Valletta

Valletta is built on a rocky peninsula, so swimming in town means climbing down ladders off flat limestone ledges below the bastions, or off the rocks along the Sliema shore across the harbour. The water is very clear and reaches about 26°C in late summer, and locals swim from spring until well into autumn.

The sandy beaches are in the north and west of the island: Golden Bay, Ghajn Tuffieha and Mellieha Bay are under an hour away by bus, and St Peter's Pool, a natural rock pool near Marsaxlokk, is closer. Comino's Blue Lagoon is famous for its turquoise water but gets very crowded in summer. Beaches are small and fill up in August. Most visitors treat them as a half-day outing from a city stay.

Maltese food draws on Sicily, North Africa and Britain. Pastizzi, flaky pastries filled with ricotta or mushy peas, are the everyday snack, eaten at cheap counters with a glass of tea. Ftira bread with tuna, capers and tomato is the standard lunch. Rabbit stew is the national dish, and in autumn there is lampuki, or dolphinfish, baked in pies.

Inside the walls, wine bars and small restaurants fill the narrow streets and steps, with a few ambitious modern kitchens among them. Many places on the main streets cater to cruise passengers. For the best fish, go to the harbour villages, above all Marsaxlokk on Sunday mornings. Local wine and the bitter orange soft drink Kinnie are worth trying, but the scene has limited depth.

The Knights of St John built Valletta in a few decades after the Great Siege of 1565, and the whole walled city is a UNESCO site. It is a planned grid of honey-coloured limestone streets with enclosed wooden balconies. The high point is St John's Co-Cathedral: plain outside, gilded inside, with a floor of marble tombstones and Caravaggio's Beheading of Saint John. The Grandmaster's Palace, the Upper Barrakka Gardens above the Grand Harbour, Fort St Elmo with the National War Museum, and the MUZA art museum complete the core.

Across the harbour, the Three Cities of Birgu, Senglea and Cospicua have older fortifications and the Inquisitor's Palace. The Hypogeum burial complex at Paola is a short bus ride away. You can see all of it in two or three unhurried days.

Valletta goes quiet after dinner. Most evenings out happen around Strait Street, a narrow lane that was once the sailors' red-light quarter and is now lined with wine bars and small cocktail places, and on the steps of side streets where tables spill outside. It is pleasant and fairly sedate.

The island's real late-night scene is in Paceville, in St Julian's, about half an hour away by bus or taxi. It is a tight block of clubs, shot bars and crowds of students and language-school visitors that runs until dawn in summer. It is loud and lively but not sophisticated, so whether it suits you depends on what you want from a night out.

Malta is a small, dry, heavily built-up limestone island. Its natural strengths are coastal and underwater. The sea around it is unusually clear, and diving is the main outdoor draw: wrecks, caves and reefs are close to shore, and the Blue Hole and Inland Sea on Gozo are well known among divers. Snorkelling, kayaking and boat trips around the sea caves at the Blue Grotto fill out the summer.

On land, the best walking is along the southern and western cliffs, such as Dingli Cliffs, and on Gozo's quieter, greener coast. Spring brings wildflowers and mild walking weather. High summer is hot and parched. There are no mountains or forests, and hikes are short.

For a small country, Malta packs in a lot of history within easy reach. Mdina, the walled former capital on a hill in the centre of the island, is about half an hour away by bus. Its silent lanes lead directly into Rabat, with its Roman villa and early Christian catacombs. The prehistoric temples of Hagar Qim and Mnajdra stand above the southern cliffs. They are older than the pyramids, part of a UNESCO group that also includes Tarxien in the suburbs.

Marsaxlokk is a fishing harbour full of painted luzzu boats. Gozo, reached by ferry, makes a full day out with the Citadella in Victoria and the Ggantija temples. There is no wine region of note, and all of it shares one island character.

Malta is easy with children in practical terms. English is spoken everywhere, the island is safe and distances are short. The family attractions are elsewhere on the island: the national aquarium at Qawra, Popeye Village, an old film set on a cove near Mellieha, and the shallow sandy bays in the north. Boat trips in the harbour and the noon cannon salute at the Upper Barrakka Gardens are favourites with children in the city.

Valletta is harder going than it looks. Many streets are flights of steps that are tough with a pushchair, pavements are narrow and July and August are very hot. Families often stay in Sliema or near the northern beaches and come into the capital for a day.

Valletta itself is about a kilometre long and best walked. The grid is simple, though many cross streets are steep or turn into stairs. A lift links the Upper Barrakka Gardens to the harbour, and short ferries cross to Sliema and to the Three Cities, which saves a long trip round the creeks.

The island's bus network runs out from the terminus just outside the city gate and reaches nearly everywhere, so a car is not needed. Buses are slow and often crowded, though, because Malta's roads are congested and there is no rail. Getting to the far north or the Gozo ferry takes longer than the distances suggest. Taxis and ride-hailing fill the gaps.

Republic Street and Merchant Street are Valletta's shopping spine, with high-street chains, jewellers and a street market at the lower end of Merchant Street. The crafts worth looking for are silver filigree, bobbin lace (traditionally from Gozo) and blown glass, sold in small workshops and showrooms. Ta' Qali crafts village near Mdina is the place to watch them being made.

For wider fashion and malls, locals go to Sliema across the harbour. There is no luxury district and little independent design. Shopping fits around a visit but is not a reason to come.

Malta is mid-priced for southern Europe, and Valletta is one of the dearer places to stay on the island. Rooms inside the walls are mostly boutique hotels and apartments in old townhouses, and they cost more in summer. Staying in Sliema or Gzira across the harbour is usually cheaper.

Day-to-day costs are moderate. Bus fares are low, pastizzi and street snacks are very cheap, and a simple meal of fish or pasta is reasonable. Restaurants aimed at visitors in the centre charge noticeably more. The main museums and the Co-Cathedral charge entry, but none of it is extreme. Winter brings lower room rates.

The Manoel Theatre, built in 1731, is one of the oldest working theatres in Europe. Its small, gilded, oval auditorium is reason enough to catch whatever is playing, whether chamber music, drama or a pantomime at Christmas. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra performs there and at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. The ruined Royal Opera House site at the city gate is an open-air stage in summer.

The calendar is built on festivals: a baroque music festival in winter and a jazz festival on the Grand Harbour in summer. On Gozo, two rival band clubs each run an opera house and stage full productions every autumn. Between those seasons the choice on a given night is small.

Malta has no thermal springs or bathing tradition. Spas are mostly in the large resort hotels of St Julian's and along the coast, plus a few in Valletta's boutique hotels. They are pleasant but nothing distinctive.

The restful side of Valletta is its pace once the cruise passengers leave in the late afternoon. The streets empty, the light turns gold on the limestone, and the Upper and Lower Barrakka Gardens are quiet places to watch the harbour. In autumn and spring the city slows down to an easy rhythm. Come for that, not for treatments.