My long-term friend’s girlfriend Tina, who by now is also a long-term friend of mine, and I were casually chatting about how cool it would be to go on a trip with our friend group. Talking turned into brainstorming, and at first, we set our sights on Rome. But after some initial research and group feedback, we had a last-minute change of heart and decided on Malta. I guess, geographically speaking, not that far off.
As usual, the masterplan, especially with that many people, rather unfolded on the trip itself. In this blog post, I want to revisit our adventure with our group of six. As for preparation, we booked our apartment through booking.com and our rental car online in advance 🙆.
Overview
Day 0: Airport Side Quest & Arrival
- St. Paul’s Bay
- Marsaxlokk
- Munxar Window
- Blue Grotto
- Mdina
- Mosta
- St. Julian’s
Day 3: Island Walk & Capital Strolls
- Comino (Blue Lagoon)
- Valetta
Day 4: Departure & Last Impressions
- Valetta
- Airport & Departure
Day 0: Airport Side Quest & Arrival
Our friend group split into two teams of three. One was a bit more wild, adventurous, crazy, and budget-conscious. They would start at 5 AM, take a 2-hour train ride up to Berlin, catch a flight to Basel, and from there self-transfer to Malta (Team Basel). The other group took a more relaxed route, starting at 8 AM with a flight from Dresden (our shared home base) to Frankfurt, and then connecting to Malta (Team Frankfurt). You can probably guess which group I ended up in.
I managed only about 4 hours of sleep before catching the train. At least I wasn’t the only one already tired before the trip had even properly started. After napping during our flight to Basel, we landed feeling surprisingly refreshed. The airport in Basel was quite small, and we had a 3-hour layover. In a spontaneous burst of energy, we unanimously decided to make a quick side trip to the Dreiländereck, which is just a short ride from the airport. The round trip took about an hour, and our driver even shared a few fun facts about Basel along the way. We got back to the airport just in time to catch our next flight to Malta.
Fun Fact: Basel
Basel is known as a city of museums with its 40+ museums covering art history architecture and more
About 200,000 people live in the city, but on weekdays, around 35,000 commuters from France and 30,000 from Germany cross the border to work in Basel.
Fun Fact: EuroAirport Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg
The Basel airport is geographically located in France, but it belongs to Basel in terms of operations. When you exit the airport, you can choose to go out through either the French or Swiss exit, and technically, you can also return through the airport to cross back into the other country.
Once you’re outside, though, you’ll notice a fence separating the two countries. No cars can just drive over to the other side unless they pass through official border control. There’s only one 2,5km long road that connects the Swiss sector to the airport, allowing travelers to access the airport from Switzerland without passing through French customs. That said, you can’t use that road to enter France from Switzerland. It’s just for going to and from the airport.
We arrived about an hour ahead of the other team and had some time to spare for a light snack. Once reunited, we headed to the car rental to pick up our car and drove straight to St. Paul’s Bay, where our Airbnb was located. Although our team had the earlier start and a wild side quest in Basel, we’d already had snacks and a proper meal, unlike the other team, who hadn’t eaten all day. So, the top priority was getting dinner as soon as possible.
While eating, we started discussing the next few days and discovered (thanks to ChatGPT) that the fish market in Marsaxlokk is only open on Sundays, which happened to be tomorrow. And, as with most fish markets (or maybe just tourist hotspots), it was recommended to go early. After some evaluation of the situation, we decided to arrive by at least 8:30 AM. We finished our meal, grabbed some light groceries from the local convenience store, and headed to bed early.
Day 1: First Day – Power Day
As is often the case, the first day was full of energy, excitement, and curiosity. We used that energy and channeled it into a surprisingly packed day that, in retrospect, was quite long and physically exhausting (it didn’t help either, that I felt so energized, I ran a 3k tempo run in the morning in preparation for an upcoming race). Just as planned (with a slight delay), we arrived at the in Marsaxlokk in the early morning. Fortunately, as ChatGPT had mentioned, there weren’t many people around just yet. We took our time strolling along the port and the fish market area. Since we hadn’t eaten breakfast, we had an early brunch around half past 10. When we left the restaurant, the crowds and direct sunlight made us very glad we had gone to bed early the night before.
