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Day 5 in Malta – Blue Grotto and Goodbye Malta

Posted on May 20, 2026 by Kelsey

On Saturday, May 9, I had one remaining thing on my Malta bucket list (although I would love to go back sometime). I got up and packed my suitcase and got ready to check out of my apartment. I got my last pastry and iced tea from the cafe across the street and sat at my covered balcony to take in the beautiful view for the last time. I took my luggage to a nearby storage location for the day and headed off on my daily adventure.

Houses in my neighborhood, I love the architecture!

I got on the bus towards the Blue Grotto, which is on the southwest coast, and it was very crowded as we went through the busier areas of Sliema and Valleta. Once we got outside of the main cities though, it got a lot emptier. I had to change buses once, and was happy that the next bus came just a few minutes later, so I made it to the Blue Grotto in about an hour.

Once I arrived I walked down the short boardwalk to a lookout spot, which had the most beautiful view of the cliffs and the large rock formations and caves called the Blue Grotto. It turned out to be a much clearer day and I was so glad I made the trip to see this incredible landscape.

After spending a few minutes enjoying the view, I started to walk down the path towards the area where you can get on a boat to see the Blue Grotto up close. It was an enjoyable walk along the coast and I eventually reached a couple restaurants and souvenir shops, which led down to the boat service where you pay €10 for a ticket and then wait in line until there is a boat available. It wasn’t terribly crowded, so I only waited about five minutes until I was able to join a couple other people on a small, colorful boat.

The boat driver took us out of the small bay and into some of the caves along the coast and pointed out different rock formations and things we were seeing. It was perfect weather and the water looked so clear and blue, I thought it looked like a great place to swim, although when we felt the water it was definitely cold. When we got to the Blue Grotto it was amazing to see it from this different perspective. We saw more coral underneath the water, and some areas with white sand below, so the water looked especially bright and even reflected up onto the ceiling of the cave. It was truly magical!

After about 20 minutes we headed back to the dock and I could say this was well worth the trip- one of my highlights of the week for sure!

I walked back up to the bus stop and waited for the next bus that would take me straight back to Valletta. I decided I would have just enough time to make a couple last stops in the capital city and take the ferry back to Sliema to get my luggage before having to go to the airport. In Valletta I got my last pastizzi of the trip, walked through the streets noticing places I first learned about on my first day walking tour, and got a bubble tea from Tea Fusion again. I stopped into a couple shops along the way and then made my way to the Sliema ferry, where I got to enjoy a trip across the harbor one last time.

I picked up my luggage and took the express bus to the airport. It was pretty busy at the airport drop off and I was in the front seat, so I got to watch the bus driver parallel park this huge coach bus, which I thought was particularly impressive. Once in the airport I got through security quickly and found out that the Malta airport is pretty small, and everyone has to just wait in a big communal area until their gate is called. It was packed when I first got there, and there were only a couple options for food, but I found a seat at one of the restaurants and decided to get dinner and try Kinnie, a Maltese soda, that I had heard about but was a little scared to try at first. The tour guide on the first day told us that people either love or hate it, but since I know root beer has that reputation as well and I love root beer I thought I would give it a try. After all, this was pretty much my last chance. I could see the similarity with root beer, but it was more of an orange flavor with a bitter aftertaste. I don’t know that I would have it again, but it wasn’t horrible.

Once my flight was finally called, I boarded the flight and was happy to see that I again did not have anyone sitting next to me. Taking off was a very cool experience because I could see so much of the island. It’s so small that as we turned I could recognize several of the cities and places I had been.

It was just a three hour flight back to Copenhagen, where I had an overnight layover. Because of this, I was excited to take advantage of being able to get a full night’s rest and have a few hours in the morning to explore the city. Copenhagen is a great place for a layover as well because it is so quick and easy to get from the airport into the center of the city. Within 30 minutes I had taken the metro and walked the few more minutes to my hotel. I was a little hungry, so stopped by a churro stand on the way, and I saw a huge banner saying the Copenhagen Marathon- May 10, 2026. I thought, wait, that’s tomorrow! I had no idea until then, but was excited to see what that would be like the next day for my morning in Copenhagen- stay tuned!

Categories: Malta - May 2026 | Tags: adventure, Architecture, Blue Grotto, Boat, europe, malta, nature, Sliema, Travel, Valletta | Leave a comment

Day 1 in Malta – Exploring Valletta and Crafting

Posted on May 11, 2026 by Kelsey

At the same time that Mom and Dad left for England, I went on my own trip to Malta. I’m a little behind but now that I’m back home I’m going to try and get my blog posts up too and hopefully it’s not too confusing!

