This is Part 2 of our Complete guide to Malta with kids. Click here to see the previous part to this guide.
Part 2: Valletta And Around
This is Part 2 of our Complete Guide to Malta with Kids. Travelers to Malta will most likely start (and potentially end) their visit with the capital city Valletta. It’s a beautiful and unique city to check out, and it’s also surrounded by some really interesting things to see and do. In this post, we list out some of the standout sights and places for people visiting the Valletta area with children based on the two months we spent in Malta.
Valletta
Valletta is Malta’s tiny capital and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s packed with historic attractions and is tons of fun to explore. In 2018, Valletta was chosen European Capital of Culture, which led to the restoration of many attractions and the inauguration of new ones as well. Valletta is a transit hub and there is a large and well-signed bus station with modern buses connecting to anywhere in the island.
One of the best things about Valletta is just exploring. It’s compact and easy to walk around. There is a large pedestrian street that runs from the main gate through about half of the city. That street is lined with cafes, shops, etc. and is a great place for kids to run around. Here is our list of some of the top sights in Valletta for kids:
Upper Baraka Gardens
These gardens are perched high on the hill overlooking the Grand Harbor and Fort Saint Angelo in Vittoriosa. This is definitely one of the best views you can get from Valletta. A cannon is fired every day at noon. The ceremony that precedes the firing is fun to watch and our kids really enjoyed it. There’s also a great cafe here where you can have a coffee or beer while the kids chase pigeons or play. You can also take a fun glass elevator from here down to the ferry boats that cross to Vittoriosa/Birgu.
Fort Saint Elmo
This fort is one of Valletta’s main attractions. It stands on the tip of the Sciberras peninsula, keeping a watchful eye on the entrance to the Grand Harbor and the Marsamxett Harbor. This spot has been used as a watch post since the early 1400s and was the scene of the most intense fighting during the 1565 Great Siege by the Ottomans. The fort has been rebuilt over the years and it currently hosts the Malta War Museum. The museum has some interesting multimedia exhibits. The kids enjoyed checking out the different exhibits, and they especially enjoyed seeing one of Malta’s famous WWII bomber planes (which withstood an extensive Italian bombardment).
Lower Barrakka Gardens
The Lower Barrakka Gardens are a quick walk uphill from Fort Saint Elmo and are a lot less crowded than the Upper Gardens. There’s plenty of shade and some benches to sit down and relax. This is a great place for kids to run around and for everyone to enjoy the stunning views of the sea. There is a cafe onsite, and there are also some smaller restaurants close by.
The Palace Armory
This armory museum is housed in the same location where the Knights of Saint John originally stored their armor and weapons. There is a big collection of suits of armor from the 16th to the 18th centuries on display. The collection includes the breastplate used by Grandmaster John de la Vallette (the leader during the Great Siege) and a few other remarkable pieces belonging to other grandmasters and even the Ottoman army. Our kids also loved the impressive collection of weapons that includes crossbows, muskets, swords, pistols, and cannons. The armory is on St. George’s square, which is also a big open space for kids to run.
Triton Fountain
The fountain is right outside the City Gate and it’s a great place to hang out. There’s a lot of places to sit down and space for kids to play around. Our kids loved driving toy cars on the benches, running around, and chasing pigeons here.
The bus station is a few meters away from the fountain and you can take a bus to anywhere in the island from there. There’s food and souvenir stands all around the bus stops.
Valletta City Gate
This is Valletta’s fifth gate to stand on site. It was designed by Renzo Piano and it completed in 2014. The gate has become a symbol of Valletta’s new look. A few weeks after we left Malta, the new City Gate gardens were inaugurated (in February 2019). The gardens sit right below the gate bridge and you can reach them using stairs or a lift. At their inauguration, the Prime Minister described the gardens as “a place where families can spend time together, a positive example of urban greenery, and a new tourist attraction uniquely surrounded by the Valletta Bastions.” (Malta News, Feb. 21, 2019).