Before heading to the next big stop, we wanted to check out something nearby. At first, we planned to go to St. Peter’s Pool, but instead we decided on the Munxar Window, a short hiking trail along the southeastern coastline of Malta. The cliffs were steep, and when you stood near the edge, you could feel the wind hitting the rocks and blowing straight upwards. The trail itself wasn’t hard to find. A parking spot was nearby, and given it was around noon, there weren’t many people. I think it was a solid choice. St. Peter’s Pool looked cool in pictures, especially with people jumping off cliffs into the water, but it also seemed super crowded.
We continued our journey and made a short stop at the Blue Grotto. Again, the parking situation was decent, with room for a few dozen cars and sightseeing buses. A guy managing the lot told us to give him “as much as we like,” which made me question his legitimacy a bit, but hey, he had a badge. The actual viewpoint is located at the top of the cliff, while the parking area and a few houses sit lower down. If you walk a bit further, you can even reach sea level where the waves crash directly against the coast. The Blue Grotto viewpoint was definitely higher, but it felt safer thanks to a proper handrail and since we’d already seen the cliffs at Munxar Window, we were harder to impress. We took a quick look, snapped a photo, checked out the waves and moved on to our next destination.
Mdina is quite a small city—though to be fair, pretty much every city in Malta could be considered small. It’s located right next to Rabat. Truth be told, this trip wasn’t exactly focused on history or culture (not that any of mine ever are), but more about exploring and wandering around. We arrived in Rabat around 5 PM, strolled through the streets a bit, took a quick look at St. Paul’s Cathedral and then headed into Mdina.
Fun fact: About St- Paul
St. Paul is said to have shipwrecked in Malta around 60 AD at the side which is known today as St. Paul’s Bay – the location of our hostel (thesnophouse.com). He supposedly converted the Roman governor Publius (later Saint Publius) and helped make Malta one of the first Christian territories in the Roman Empire (catholicshare.com).
Mdina turned out to be even smaller than Rabat. There were almost no cars and barely any people or tourists around, which gave the cozy alleys a very calm and quiet vibe. Cars are mostly banned from entering, which is why it is also called the “silent city”. If you wanted to, you could probably speedrun the whole thing in under an hour. We took our time and still finished exploring in under two.
Fun Fact Mdina
Mdina used to be Malta’s capital until 1530. Today it’s also a popular filming location. Its main gate was used as the entrance to King’s Landing in Game of Thrones.
By around 7 PM, we headed back home, already pretty tired from all the walking. But not before making a quick stop at Lidl to grab some groceries. We ended the day with leftover food from lunch, yesterday’s dinner, and a bit of bread.
Day 2: Mid-Trip Reset
We had planned to start the day a bit later than the previous one, with breakfast at our accommodation and a chance to sleep in. But it accidentally got a bit too late and so it just happened that we didn’t leave until a little past noon and arrived in Mosta around 1 PM.
A friend who had visited Malta before once showed me a picture he took from inside a church in Mosta, standing under the dome and shooting downwards. Intrigued by that, I suggested we go check it out—without knowing there were even more interesting facts waiting for us there.
Fun Fact: Mosta Rotunda
The Mosta Rotunda has an inner height of 54.7 meters and was considered the third-largest unsupported dome in the world for a long time (mostachurch.com).
Inside the church, there are lamps hanging from the ceiling known as everlasting sanctuary lamps. In Catholic tradition, these lamps are always lit and symbolize the presence of Christ in the tabernacle.
During World War II a 50 kg German bomb pierced the dome and fell into the church during a service attended by over 300 people, however miraculously, it didn’t explode.
We were on a tight schedule, so after finishing up at the church, we moved on to the next destination. Initially, we had planned to go to Valletta, but at the last minute, we decided to squeeze in a stop at St. Julian’s. When we arrived there around 4 PM, we immediately realized how crazy the traffic. It was clear, that we couldn’t do both and so we committed to exploring St. Julian’s instead and started strolling through the town in search of a good sunset spot. Actually, the city border is so subtle that, while searching for a good spot, we ended up crossing into the neighboring city of Sliema without even realizing it. As we walked along the main street, one thing that immediately stood out was how it runs right along the water at Balluta Bay. There was even a narrow patch of sand, officially even called Balluta Bay Beach, on which some people were even sunbathing. We continued to walk along the coastline of Sliema, which was quite rocky and uneven. That made walking a bit tricky, but in fact that was the fun part.