After a long travel day (Atlanta to Copenhagen to Malta) I got to the apartment I was staying in Monday evening. It was the top floor of a traditional Maltese building, complete with one of their iconic covered balconies and a rooftop with amazing views of the sea. I went out on a short walk to explore Sliema, the town I was staying in, and got a great initial view of Valletta, the capital, across the harbor. I was pretty tired, so I went to sleep with plans to get up early and really start sightseeing the next day.

I stayed at the top floor where the light is on!

On Tuesday I got up and took the ferry from Sliema to Valletta, which is just a short 10 minute journey. I always enjoy being out on the water, so I was excited that this is the easiest and fastest way to get there from where I was staying. Once in Valletta I walked to Fort St. Elmo, at the far end of the peninsula where Valletta is located. Here, I waited to get tickets to the Hypogeum, which are extremely limited and sold out online months in advance. But, you can go to this location to buy next day tickets first thing in the morning if they are available. Luckily, I was successful so I will share more about my visit to the Hypogeum in the next post.

I then strolled through the city and grabbed an iced tea and pastry to eat while I killed a little time before my walking tour. I found a square where there was a really nice temporary installation of tons of flowers and trees and sat on a bench to enjoy this pseudo botanical garden. I learned later on that historically plants were not allowed in Valletta as they have a problem with getting enough water. It rarely rains in Malta and their only source of fresh water is groundwater from that rain. Now, they also desalinate sea water to supplement that. At 10:30 it was time to meet my free walking tour to get my introduction to Valletta.

Walking towards the tour I was shocked by how many more people there were. I clearly had found the busy tourist area, and quickly learned that Valletta sees up to 50,000 people a day (cruise ships dock here as well as it just becoming a more popular travel destination in the last few years). This is particularly impactful once you learn how small the city is. The entire city is only 0.6 miles long and 0.4 miles wide, making it the smallest capital city in Europe. There are only about 5,000 residents, so 50,000 people coming in every day is quite a lot!

The walking tour was great and I learned a lot of context about the history and culture of Malta. Valletta was built by the Knights of Saint John, who created the fortified city in order to protect the island that they called home. The city has a grid layout and a lot of the buildings we saw could be attributed to the Knights. We started the tour at the new Parliament building, which was made in the same yellow limestone that most buildings in Malta are made out of, but with an interesting texture to represent how these stones wear away over time. Next to it was the opera house, which was mostly destroyed during WWII, but now has been reopened as an open-air theater. We ended the tour with a view of the Upper Barrakka Gardens, where they fire a canon twice a day. Our tour guide had timed it so that we could watch the canon go off, and it was a little underwhelming.

The tour also gave some great information about what Malta is like today. It has two official languages, Maltese and English, and both have equal importance, so most signs would have both. The tour guide also explained that Maltese is a mix from several other languages, primarily Arabic with some Italian, French, and English thrown in, which makes a lot of sense based on Malta’s location between Sicily and Africa. She also told us how before 2018 Valletta really run down, but was then designated as a European Capital of Culture, which gave a lot more funding and led to a huge resurgence of development and tourism. Now, the real estate in the city is super expensive, many of the buildings have been restored, and they see millions of tourists each year.

After the walking tour I needed a snack so decided to try a pastizzi, one of the traditional Maltese pastries recommended by the tour guide. They are filled with either ricotta or mushy peas, so I definitely went with the ricotta. I don’t know that I’d want to eat it every day, but for a quick and cheap snack it was pretty good. Then I quickly stopped to get a bubble tea before catching another ferry to the Three Cities, which are located on the harbor on the other side of Valletta.

The Three Cities are known for being quieter, more residential areas and the streets I walked down were definitely that. I made my way to a crafting class, which I had booked through Airbnb Experiences. It sounded like a fun way to spend an afternoon and make a souvenir in the process. I met Dilara, the host of the class, at her apartment and she showed me to her balcony with an amazing view of Valletta, where she had laid out all the supplies needed for our drawing and embroidery class. It turns out I was the only one signed up that day, so I had a private class and it was nice to chat and get to go at my own pace. Dilara had printed out pictures of different Maltese flowers to use as inspiration, and I was able to trace and color, and then embroider over the image to add some texture. I asked her which one she thought I would most likely see while I was there and she recommended the Prickly Pear, since they are everywhere (I can confirm this!). I had a great afternoon working on the project and was happy with the finished product that I could take home and frame.

After I finished that up it was getting towards evening, so I took the ferry back to Valleta, walked through the Upper Barrakka Gardens and back through to the ferry to Sliema, which I took back to where I was staying. Overall, a great first day out getting the lay of the land and seeing what Malta is all about!