Valletta

Understand

Referred to colloquially as Il-Belt ("The City") in Maltese, it takes its name from its founder, Grandmaster Jean Parisot de Valette.

With a population of less than 5,200 in 2021, it is the least populated national capital in the European Union. The population of the urban area is 480,000 (2020), so Valletta doesn't feel like a small town. It is also the southernmost capital in the union, and one of only two without rail-based public transit (the other being Nicosia in Cyprus).

Valletta was a "European Capital of Culture" for 2018, an honour it shared with Leeuwarden.

Get around

The Valletta peninsula is only a couple of kilometres in length and so the ideal way is to do everything on foot, which enables you to take many shortcuts via stairs. However, the city is built on a ridge and is steep in parts (requiring walking up and down stairs in some places), which can be tiring. The alternative would be doing it by car, which is not ideal for visitors due to a lack of parking space, direction signs and the fact that the streets are very narrow, often one way and confusing if unfamiliar. Most of the main tourist attractions are along the main street (Triq ir-Republika), which does not involve steep hills.

Another possibility is to rent one of the horsecarts (Karozzin), but be sure to haggle over the price.

See

thumb|St. John's Co-cathedral

thumb|Fort St. Elmo

Do

thumb|St George's Square thumb|Saluting Battery thumb|View from Upper Barrakka Gardens

Buy

The main street of Valletta is Republic Street (Triq Ir-Repubblika), a busy pedestrianised zone leading down the middle of the Peninsula from the main gate down to Republic Square (Misrah ir-Repubblika). This is where many of the better shops are located, although it cannot quite compete with Sliema for clothing.

The best souvenir shop (the least worthless trinkets etc.) can be found at the Malta Experience, but there are many other reasonable souvenir shops in Valletta. At the beginning of Republic Street, there are several reasonable souvenir shops, but prices are far cheaper if you walk 20 meters down South Street (turn left if you have the bus station behind you,) which crosses Republic Street very soon after you have entered through the city gates. There is a daily market selling cheap clothing in the parallel street to Republic Street called Merchants Street (Triq il-Merkanti).

The iconic family-owned Wembley Store on Republic Street closed after 101 years.

Eat

thumb|St. Paul's Pro-Cathedral Valletta has a good selection of decent restaurants, especially along the waterfront. Since most tourists stay in Sliema or on the north coast of the island there are fewer of the trashy variety, although it does have the usual fast-food chains. Look out for traditional bakeries, with steaming fresh bread for mere cents.

Drink

thumb|Auberge de Castille at sunrise

Sleep

thumb|Ships passing the Saluting Battery

Stay safe

Most of the usual petty crime that travelers are confronted with happens in Sliema and St. Julians, but it's something to keep in mind.

Connect

Many businesses (restaurants, hotels etc.) offer free Wi-Fi, in addition to the "Free Wi-Fi" zones that exist around Malta. The country has several mobile carriers with 5G and your phone will work just like elsewhere in Europe.

There are several English-language news outlets such as Times of Malta and Loving Malta.