We made it in time for a panoramic sunset view at the Tigne Point right at the eastern edge of Sliema, looking out at the skyline of Valletta in the distance. With the sun behind us, the whole horizon lit up in a warm orange glow.
Day 3: Island Walk & Capital Strolls
Up to this point, we had skipped some of the main attraction, but we planned to make up for that – today. Specifically, we hadn’t yet visited the capital of Malta, and we hadn’t been to a proper beach either. Besides that, Malta has a couple of smaller islands (Gozo and Comino) that are said to be must-see spots.
However, some people in our group had concerns about spending too long on a small ferry. And since Gozo would have taken up most of the day anyway, we decided to visit Comino instead where the famous Blue Lagoon is located. One of our friends stayed behind just to be safe and visited a nearby aquarium in St. Paul’s, while the rest of us set out to explore the island.
We wanted to make the most of the day, so we aimed to catch the very first ferry. Looking up ferry options was a bit confusing, as there are so many providers and different ferry schedules. We picked one, hoped for the best, woke up at 7:30 AM, and headed out to catch the 8:30 AM ferry (cominoferries.com). This proved to be a good decision, as we were almost one of the first guests on that island. Just a few stalls were starting to open and the beach and swimming area right next to the landing zone were still pretty much empty.
We began exploring the island and eventually came across another beach area, which we practically had to ourselves, there were maybe ten people total, including us. As we kept walking, we saw almost no one. It felt idyllic, maybe even a little creepily deserted. But when we returned to the landing zone around noon, it was completely swarmed with tourists laying out on the beach.
We returned to our accommodation around 2:30 PM to pick up our friend and take a short nap after the morning’s adventure. Finally, around 4 PM, we arrived in Valletta, Malta’s capital. We didn’t have any specific plans, so we just wandered through the alleys to soak in the atmosphere. One group went on a souvenir shopping spree (coincidentally, the Frankfurt transfer group), while the rest of us (the Basel crew) treated ourselves to ice cream and started scouting for a good sunset spot.
And just in time, we found one, which was at the northwestern edge of Valletta’s massive stone walls. The walls were incredibly thick and very high, with a stone railing that was wide enough to walk along comfortably. Almost like the cliffs we had visited earlier, the wind would hit the outer walls, blow straight upward, and if you stood right next to the railing, it would hit you full in the face. But just by crouching slightly below the railing, it suddenly became super calm, like there was absolutely no wind at all. A really cool contrast.
On our way back home, we made one last stop at the local Lidl, grabbed a few things, and finished the day with some homemade instant noodles before heading to bed.
Day 4: Departure & Last Impressions
Again, we had two “teams” of returnees, but both our flights were scheduled to depart around 6 PM. At first, we wanted to use the remaining time efficiently and even go to St. Peter’s Pool, but after reconsidering and factoring in our exhaustion level, we decided to sleep in, check out at 11 AM, and spend the rest of the day in Valletta just to soak in that Malta feeling one last time.
We arrived at the airport unnaturally early (like a full two hours ahead of departure), just to make sure the handover of our rental car didn’t come with any surprises. Both teams eventually arrived back at their respective homes around midnight.
In the end, it’s not really important where you hang out with your friends, what matters is that everyone is present in the moment and enjoys the time together. We surprisingly discovered a bunch of weird quirks in each other, which we hadn’t even noticed before, despite knowing one another for so long. This trip marked a milestone in our friendship—the first time we flew together to another country. Hopefully, the first of many more to come.
Epilogue – Learnings:
- Malta used to be part of the British Empire, which explains the left-sided traffic and the many red telephone boxes scattered across the cities.
- The overall infrastructure felt surprisingly solid, although the tap water isn’t drinkable.
- There are a lot of roundabouts – like really, a lot.
- Parking spots were limited but manageable, and most of them were free.
- Malta is a pretty small island, about the size of Munich. From our Airbnb, it took us only about 30 minutes to drive to the southernmost point. Over four days, we spent only around 15 euros on gas.
- There are plenty of (free) public toilets, often donation-based and many of them were surprisingly clean.