Visiting Malta with Kat in June, I really think we experienced Malta at its best – a tiny island rich with thousands of years of history; a paradise of beaches & sheer cliffs drenched in sun and draped with the refreshing waves of the aquamarine Mediterranean. The refreshing coolness of the Mediterranean gave us welcome respite from the heat & dustiness of Malta.

You absolutely must see the M’dina – Malta’s medina, or Old Town. A walled, moated fortress that’s changed hands many times throughout the ages, we really connected with Malta’s rich past here. Plus – they filmed Game of Thrones here! So it’s totally famous

By far the best way to get around & see Malta properly is by car. The bus networks are a little confusing and it would mean you’d have to master the names of the villages – with names like Qrendi, Mqabba and Il-Kalkara! Its ok though, when you’re driving the roads are pretty simple – they all lead to the airport. The airport’s in the center of the island which means all the roads radiate out like the spokes of a wheel – meaning we drove past the airport about sixteen times in the two days we were there! For an island that’s only 27km long by 14 km wide, you sure can do some driving. Booking a car is straightforward and pretty cheap (about €60 for two days) – just avoid the big guys like Budget or Hertz and go for one of the smaller, local guys (that’s how I snagged such a good deal for our upcoming trip to Iceland!).

You probably don’t know but I’m crazy about cars and I was thrilled to pick up this bright green little number, a bright green Daewoo Kalos.

The poor old girl was pretty beat up – she’s seen more hits than Elvis, The Beatles and Queen combined. This little number got us around Malta in, well, it got us around Malta. Still, it ended up like one of those episodes where the presenters fall in love with the car after only two days.

My Malta must-dos:

St Peter’s Pool
I’m a big fan of swimming where there’s big cliffs and rocks plunging into the water – mostly ’cause I can jump off ‘em into the water! The south-east coast near St Peter’s Pool is awesome for that.

Lunch in Marsalokk
A charming little fishing village, Marsalokk is definitely worth a look. If you get there early there’s a beautiful (and fragrant) fish market on the pier. Have lunch at one of the pier-side restaurants – against the backdrop of the harbour and the colourful fishing boats it really sums up the Maltese experience.

Head up to the 200m high cliffs at Dingli
The view from these cliffs is superb, the drive is awesome and the beach near Dingli is stunning. ‘Nuff said!

Oh yeah… during the day, there were often sudden bursts of fireworks as if tiny villages were shouting at one another – apparently the villages on Malta take it in turns to host a festival every weekend, and they all try to out-do each other with the fireworks show on the Saturday evening – perhaps they were practicing?

This trip to Malta really proved to me why Kat and I have chosen to see Europe 3 days at a time – we were there only two nights (flew out of Heathrow with Air Malta on Friday night and back on Sunday night) but I honestly felt like we’d been there a week. Loved it!

Here’s the map of places we visited. Like it?