Adventures and holiday are not the same. After years of not travelling together, my boyfriend and I decided to go on a one-week holiday-adventure together. So this time in April, Malta was on our list to be explored. The island is comparable small and, hence, easily to be explored by either bike, car or public transport (which, by the way, is very cheap everywhere in the country).
The day we arrived in Malta at the International Airport, we took bus no. 135, which drove us directly to our first destination Marsaskala in the eastern region of the island. The drive was around 50 minutes, so there was enough time on the bus to recover from the flight and enjoy the views out of the bus. We passed the small town of Żejtun on our way, which lies halfway between airport and Marsaskala. The medieval centre of the town with its parish dated back to the 15th century and the middle-aged as well as roman, baroque and British architecture and structures can still be found around the city. It is definitely worth a stop and a visit if you will be on the way to or from Valletta into the east. Take a break here and enjoy Maltese pastries and coffee. After arriving in Marsaskala and taking a nap in our hotel, we only explored the city and nearby salinas (salt pans) on our first afternoon.
Day 1:
The next morning after we enjoyed a good breakfast, we made our plan come into action (and here comes the adventure): renting our bikes and exploring the south east costs! Why we chose Marsaskala as our first place to stay was basically due to the bike rental stop that was only 10 minutes walk away from the hotel. A seemingly easy solution for getting bikes to explore the island independently was Next Bike Rental: https://www.nextbike.com.mt/en/malta/
The service provides a wide range of stops across the island and you can rent bikes at one place and return them at another destination, what seemed quite convenient to us considering that we wanted to visit the outskirts of the towns, go to Saint Peter’s Pool and then end the day in the capital Valletta. Bike rental is affordable with 1,50 € per hour and 18 € per day rates.
After check-out from the hotel and the bike rental (which was not very handy despite the opportunity to rent the bikes per app), we somehow managed to get two bikes (the ones with intact breaks and tires) and started our day-tour towards the beautiful lagoon of St. Peter’s Pool.
The paths along the villages and fields were not always paved and sometimes difficult to access and cycle. Malta has very few bicycle lanes (the only one we saw was in Valletta and also there only for a kilometer or less). These circumstances made cycling next to each other and taking during the ride a bit of a challenge and we stopped several times to check the map and directions. Still, the surroundings were breathtaking at times, passing through sleepy villages and blooming meadows, vineyards and abandoned buildings, it was a peaceful track to enjoy and listen to the sounds of the wind and the songs of the cicadas and birds in the grass.
After an hour or such we reached the famous bay of St. Peter’s Pool. The sun shone warmly and the fresh breeze was welcomed after actively cycling up- and downhill. The magnificent water colour of the bay was turning from shades of turquoise to almost black with the rough sea hitting with huge waves against the stoned walls of the bay. It was hardly imaginable that this bay was open to swimmers at summer times.
The two hidden bays and anchorages Il-Ħofra ż-Żgħira and Il-Ħofra l-Kbira are not far from the famous spot of St. Peter’s Bay and after a short rest we drove along these unspoiled and beautiful terrain elevation. Around the month of April and May the wild flora and the early blossoms of the spring can be admired just here. All the way down to the city of Żejtun and Marsaskala there are no restaurants, so we recommend to prepare enough water supply and some light snacks for cycling this area, especially in the hot summer months. We had lunch in San Tomaso Restaurant in the outskirts of Marsaskala, where we later on transferred from cycling on small paths onto the big tarmac roads.
The road from there via Żejtun and Tarxien was less excited, with noise cars and built-up areas all around, although (as mentioned before) Żejtun was a nice historic place to cycle through. Following the big main road to Valletta is was not difficult to stay in the right direction. It was the traffic that sometimes made it hard for us to get through (there really was no or very little space sometimes to drive on the roads and traffic was dangerously with a fast speed). We really recommend to stay on smaller streets and probably take a longer way into consideration rather than risking the life. Especially without proper helmets and protection!
The closer we got to the capital, the crazier the junctions and street mazes became. We sometimes got lost in the jumble of bridges and one-way roads and it felt it took us longer to find the bike racks IN Valletta than all the way down TO Valletta. The bike stop of Next Bike is close to the Castille Place and the Upper Barrakka Gardens and only few minutes walk away from the busy old town.
Altogether, we cycled (small breaks and stops included) 7 hours and covered a distance of more than 17 km or 11 miles that day.
We recommend such a small adventure on the bike, but would rather rent the bike for exploring one city than cycling outside of towns as bike lanes are nowhere to be found and a trip can therefore become a dangerous adventure. For sightseeing outside of the main roads, a car hire is recommended as well as public busses, although latter are sometimes not very convenient.
With regards and credits to my beloved boyfriend and gifted photographer who contributed some of the photos on the website. Check out his profile on facebook as well: https://www.facebook.com/MCM.visuals/
Hotels we stayed in:
Marsaskala (recommended) TJ Boutique 102 Triq Il-Qalet Marsaskala MSK, 3313 51 € per night incl. breakfast
Valletta (recommended) Ajkla Mansions Eagle Street 8/9, Il-Belt Valletta VLT 1561 77 € per night excl. breakfast
Cirkewwa (quite a disappointment of a 4*-hotel when considering it was supposed to be the place to relax for few days) Paradise Bay Resort Hotel Cirkewwa, MLH 9068 90,50 € per night incl. halfboard
Mdina (recommended) Airbnb in L-Imtarfa (near Mdina) 51 € per night incl. breakfast
Public transport:
Bus connections on the island are very convenient and since transport is subsidized by the Government of Malta, a one-way ticket valid for a duration of two hours costs only 1,50 € per person – no matter how far you go as long as you stay on the same bus line!
Also prepare some coins and small change for the bus ticket, as bank notes are not always accepted on the bus and you cannot pay by visa or any other card.
More information on Malta Public Transport can be found here: https://www.publictransport.com.mt/
Travel on a bhoga mat 