Marija on the way back.
Straight to the water, slide and snorkel
The roundtrip boats do one thing: drop you on Comino and come back for you. Early departures get the lagoon before the day trippers thicken it.
A catamaran, a skipper, an empty bay
Sail boats moor away from the crowd and swim off the back. It costs three times the ferry and buys back the thing the ferry sells out of.
Gozo runs an hour behind Malta, and knows it.
Twenty-five minutes on the Cirkewwa ferry buys terraced fields, a citadel over Victoria, salt pans cut into the rock and a coastline you can drive in a morning. Most people give it a day. It carries two.
Malta’s most popular tours.
The whole catalogue →The trips more travellers take than anything else on the islands, and what each one gives you for the day.
1
Gozo & Comino Islands, Blue Lagoon & Seacaves Tour
A 7-hour catamaran day trip from Bugibba to Gozo and Comino, with Blue Lagoon swimming, sea caves, and scenic Crystal Lagoon photos.
From · $28
Read our review →2
Blue Lagoon, Crystal Lagoon, and Seacaves Tour
from $35
3
Blue Lagoon, Beaches & Bays Trip by Catamaran
from $62
4
Gozo, Comino, Blue & Crystal Lagoon, & Caves Cruise
from $34
5
Full-Day Gozo UTV Tour with Lunch and Boat Ride
from $94
6
Comino, Crystal Lagoon, and Blue Lagoon Cruise
from $40
7
Gozo, Comino and Blue Lagoon Cruise
from $41
8
Comino, Blue Lagoon, Crystal Lagoon & Caves Cruise
from $34
Valletta is a city you can cross in twenty minutes.
The Knights built it on a spit of rock between two harbours, which is why every street ends in water or a staircase. Walk it in the morning, take the boat out at six, eat late.
Three things Malta has and nowhere else does.
Boat trips and old towns exist all over the Mediterranean. A cave lit from underneath, a fleet of eyes painted on fishing boats and a capital that empties at dusk are Maltese.
The Blue Grotto
A run of sea caves under the southern cliffs where the sun comes through the water and throws it back up onto the rock. It works for about two hours after sunrise and not at all in a swell, which is why the small boats leave the quay at Wied iz-Zurrieq early and stop when the wind turns.
- 1Blue Grotto & Sunday Market at Marsaxlokk Fishing Village★★★★★★★★★★ 3.6 · 803 reviews
- 2Marsaxlokk, Blue Grotto, and Qrendi Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 547 reviews
- 3Prehistoric Temples, Limestone Heritage & Blue Grotto★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 412 reviews
The Luzzu Fleet
Malta’s fishing boats are painted red, yellow and blue with an eye on each side of the bow, a habit older than the Knights and probably Phoenician. Marsaxlokk keeps the biggest fleet, moored in rows off the promenade, and on Sunday morning the whole quay becomes a market.
- 1Blue Grotto & Sunday Market at Marsaxlokk Fishing Village★★★★★★★★★★ 3.6 · 803 reviews
- 2Marsaxlokk, Blue Grotto, and Qrendi Guided Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 547 reviews
- 3Sunday Vintage Bus to Marsaxlokk★★★★★★★★★★ 4.1 · 117 reviews
The Silent City
Mdina held Malta’s capital for the best part of two thousand years and lost it to Valletta when the Knights wanted a harbour. What is left is a walled hill town of about three hundred residents, closed to cars, best walked after the day tours have gone back down the hill.
- 1Highlights of Malta & Mdina Full Day Tour with Lunch★★★★★★★★★★ 4.4 · 2,688 reviews
- 2Mdina and Rabat Walking Tour with Catacombs★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 1,126 reviews
- 3Mdina, Dingli Cliffs and San Anton Botanical Gardens★★★★★★★★★★ 4.3 · 991 reviews
Malta keeps its sand at the top of the island.
The limestone runs straight into the sea nearly everywhere, so the beaches are concentrated up north around Mellieha: Ghadira, Golden Bay, Paradise Bay and the film set at Anchor Bay that nobody expected to still be standing.
- 1Popeye Village Entry Ticketfrom $18
- 2Popeye Village Malta Filmset Entry Ticketfrom $18
- 3Comino & Gozo: Blue & Crystal Lagoons Cruise with Sea Cavesfrom $33
A day in Malta, by what you spend on it.
Every tour on the site, from the cheapest up. The islands are small and the boats are shared, so the cheap end here is genuinely good.
Roundtrip boats to Comino, walking tours of Valletta, the vintage bus, entry tickets.
Full-day cruises with lunch, the Gozo jeep runs, harbour sailings, diving lessons.
Private charters, chauffeured island days and the boats you get to yourself.
Malta gets good again at about six in the evening.
Every boat after five →
Highlights of Malta & Mdina Full Day Tour with Lunch
Read our review →
Pub Crawl of Paceville and St Julian’s with Drinks
Read our review →
The majjistral shuts the Comino boats. Malta has an answer.
The northwesterly builds a swell across the channel and the Blue Lagoon crossings stop, sometimes for two days in a row. The islands are small enough that the fallback is fifteen minutes away: walled streets, catacombs, a harbour that stays flat in almost anything, and lunch.
- 1The Original Valletta Walking Tourfrom $26
- 2Highlights of Malta & Mdina Full Day Tour with Lunchfrom $79
- 33-Hour Walking Tourfrom $25
Some Malta days only run on one day of the week.
Most of the islands can be booked the night before from your hotel. These cannot: they hang off a market day, a bus timetable or a certification card, and no amount of planning at the quayside fixes them.
- 01Blue Grotto & Sunday Market at Marsaxlokk Fishing VillageThe fish market is a Sunday-morning affair. Any other day the quay is quiet and the stalls sell towels.
- 02Vintage Bus to Valletta, Sliema, Rabat & MdinaThe old buses run to a published timetable rather than on demand, and not every route runs every day.
- 03Two Morning Dives in Gozo for Certified DiverCertified dives need the card in your hand. Without it you are on the try-dive in a sheltered bay, which is a different day.
- 04Private Day Sailing Boat CharterOne boat, one party, one day. Summer weekends go first and there is no second sailing to move you to.
Malta to Comino to Gozo, in the order that works.
The Three Cities
MdinaBy town — where you are based
Valletta145 tours
Sliema & St Julian’s52 tours
Mellieha73 tours
St Paul’s Bay & Bugibba34 tours
Gozo74 tours
Comino42 tours
Mdina & Rabat26 tours- Every town on the islands →
By day — what kind of trip is it?
Latest Malta tour reviews.
Everything just added →
4 hr Private Boat Adventure Tour of Comino and Blue Lagoon
Read our review →
Coastal Ferry Cruise with Stops in Gozo and Comino Bue Lagoon
Read our review →
Comino and Parts of Gozo Full Day Private Boat Charter
Read our review →
1-Day PADI Scuba Diver Certification Beginner Course
Read our review →
Jet Ski Safari to the North of Malta incl. the Blue Lagoon
Read our review →
Airport transfers to all locations in Malta (Private Groups or Families)
Read our review →
Half-Day Journey – Trips in Comino, Gozo & Crystal Lagoon
Read our review →
Entry Ticket for The Limestone Heritage Park and Gardens
Read our review →
Full-Day Private Malta Highlights Tour with Pick Up
Read our review →
Daylong Delight – Trips in Malta, Daħlet Qorrot & Comino
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