Sliema
Sliema is one of Malta’s trendiest neighborhoods. It is hip and full of good cafes and restaurants. It is located on a peninsula right next to Valletta, which you can reach by water taxi or bus. A lot of cruises to Gozo and Comino leave from the piers here. If we were choosing a place to stay in Malta knowing what we know now, we’d probably choose to stay in Sliema because of its playgrounds, proximity to Valletta, and easier bus connections to the rest of the island. (However, if you like being close to the beach, Mellieha is the place to be!)
Best view of Valletta
We loved walking on the seafront promenade in the late afternoon to get a panoramic view of Valletta as it turned golden with the sunset. The promenade is very wide and our kids had a great time running around there. The promenade is quite long. If you walk in the opposite direction of Valletta, you’ll find an area with an open air gym, old salt pans you can walk around, and a series of fun playgrounds. As with most places in Malta, you’ll be able to find a cafe or a restaurant mostly everywhere.
Playgrounds
The promenade in Sliema has a series of three different playgrounds. We explored all of them and decided that the ones closer to the point were the best and most updated. All of the playgrounds are right next to the ocean and you can find cafes at most of them. Also, if you are a cat lover, make sure to check out the cat area which is right near the giant statue of a cat. Locals have built comfy houses for the kitties, and leave food and water. The cats roam freely and some of them can be super friendly.
The Point shopping mall
This is Malta’s largest shopping mall and a fun place to check out. We went to the Point over Christmas time and it was a lot of fun with lights and decorations. They have a huge toy store in the lower level.
Birgu
The “Citta Vittoriosa” is an old fortified city on the Grand Harbor of Malta. You can visit Birgu from Valletta by bus or water taxi (the water taxi is quicker, more direct, and way more fun).
Fort Saint Angelo
This Knights of St. John built and held this fort during the Great Siege, withstanding many full-on frontal assaults. Later, in WWII, the Nazis bombed the fort, but Malta held strong again. The fort was recently restored to the way it looked during the time of the knights, and opened to the general public. We really enjoyed visiting Fort Saint Angelo! There are plenty of wide open spaces for the kids to run around, there are cannons for them to play with, and the multimedia exhibits are good for little kids too. There is a cafe that serves snacks, coffee and drinks, and there soon will be a playground too. This is a great place for little minds to go wild imagining knights, battles, and more.
Backstreets of Vittoriosa
You can combine a visit to the Fort with a walk around the backstreets of Vittoriosa to check out its charming architecture and narrow winding streets. There are colorful doors everywhere, stairways, narrow passages, and more. Our kids loved exploring this area and we let them choose most of our routes while wandering around. As with most everywhere in Malta, you are never too far away from a place that serves coffee, drinks, and snacks.
Kalkara
This is the peninsula right next to Birgu. Getting here can take some effort so plan ahead if you are taking public transit. It took us almost 2 hours to reach from Mellieha, it but it was worth it to check out Esplora.
Esplora
This is Malta’s Science Museum and it’s awesome! We spent about five hours here and didn’t run out of things to do and see. There are lots of indoor exhibits about energy, power, circuit boards, and they are all interactive! There is also a planetarium that shows a cute movie about the solar system. They have a couple of outdoor playgrounds for kids to climb, slide and run; and several water play station for kids to build dams and locks, and play with rubber ducks and boats. A separate area outdoor has tricycles that kids can ride around a track. The views of the Grand Harbor are stunning as well! The cafe serves good lunch food and beverages. Like I said, we really enjoyed our time there. Kids under five are free so we visited a day before Hugo turned five.
There is so much to do in Valletta and the area around it that you could just spend your entire time in Malta checking out this area. In our next post on the Complete Guide To Malta with Kids we’ll be sharing more about Southern Malta, an area easily accessed from Valletta with lots to do and see.
For what to do in Northern Malta, check out this post. To see what to do in Central and Southern Malta, check out this post.
