This is your destination guide for Malta.
This is your destination guide for Sliema & St Julian's
📍 Part of MaltaMalta's promenade town and its late-night neighbour — rock swimming by day, Paceville by night, Valletta ten minutes by ferry.
The reality: It's eight in the evening and the Sliema promenade is full. Grandmothers on benches, joggers, couples with ice cream, teenagers on scooters. Across the harbour, Valletta's walls go orange in the last light. Someone is still swimming off the rocks below the road.
Sliema and St Julian's run into each other along one stretch of coast north of Valletta. Sliema is the busy, practical town — shops, apartments, ferries. St Julian's is its livelier neighbour, with the small bays of Spinola and Balluta and, behind them, Paceville, where Malta goes out at night.
This isn't old Malta. Much of it is new, tall and still under construction, and nobody would call it quaint. But it's the easiest base on the island: the most hotel rooms, the most restaurants, the most buses, and a ferry straight to the capital. Come here to sleep and swim. Go elsewhere for history.
The whole coast here is a swimming spot. Not on sand — off flat limestone shelves, down ladders, from concrete platforms that clubs and hotels turn into lidos in summer.
The Sliema rocks — along Tower Road, the flat rock shelf below the promenade is free and open to anyone. Find a spot, lay a towel, climb down a ladder. Bring water shoes: the rock is sharp and the sea urchins are real.
Lidos — paid platforms with sunbeds, umbrellas, a bar and a proper ladder into the sea. You pay for the comfort, not the water.
Exiles — a small rocky cove at the St Julian's end of Sliema with a bar on the rocks. Popular with locals after work.
St George's Bay — the one real sandy beach in the area, small and backed by hotels. Fine for an hour; full by mid-morning in August.
Balluta Bay — a small pebbly bay with a neo-Gothic church and a row of cafés. Calm water, good for a quick swim before dinner.
Spinola Bay — St Julian's postcard: a harbour of painted fishing boats ringed by restaurants. Not for swimming, but the place to sit with a drink at sunset.
From the Valletta ferry to the clubs of Paceville is a 40-minute walk along the water. Each stretch has a different job.
The Strand — Sliema's harbour side, facing Valletta. Ferry landing, harbour-cruise boats, shops and the busiest bus stops on the island. Practical, noisy, with the best view of the capital from anywhere.
Tigné — the tip of Sliema, rebuilt with apartments and shops around an old fort. Clean, modern, and a walk around the point gets you from harbour side to open sea in ten minutes.
Tower Road — the open-sea promenade. Apartment blocks on one side, rocks on the other, and benches the whole way. This is Sliema's living room.
St Julian's — Balluta and Spinola, two small bays with restaurants around them. The prettiest part of the coast, and where you'll eat most evenings.
Paceville — behind St Julian's, a few blocks of bars, clubs and kebab shops that get going around midnight and keep going. Young, loud, cheap shots. If you're over 30 you'll go once, out of curiosity, and that will be enough.
For people who want to move a bit between swims and dinners.
The coast here is flat, built-up and very easy to move along. You don't need a plan — just shoes, a swimsuit and the ferry timetable.
More restaurants per street than anywhere in Malta. A lot are tourist-menu places. The good ones serve Maltese food, especially the slow-cooked kind.
Stuffat tal-fenek — rabbit stewed slowly in wine, tomato and garlic. Malta's best-loved dish. Often served with spaghetti in the sauce first, then the rabbit.
Lampuki — dolphin fish, the autumn catch. Fried, or baked in a pie. If it's on the board in October, order it.
Kinnie — Malta's own bitter-orange soft drink. Tastes like orange peel and herbs. You'll either love it or never order it again.
Cisk — the local lager, cold, everywhere, and what most people are drinking on the promenade at sunset.
Where to eat: skip the menus with photos along the Strand. Head into the back streets of Sliema or around Balluta and Spinola for proper Maltese and Italian cooking. Book a terrace table at Spinola for sunset; walk to Paceville afterwards only if you mean it.
May, June, September and October — warm sea, comfortable evenings, and the promenade is busy but not jammed. Lampuki season starts in autumn.
July and August — very hot, very busy, and the rocks are crowded from early morning. Paceville is at full volume. Prices peak.
Winter — mild, quiet and much cheaper. Too cool for most swimmers, but the promenade, the ferry and the restaurants all keep going. A good base for a city-and-sightseeing week.
The Valletta ferry — from the Strand to Valletta in about ten minutes. €3 one way and €5 return during the day, a little more at night. Faster than any bus and far nicer.
Buses — Sliema and St Julian's are well connected to the rest of the island. A ticket on board costs €2 in summer and €1.50 in winter; night buses €3. A Tallinja card brings each trip down if you'll ride a lot. Traffic along the coast road is heavy at rush hour.
Walking — the whole coast from Tigné to St George's Bay is walkable along the sea.
Taxis and rideshare apps — easy to find and the best way back from Paceville late at night.
A car — not needed here, and parking is miserable. Rent one only for countryside days.
Compare rental cars →This is the biggest choice of hotels in Malta. The question is what you want to hear at night.
The Strand — for the Valletta ferry and the buses. Harbour views, traffic noise.
Tower Road — for the sea. Rooms facing the water, the rocks across the road.
Tigné — newer, quieter, modern apartments and hotels at the tip.
Balluta and Spinola — for restaurants at your door and the prettiest part of the coast.
St George's Bay and Paceville — big resort hotels and nightlife. Fine if you're going out. Not if you want to sleep.
Sliema is Malta's middle of the market. More choice than Valletta at every price, and because there are so many rooms, more deals outside summer.
Prices in 2026 euros. Ferry and bus fares as of October 2026. Off-season knocks 30–40% off rooms.
Go if you want Malta's easiest base — swimming off the rocks, a promenade for the evening, rabbit stew at Spinola and a ten-minute ferry to Valletta. Skip if you want old stone and quiet nights, or a sandy beach.
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