Quarantine Diary: Majestic Malta
After a terrific few days in Malta in cold December, we immediately knew we wanted to return in summertime.
The Idea
As we stood in the freezing cold air in our wetsuits, we knew we wanted to come back to Malta when the weather is warm!
Planning our Travel
Since we decided to travel over the long May bank holiday weekend, we had more flexibility and more options than usual!
Lodging
Rather than book a flight, then a flight, we first started with our lodging for the 4 nights and 5 days. Because we wanted best of both worlds of beaches and city, we decided to split our time on the island. For the beaches, we decided to stay on the north side of the island in a small town of Mellieha at the Tieqa Hamsa Charming House. You can book via AirBnB or directly!
For our city break tour, we decided to stay in the heart of Valetta because we loved the many bars and food options. Basically, Mary Frances wanted more Zero Sei! We were about to book this great townhouse in the city before the quarantine hit.
Flights
For our flights, we wanted to maximize our time, we would fly out from London Luton on Ryanair on Thursday afternoon, allowing us to land at 9pm which is still pretty good considering how late the sunsets!
Our flight back was really tricky because our preferred Easyjet option returning to London Luton meant flying out at 3am, which doesn’t seem possible! Thus, we decided to take Monday off as well and return back via London Gatwick on Easyjet.
Maltese Food & Drink
Dating back to our first visit in December, we knew that Malta had an unique blend of primarily Italian, but also French, Arabic, and English cuisine. In fact, one of the main reasons why we wanted to go back was the food! Here is our list of all the best places in Malta that we found or wanted to try while in Malta.
Sunny Activities
First and foremost, we were there to soak in the sunshine, explore the ocean depths, and eat delicious food while exploring the historic sites. We were likely to be sun burnt, but we were going to enjoy the vitamin D!
Initially, I did a quick google research and found a great blog, Fork and Foot, that gave me great details to begin my hunt for sunny activities.
Beaches: As an island, Malta has great beaches! While we were going to explore the many beaches, we were probably going to enjoy the nearby Mellieha Bay beach the most since it is the top rated beach in Malta.
Scuba Diving: Similar to our first dive in Malta, we wanted to explore Gozo and the shipwrecks! We hadn’t decided going back to St Julian or go to a local 5 star PADI dive shop.
Local Tours: Because we love local tours and exploring new places, we liked the highlights of Malta tour via AirBnB experiences!
The Fail
Because Malta went into a strict lockdown very early in March, we realized our chances of going were very low. In mid-April, I received a cancellation email from our first hotel and immediately went to the news. Malta had extended the lockdown to include our dates… I then cancelled the remaining pieces and waited for the airlines to cancel our flights. During the bank holiday weekend, we were crushed when the weather would have been perfect.